Flooring in Varsity
Varsity is one of northwest Calgary’s mature communities, developed in the 1960s and 70s next to the University of Calgary and what is now Market Mall. The homes are bungalows, splits and early two-storeys on generous lots, with full-grown trees and the solid construction of the period.
Two things define the flooring work here. First, many of these houses still have their original hardwood, usually under carpet laid decades later. Second, proximity to the university means a high share of homes have a basement suite, which brings a completely different specification from the floor above it.
What the Homes Are Like Here
Main floors were built with oak strip flooring in most cases, with smaller, more separated rooms than a modern plan. Beneath them, board subfloors are common rather than sheet panels, and basement slabs were poured as working surfaces.
Many homes have been renovated over the decades, so a single house can contain three or four flooring generations — original oak in the living room, 1980s parquet in a hallway, 2000s laminate in a kitchen, and carpet over the top of some of it.
The Flooring Work We Do in Varsity
- Uncovering and refinishing original hardwood.
- Rental suite flooring, chosen for durability and repairability.
- Levelling basement slabs before new floors.
- Board subfloor preparation ahead of tile and floating floors.
- Weaving new boards where walls have been removed.
Two Buildings in One House
A Varsity home with a suite is effectively two properties with different requirements, and treating them identically is a mistake in both directions.
Upstairs, where the owner lives, the right answer is often the floor that is already there: original hardwood, sanded and refinished, with the character of sixty-year-old oak that no new product reproduces.
Downstairs, in a suite, the priorities invert. The floor needs to survive tenants, tolerate spills, sit on a below-grade slab and be repairable without redoing the room. Waterproof vinyl plank does all of that, and keeping spare planks from the same lot turns a future repair into an hour of work.
Sixty-Year-Old Construction
Homes of this era were built well, and they were built differently. Board subfloors — planks laid diagonally rather than sheet panels — are common, and they are excellent for nail-down hardwood but need an added panel layer before tile or thin floating floors.
Basement slabs are the usual older-home story: uneven, often sloping to a drain, and sometimes carrying old adhesive from a previous floor. And six decades of seasonal movement produce squeaks that are quick to eliminate while a floor is up.
None of this is problematic. It simply has to be in the plan and on the estimate, which is why we look carefully before quoting rather than assuming a modern house underneath.
Smaller Rooms, More Doorways
Homes of this era were built with more walls than modern plans use. A 1960s Varsity bungalow typically has a separate living room, a separate dining room, a galley kitchen and a hallway serving the bedrooms — which means a lot of doorways in a relatively small floor area.
That has two practical effects on flooring. It increases the labour per square foot, because cuts and transitions concentrate at every opening. And it makes material continuity more valuable: running one floor through the connected living spaces makes a compartmentalized home feel considerably larger, while changing material at each doorway emphasizes how divided it is.
Where original hardwood exists in some rooms and not others — common after decades of partial renovations — weaving in matching boards and refinishing the whole level usually produces a better result than adding a fourth material to the mix.
Floors That Suit Varsity Homes
- Refinished hardwood on main floors where the original oak survives.
- Luxury vinyl plank in basements and rental suites.
- Carpet in bedrooms and on stairs.
- Porcelain tile in updated kitchens and bathrooms.
Pricing in Varsity
Material pricing matches the rest of Calgary — hardwood $8 to $16 per square foot installed, vinyl plank $8 to $15, carpet $4 to $8 — while refinishing existing hardwood is quoted by scope and typically costs a fraction of replacement. Older homes carry higher preparation lines: removal $0.50 to $3 per square foot and subfloor work $1 to $4 where board subfloors or uneven slabs need attention. See the Calgary flooring cost guide.