Hardwood Flooring in Stoughton, MA

Usually yes, and by a wide margin. Houses built from 1960 to 1979 make up 38 percent of Stoughton's stock, the largest block in town, and their builder-grade 2-1/4-inch red oak strip has rarely been sanded, so nearly the full quarter inch above the tongue remains. Sanding and refinishing costs $4 to $5.50 per square foot against $10 to $22 for new wood installed. The exceptions are pet stains that have soaked through to the subfloor or a lower level that took water, which become a repair conversation.

A 1,200-square-foot ranch main floor costs $4,800 to $6,600 to sand and refinish at $4 to $5.50 per square foot, and most single-floor projects across Stoughton fall in the $1,500 to $6,500 band. Adding a Bona DriFast stain puts 3 to 5 more working hours on a 1,000-square-foot floor. Ranches are efficient jobs because there are no stairs and the rooms open onto each other, which lets the belt sander run long passes. Weles offers 0 percent financing for up to 12 months on larger scopes.

Stoughton's 1888 railroad station sits 400 feet west of Washington Street, and the blocks around it hold the town's tightest parking along with its condo buildings. A refinishing crew needs one van within hose reach of a window for the vacuum system, so for downtown jobs the material delivery and the sanding days are set with the building manager ahead of time, and common hallways are covered with film before equipment moves. Detached homes off Routes 27 and 138 need none of that: the van sits in the driveway.

Bona Traffic HD, the two-component water-based finish, is the durable pick for a house where the dog comes in off the yard through the kitchen. It dries in one to two hours between coats, takes furniture after 3 days, and stays clear rather than ambering, at 150 g/L of VOCs so the family stays home while it goes on. A satin sheen shows claw scratches less than gloss. Oil-based Bona Woodline is tougher on the schedule: 12 to 15 hours per coat, 14 days before furniture, and nobody in the house during application.

Installed with materials, hardwood runs $10 to $22 per square foot, and the older the house the closer to the top of that range the subfloor line pushes it. About 37 percent of Stoughton's homes predate 1960, and those with board subfloors or sagging joists over a 1940s basement need $2 to $10 per square foot of leveling, screwing down or plywood overlay, or $900 to $3,000 for a whole-floor scope. Labor for the flooring itself is $3 to $10 per square foot, with parquet and herringbone at the high end.

Not until the moisture source is fixed. Cupping, where board edges rise above the centers, comes from a subfloor that is wetter than the wood above it, and split-levels and ranches with unfinished basements are the usual Stoughton case. Sand it flat while it is still cupped and the boards will crown, with centers humping up, once they dry out. The sequence is dehumidify, let the meter readings on the subfloor settle over several weeks, then sand, and any boards that have buckled off their nails are replaced rather than sanded.