Hardwood Floors in Somerville, MA

A floor-through in a Somerville triple-decker prices at $10,000 to $22,000 for 1,000 square feet, because supplied-and-installed hardwood runs $10 to $22 per square foot. Labor is $3 to $10 of that, straight-lay cheapest and herringbone highest. Sixty-one percent of the city's units are in two- to four-family buildings and about two-thirds predate 1939, so the board subfloor under the old strip often needs $900 to $3,000 of work per floor, or $2 to $10 per square foot, before installation. The process is laid out on the installation page.

The property owner. When a dumpster has to sit on a public street rather than a driveway, Somerville requires a Dumpster License, applied for through the city's CitizenServe portal by the owner, not the contractor. If the job only needs a reserved curb space for the van, the Parking Department at 133 Holland Street issues the same $40-per-day permit used for moving trucks, for up to three days. Refinishing needs neither, since sanding dust leaves in sealed bags; a tear-out before new flooring is the case that does.

Seven in the morning. Somerville's noise ordinance bars construction, drilling and demolition equipment between 6pm and 7am, and outdoor power tools before 9am on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. That leaves an eleven-hour weekday window, so the 21 to 33 sanding hours a 1,000-square-foot unit needs fit into three weekdays with the downstairs tenant home. Bona Traffic HD dries in 1 to 2 hours per coat, so both finish coats land within one permitted day.

Often, yes. Two-thirds of Somerville's housing units are in buildings from before 1939, well before the 1978 lead paint ban, and sanding disturbs the baseboards, thresholds and stair risers where old paint sits in a Spring Hill Victorian or a Winter Hill triple-decker. Disturbing that paint is regulated renovation work under federal and state lead-safe rules, with prescribed containment and cleanup. Get the lead-safe certificate number of any contractor you hire in writing and keep it with the contract.

Chatter marks: regular ripples left when a belt sander or a single-direction buffer vibrates across boards that are not perfectly flat, which describes most 1890s to 1920s floors around Union Square and Prospect Hill. A standard buffer with an 80 or 100 screen cannot take them out. The Epoch HD fine buffer, about 50 percent heavier with six counter-rotating heads, cuts them away and adds 7 to 10 hours per 1,000 square feet, for a total of 28 to 43. Roughly 15 percent of Massachusetts flooring companies run that machine.