Board subfloor and original stairs Free diagnostic visit Written quote before work

Squeaky floor repair in The Glebe

Squeaky Floor repairs squeaky floors and original stairs in Glebe houses. The Glebe was subdivided east of Bank Street in 1890 and was nearly built out by 1941, when the Glebe Community Association counted only 152 vacant lots left.

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Glebe housing, explained

Pre-war brick houses on board subfloor

Most Glebe houses were standing before the Second World War. The land was granted to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church as a glebe in 1837, subdivided east of Bank Street in 1890, and opened to commuters when the Bank Street streetcar started running in 1891. In 1902 a narrow-gauge railway moved sandy soil from the present Glebe Collegiate site to fill low ground. The City’s 2020 plan for the Clemow-Monkland Driveway and Linden Terrace heritage conservation district records those streets as largely built between 1906 and 1945, with more than 75 per cent of buildings clad in brick (City of Ottawa, Clemow-Monkland heritage district plan). Whether the walls are solid brick or veneer, the floors inside are wood: joists, typically with board subfloor and strip hardwood on top. Postwar housing filled the last lots after 1945, and some older houses have since been divided into apartments.

What we fix in Glebe homes

Nailed board subfloor

Boards over sawn joists, laid before plywood became standard, under strip hardwood.

Stacked bedrooms

Houses of two storeys or more, with bedrooms over the living rooms below.

Original staircases

Treads, risers and stringers original to the house, carrying all the traffic between floors.

From one of our repairs

An upstairs bedroom floor

This upstairs bedroom has wide oak boards running from the bed through the doorway into the hall. In the Glebe’s two-storey houses, bedrooms sit over the living rooms below, so a loose board up here can be heard downstairs as well as in the room.

Working on an older Glebe house

Original boards stay

Loose boards are refastened in place, not lifted and replaced.

Heritage districts and interiors

District heritage permits cover changes other than a building's interior, so an interior squeak repair does not normally need one.

Free diagnosis, written quote

We tell you the cause whether or not you book. Any workmanship warranty is set out in the quote.

What a Glebe floor or stair repair costs

One loose board under Glebe strip hardwood, or a single noisy tread, sits in the middle tier. An upstairs room loose across many joists, or work reached through the ceiling below, moves to the subfloor tier. Ranges are for budgeting; the written quote is the price.

Diagnostic Visit

Free

We locate the board or stair joint that moves
We check how the board subfloor runs
No charge and no obligation

Request a Visit
Most popular

Single Squeak or Short Run

$200 to $1,100 typical

One board, a short run, or one stair tread
Screwed or shimmed to the joist, hardwood kept
Price in writing before work starts

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Whole-Room or Subfloor Work

$1,000 to $3,500 typical

An upstairs room loose across many joists
May need access through the ceiling below
Any ceiling work named in the quote

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Our Process

How a Glebe squeak gets traced and fixed

1

Tell us which floor

Say which storey squeaks and what room sits under it. That decides whether we work from above or below.

2

Find the moving board

We walk the floor, mark the spot, and check whether the subfloor boards run straight or diagonal.

3

Quote, including any ceiling work

Scope and price in writing, including whether any ceiling has to be opened.

4

Refasten and re-walk

Loose boards are screwed down through the hardwood with trim-head screws, or shimmed from below, then walked again.

Customer reviews, for Glebe homeowners

5/5

We hired them to fix squeaking and movement in our hardwood floor. They identified the underlying problem quickly and completed the repair without needing to replace the entire floor. Everything now feels solid and quiet.

Jennifer

Direct Client

5/5

We needed an urgent flooring repair after several boards became loose and uneven. The team responded quickly, secured the boards, and corrected the uneven sections. Professional service and a high-quality repair from start to finish.

Robert

Direct Client

5/5

They repaired several damaged hardwood boards in our living room and blended the replacements beautifully with the existing floor. The team was punctual, tidy, and careful throughout the job. You can barely tell where the damage was.

Michael

Direct Client

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Glebe floor and stair questions

How old are Glebe floors likely to be?

Most are more than eighty-five years old. The Glebe Community Association's history records only 298 vacant lots left in the neighbourhood in 1931 and 152 in 1941, so the great majority of houses were standing by the Second World War. Postwar housing filled the last lots. In an older Glebe house that has not been substantially rebuilt, expect the original floor assembly.

We live in the Clemow Estate East heritage district. Does a Glebe squeak repair need a heritage permit?

Not normally. Clemow Estate East is a heritage conservation district under City of Ottawa By-law 2011-346, and section 42 of the Ontario Heritage Act requires a district permit for alterations to a property other than the interior of a building. A squeak repair refastens the boards and joists you already have, inside the house. If your house is also individually designated, its by-law can list interior features, so check with the City's heritage staff before any change to original flooring.

Why do footsteps upstairs carry so clearly in a Glebe house?

Because of when the houses were built. Most of the Glebe went up after the Bank Street streetcar opened in 1891, and in a two-storey house of that era each upstairs room sits on joists spanning the room below, under an era-typical nailed board subfloor. When those boards loosen, every step is heard downstairs. The fix is to refasten the boards to the joists, from above or through the ceiling below, rather than to cover the noise with rugs.

Hearing every step through a Glebe ceiling?

Ask for a free diagnostic visit. We trace the step you hear to the board or joist, then quote in writing.

Get a Free Quote Call (343) 353-8706
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