Wood Flooring in Montclair, NJ

The median home here dates to 1938 or earlier and about 84.4% of the housing predates 1978 — the two facts that shape most flooring work in this town.

What Montclair floors are usually made of

In Montclair the median home dates to 1938 or earlier, and 58.8% of the housing stock was built before 1940 — so original floors here are frequently narrow-board, sometimes heart pine, and often already refinished more than once.

Pre-1940 housing in New Jersey typically carries narrower boards than the 2¼-inch red oak strip that became standard after the war. Heart pine appears in the oldest of it, and parquet shows up in entryways, dining rooms and stair landings.

The practical consequence in Montclair is that wear layer is the first thing we measure, not the last. A floor that has been sanded twice across a century may not have enough wood left above the tongue for a third, and finding that out before quoting is the difference between a good result and a bill for work that could not deliver.

It also means these floors are worth saving. Original material of this age cannot be reproduced at reasonable cost, which usually makes restoration the better economics against replacement.

Services we provide in Montclair

Every service below is the same crew and the same method used across Essex County — the page for each one says what it involves in Montclair specifically.

How Montclair compares

Housing here runs about 18 years older than the Essex County median of 1956.

At 84.4% pre-1978, Montclair sits in the oldest quarter of the 185 towns we serve. Neighbouring Bloomfield is a different picture — median 1950 against 1938 here — which is why we quote by address rather than by area. Montclair is about 38 miles from our base in Eatontown.

Housing data for Montclair

These are the Census figures behind everything above — published so you can check them rather than take our word for it.

Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2023 5-Year Estimates. See the full dataset.

Lead-safe requirements in Montclair

About 84.4% of Montclair homes were built before 1978, so work that disturbs painted baseboards, shoe molding or stair components will usually fall under the EPA's lead-safe rule.

This is the normal condition of a Montclair job, not an exception to plan around. The exposure is at the edges of the floor — sanding equipment runs directly against painted trim.

Dust containment and lead-safe practice are different things. A containment system manages nuisance dust; the RRP rule addresses a regulated hazard and carries its own containment, cleaning and verification requirements. Ask about both, separately.

The pre-1978 figure is approximate — see the method note on our housing data page for how it is derived.

Towns near Montclair

Frequently asked questions