Replacing Original Floors in Bedford's 1970s and 1980s Homes
Bedford filled in fast. The city went from 10,049 residents in 1970 to 43,762 in 1990 (U.S. Census), and the median home here was built in 1983, according to American Community Survey estimates for 2020 to 2024. Since then the city has been close to fully developed: only about 3 percent of its housing went up in 2010 or later. So nearly every hardwood job we quote in Bedford begins with taking something out.
What comes up varies. Some houses still have glue-down parquet, a style whose popularity in American homes peaked in the 1960s. Others have sheet vinyl in the kitchen, ceramic tile in the entry and carpet everywhere else. The concern is what holds those floors down. The EPA warns that the backing on older sheet vinyl and some black adhesives, often called black mastic, may contain asbestos, so we do not grind or scrape suspect residue until a lab test clears it. Once the slab is clean, we check moisture and flatness, then usually recommend engineered hardwood glued to the concrete or floated over a moisture barrier, since solid boards need a wood subfloor to nail into.