Create a Warm, Seamless Look with Expert Hardwood Flooring Around Your Fireplace
At Legacy Interior Service, we specialize in installing premium wood flooring that flows beautifully right up to your fireplace hearth, delivering a luxurious, cohesive finish that elevates your entire living space. Many homeowners hesitate to extend hardwood around the fireplace due to heat concerns, but with over 20 years of experience and meticulous attention to building codes and material performance, we consistently deliver stunning, safe, and long-lasting results that other installers simply can’t match.
Whether you have a raised stone or brick hearth, a flush-mount gas fireplace, or a traditional wood-burning masonry fireplace, we know exactly how to handle the transition—undercutting the hearth when needed, scribing perfect fits, leaving proper expansion gaps, and using heat-resistant underlayments to protect your investment for decades.
Why Choose Legacy Interior Service for Fireplace-Area Flooring?
- Code-compliant installations that pass inspection every time
- Perfect, gap-free transitions that look custom-built
- Selection of the most heat-stable engineered and solid hardwoods available
- Dust-free cutting and finishing processes
- Lifetime installation warranty on labor
We turn the trickiest part of the area most contractors dread—into the most impressive feature of your new floor.Premium Wood Flooring Manufacturers We Install & RecommendWe exclusively work with the industry’s most trusted brands known for exceptional stability, durability, and performance in high-heat areas:
- Mirage (Canada) – The gold standard for engineered hardwood; incredibly stable near heat sources
- Lauzon (Canada) – Premium Canadian hardwoods with Titanium finish technology for superior heat resistance
- Kahrs (Sweden) – Pioneer of engineered flooring; outstanding dimensional stability
- Somerset (USA) – Appalachian solid and engineered hardwood with beautiful character grades
- Shaw Floors (USA) – Massive selection and innovative Epic Plus engineered hardwood that handles temperature swings exceptionally well
- Mohawk Industries (USA) – RevWood Plus and SolidTech lines that excel near fireplaces
- Mannington (USA) – Restoration Collection engineered floors with impressive heat tolerance
- Bruce (USA) – America’s most recognized name in hardwood for over 100 years
- Mullican Flooring (USA) – Wide-plank solid and engineered options with lifetime structural warranties
- Proximity Mills (USA) – Emerging leader in ultra-stable, thick-wear-layer engineered hardwood perfect for fireplace areas
Frequently Asked Questions – Wood Flooring Around Fireplaces
1. How close can hardwood flooring be installed to a fireplace?
For wood-burning fireplaces, building codes (IRC R1001.10) require a non-combustible hearth extension that projects at least 16 inches in front of the fireplace opening and 8 inches beyond each side. Wood flooring can be installed right up to the edge of this non-combustible zone. For gas fireplaces, requirements are often less strict (sometimes 6–12 inches), but we always verify your specific fireplace manual and local codes.
2. Is engineered hardwood better than solid hardwood around a fireplace?
Yes, almost always. Engineered hardwood is significantly more dimensionally stable due to its cross-layered construction, making it far less likely to gap, cup, or crown from the heat cycles a fireplace creates. Top-tier engineered brands like Mirage, Lauzon, and Kahrs routinely outperform even the best solid hardwoods in fireplace applications.
3. Will the heat from my fireplace damage or discolor the wood floor?
When properly installed with correct clearances, heat-resistant underlayment, and stable engineered hardwood, damage is extremely rare. We’ve installed hundreds of floors around actively used fireplaces with zero heat-related callbacks. Discoloration (patina) can occur over many years with intense use, but most homeowners love the warm, aged look it creates—similar to how heat gently darkens the wood mantel.
Ready to have the most beautiful fireplace-area flooring in the neighborhood?
Contact Legacy Interior Service today for your free in-home consultation and let us show you why we’re the most referred specialty flooring company for fireplace installations.
