Cedar Mill Property Repair fixes squeaky floors, loose or damaged hardwood boards, soft subfloor and small low spots, serving Cedar Mill, Beaverton, Bethany and nearby. Market numbers we pulled for the Portland area this November put a squeak repair at roughly $200-$800 and a subfloor section $500-$3,000 , both for labour only.
Vinyl plank and laminate are covered on a separate page; creaky stair treads go under stairs and railings.
Why do floors squeak, and will the fix last?
A squeak is wood moving against wood, or against a nail, when you step. Usually the boards rub along their edges, a nail has backed out, the subfloor has lifted off a joist where the glue let go, or there's a small gap above the joist. Wood also swells and shrinks with the seasons, so a quiet floor in February can talk in August.
The quiet lasts only once the subfloor sits snug on the joist again. Talc in the cracks buys a few quiet weeks. If the floor also bounces or dips, that's a subfloor or framing problem.
On the west side, a house from the 1950s-80s usually sits on a crawl space, so many squeaks can be fixed from underneath without touching the finished floor .
How is a squeak stopped without pulling up the floor?
First we find it. One person walks, one listens from below, and we mark the spot and its joist.
| Where we work | When it fits | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| From below | Crawl space or unfinished basement, joist reachable | Glued shims into the gap, a block glued and screwed along the joist, or short screws up into the subfloor |
| From above, hardwood | No way in from below | Pre-drilled trim-head screw or nail into the joist, head set and filled with matching putty |
| From above, carpet | Carpeted room, no access below | Snap-off screw driven through the carpet into the joist, head broken off below the pile |
Can a few bad hardwood boards be swapped out on their own?
Yes, when it's a handful of boards. A pet stain, a water mark by the back door or a board cupped near an old leak can be cut out in place. We split out the bad board, trim the new one's bottom groove, then glue and face-nail it, staggering the joints so the patch doesn't read as a square.
Fresh wood will stand out until the floor is refinished. We don't refinish full floors . Replacement boards come from new stock or from inside a closet .
What causes a soft spot in the floor, and how is subfloor repaired?
A floor that gives underfoot almost always has water behind it: a toilet wax ring that leaked for months, a tub edge, a dishwasher line, or rain getting in under an exterior door. A damp crawl space does the same thing more slowly.
Water comes first: the leak is stopped (toilets and supply lines, or crawlspace repairs for water coming in below), the framing dries, and then we cut the subfloor back to sound wood over the joists. Blocking goes in at the cut edges, new plywood is glued and screwed down, and the finished floor goes back on . Inside the City of Portland, taking up a toilet and setting it back for new floor covering needs no permit.
If the joist itself is soft or cracked, that's structural repair, and Oregon's building code treats structural repair as permit work .
Do you level floors before new flooring?
Small areas, yes: a low spot mid-room, a hump where an old wall stood, or a step where two subfloors meet. We fill it with patch or self-leveling compound over primed subfloor, plane or sand the high side, or shim from below where we can reach it . How flat is flat enough comes from the new flooring maker's instructions.
A whole floor sloping toward the middle of the house is a framing question; if it's structural, you'll hear that plainly and get the name of the trade to call.
What changes in an older house: asbestos under old vinyl and lead on painted trim?
Oregon DEQ asks that a house finished before January 1, 2004 get a survey for asbestos by an accredited inspector before any renovation, and it names old vinyl floor tile among materials nobody can identify by sight. We don't remove asbestos. If a repair means cutting through old sheet vinyl or 9x9 tile, it gets tested first and any removal is done by others . Everything else we decline is listed here.
In a pre-1978 home, anything past 6 square feet of disturbed paint in one room counts as lead-safe renovation work. A floor repair usually touches only painted baseboard or shoe moulding .
Both dates catch most of Cedar Hills, built mainly in the 1950s-60s, and Cedar Mill, where most houses date from the 1960s-70s. Bethany went up largely in the 1990s-2000s, so its houses often predate 2004 but not 1978.
How much is floor repair on Portland's west side?
These are labour only figures, drawn from November 2026 market data for the Portland area. Plywood, boards and leveler are extra .
| Job | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squeak repair, from above or below | $200 | $400 | $800 |
| Hardwood board patch or replacement | $300 | $600 | $1,200 |
| Soft or water-damaged subfloor section | $500 | $1,200 | $3,000 |
| Leveling low spots, small area | $300 | $700 | $1,500 |
The number moves with access from below, the count of spots, what's on top, board matching and how far the water travelled. Larger subfloor jobs can go over $2,000; Oregon wants any agreement above that in writing. Hourly rate and minimum: pricing.
Can I fix a squeaky floor myself?
Often. One squeak you can reach from below, or one under carpet plus a snap-off kit, is a fair Saturday job. Call someone when the floor bounces or dips, a spot feels soft, there's a stain or a damp smell, or the noise is under hardwood with no way in from below.