The oldest floor systems we work on
Riverdale is among the oldest residential fabric in the city, and it is also the shape of house that squeaks most. Two and three storey semi-detached and row housing on narrow lots means bedrooms sit directly over living space, so every step upstairs loads a joist span that somebody is sitting under. The original floors are strip hardwood over a plank subfloor, often laid diagonally across the joists because that was how rigidity was achieved before sheet goods existed. A century and a half of that assembly working through seasonal moisture cycles leaves a lot of individual boards free to move. Redevelopment in Riverdale has been concentrated in the South Riverdale industrial belt rather than the residential core, so the housing stock we are called to is largely intact.