Where we work in Winnipeg

Winnipeg is an old-housing city, and the age shows in the floors

Roughly six in ten occupied dwellings in the Winnipeg area were built before 1980, and about three in ten predate 1960 (Statistics Canada, 2021 Census). That is a lot of original hardwood still in place, and it means the useful question in most houses is not whether there is a wood floor but what shape it is in and how much of it is left.

The rough dividing line is the war. Pre-war neighbourhoods run to narrow strip oak, sometimes maple, laid over plank subfloor. Post-war neighbourhoods run to maple far more often, and the wood is usually thicker and less worn because it has had fewer decades to get there. Those two floors want different sanding and take stain differently, which is why these pages are split by area rather than being one page with a list of place names on it.