New Hardwood in Hurst Homes Built Before 1980
Census estimates put the median Hurst home's construction year at 1975, and about 60 percent of the city's housing went up before 1980 (American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024). The 1970s were the busiest decade, with roughly 3,700 of today's homes built then. A house from that era is most likely on a concrete slab close to 50 years old, and the slab sets the plan. On concrete we usually recommend engineered hardwood, glued down or floated, after a moisture test and a flatness check, since an older slab often carries patched plumbing trenches and hairline cracks from the clay below.
Height is the other thing we measure closely. Engineered planks plus adhesive or underlayment can sit higher than the carpet they replace, so we check every spot where the new floor meets kitchen tile, a fireplace hearth or an exterior threshold, and we undercut door jambs so doors still swing freely. Some older Hurst homes still have oak strip floors in the bedrooms. In those houses we match species and board width as closely as we can and often suggest refinishing the old rooms during the same visit, so stain and sheen line up from room to room.