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Squeaky floor fixes?

12 years ago
Do you have any squeaky boards in your floor? Have you in the past? I've heard there are lots of different remedies, and would love to hear what has worked for you. Any tips?

Share your experience! (Photos encouraged)

Glencoe · More Info

Comments (28)

  • 12 years ago
    Powder sprinkled on the floor cracks
    Emily Hurley thanked Brandi Nash Hicks
  • PRO
    12 years ago
    I've heard the powder solution before but that it doesn't work and could cause more problems. Squeaking could be either the sub floor moving against the joists or the product has milling issues or wasn't installed with enough staples/cleats. Is it an older home on shiplap over the joists? This would be wood planks supporting the floor as opposed to plywood, which could be on top of the shiplap as well. The subfloor being screwed down properly is extremely important.
    Emily Hurley thanked Masterpiece Hardwood Flooring Ltd.
  • PRO
    12 years ago
    Baby powder or other talcum powder is the handy man fix since it is inexpensive and may be a quick remedy.
    Emily Hurley thanked Construction Guaranteed
  • 12 years ago
    I have heard from a number of people that baby powder works. Apply it to your floors and put a sheet down if you want. Jump lightly on the wood floors so that the powder can penetrate in the spaces
    . Reapply if necessary. I am not advocating that you should jump up and down. Some people could fall and therefore you may want to hire a pro to do this for you... I apologize, but I have to be careful that no harm comes to any of my Houzzer colleagues.
    I have just been told by others that this process seems to work very well. Please be careful. And once again I am not advocating this technique for anyone to try. I am simply reiterating what was told to me. Thank you for your understanding. Warm regards, Susan
    Emily Hurley thanked Susan Horvath
  • 12 years ago
    Look at acehardware.com. They have a product for squeaky floor. If you can and my husband has drill deck screws into floor joices. This was done after old carpet was taken up and before new carpet was put down. Good luck!
    Emily Hurley thanked Patricia Phelps
  • PRO
    12 years ago
    If you go to this link, the second Q&A down is on squeaky floors and his answer is very informative. http://hardwoodfloorsmag.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=1832&zoneid=1
    Emily Hurley thanked Masterpiece Hardwood Flooring Ltd.
  • 12 years ago
    How do you fix carpeted hard wood floors that squeak? My sons bedroom is above the master and I hear every move he makes. Any helpful advice?
    Emily Hurley thanked zaviorac
  • 12 years ago
    An expensive solution is to use hand-smithed nails. Often floors squeak because the machine made nails are so smooth and even that they pull loose in their socket and allow squeaking. Hand-smithed nails are square so they won't turn in their hole and the slight variations of their surface allow them better grip of what they are holding together. Unfortunately most hand-smithed nails will cost around $1.50 or higher each due to the labor involved in making them. http://www.bobvila.com/articles/446-cut-nails-hammering-home-authenticity/#.U1aG41ea9KU
    Emily Hurley thanked Jessica Mack
  • 12 years ago
    thank you Jessica
    Emily Hurley thanked zaviorac
  • 12 years ago
    I had very creaky floorboards. When I got my hardwood installed, the guy fixed all the squeaks before laying the wood. He didn't have to take the plywood off to do it. He used screws or nails ( don't recall) you can google it.
    Emily Hurley thanked wickedxx
  • PRO
    12 years ago
    Screws are the go-to product to prevent future problems. The problem is they slow down the builders who prefer to use nail-guns. A nail will work its way loose and the wood rubbing against the nail is what you are hearing. A properly screwed in place subfloor/substrate will not have this issue because screws do not work themselves loose.

    You will pay a bit more to have subfloors "screwed" into place (the cheapest option = staples = more problems) but the end result is well worth the extra $1000 at time of build. Nailing down a subfloor/substrate is the cheaper, easier/faster way to do it but it almost always results in squeaky floors.
    Emily Hurley thanked Cancork Floor Inc.
  • 12 years ago
    thank you, but what do I do with floors already covered in carpet?
    Emily Hurley thanked zaviorac
  • PRO
    12 years ago
    zaviorac,

    You can get a reapair kit in your local Box store in flooring department or order it from Amazon.com
    http://www.amazon.com/Squeeeeek-More-Floor-Repair-Kit/dp/B0006IK8YE/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AP2WTDCXY1BCXFMJKDF

    You have to pull the carpet a few feet back to accurately locate your floor joist and the joist spacing, and measure to the floor area where you have the squeak and follow the instructions on the kit. Keep in mind, doing this way with carpet in place, some carpets can sustain damage, because the thread will get pulled, tight knitted carpets can also sustain damage and you will see the screw hole.

    So when doing this in a Customers House, and since you have to pull the carpet- the fastest and more reliable way to fix this, is pull the carpet back, cut the padding over the floor area where the squeak is and screw the plywood down. Call someone to re-stretch and tuck the carpet back in, or do it yourself and you're done.
    Emily Hurley thanked GN Builders L.L.C
  • 12 years ago
    We had a couple places that squeaked on our second floor. We did not have access to the floor joists from below, which is one area where you can work on squeaks.

    We tried one of the squeak kits that you can use from above the area, where you have special screws and you screw the floor (right through the carpet) down into the joists. It did not work for our squeaks, but I would think it would work for some.

    Our squeaks were coming from underneath interior walls (although if you walked by you'd cause the squeak without having to be right next to the wall). For us we found if we pulled back the carpet a bit and then hammered small wooden shims under the wall near where the squeak was, that it eliminated most of the squeaking. It was amazing how well it worked. I had thought we'd never find a solution. It has been heavenly since the squeaking has gone!
  • 12 years ago
    thank you so much. I will look into purchasing a kit.
  • 12 years ago
    Floor squeaks give a home character. Leave them and embrace them.
  • 12 years ago
    I think it was in Japan that squeaky floors were considered a type of burglar alarm, they would deliberately build them to squeak so that anyone who broke into the home would wake up the owners - called a nightingale floor if I remember correctly.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightingale_floor
  • 12 years ago
    We had so many squeeks in our house it drove us crazy. What caused them was the builders using nails instead of screws when building the house. So when we started changing out our carpet or adding hardwood floors we used as many screws as needed to fix the problem. One area was so bad we had at least six screws going through the sub-floor in one small area & it still squeeked, that when we went under the house and added screws to the floor joist from below & finally ended the squeekys.
  • 12 years ago
    What about squeaky stairs? Ours are new, and only started squeaking after the trim molding was installed just below the tread on the face of the stairs. I don't want to remove the trim if I can help it as it really finishes off the stairs. Doesn't seem like baby powder would be easy on a vertical surface. Would hand-smithed nails help? (posted by @jessica above). Thanks!
  • 12 years ago
    Marie, I don't know about what might be causing your squeak thus I hope one of the Pros on here can help answer your question. Obviously it has something to do with the addition of the trim if it wasn't doing it before you added that, but not certain how to stop it in that case.
  • PRO
    12 years ago
    My past two houses were ranch houses built with slab on grade. Unfortunately when I walked across the floor I discovered the creaks I was hearing was not the floor.
  • 12 years ago
    I have a century old home and the floors and stairs are very squeaky. Our original pine hardwood is the subfloor. I am not able to see the joists on the second floor so how would I fix the squeaks?
  • PRO
    12 years ago
    We've had folks suggest that squeaky floors in front of the REFRIGERATOR are a good thing if someone is on a diet & prone to sneak a snack... haha
  • 12 years ago
    for a carpetted floor (that doesn't have hardwoods you want to save under it) there are actually special screw kits you can buy.
    you pull the pile of the carpet back so you can see the canvas base, and then screw the screw in, to a liiiiittle past the snap point, then snap off the screw head and re-fluff the carpet.
    the broken off point sits below your padding, slightly, so it won't catch on your feet when you walk.


    super hot, you might look at using extra-long finish nails in an air-powered gun. finish nails have small heads, and the little nicks would be easily hidden.
  • 12 years ago
    marie, it sounds like the trim pushed the tread up higher than it should be.
    if you can remove and reposition it, i would think that would stop the squeak.
  • 12 years ago
    Thank you, we'll try that!
  • 12 years ago
    We tried the special screw kit at first & it did help with some of the squeeks but until we took up the carpet to be replaced we still had squeeks. When you take up the carpet you can see where the nails were in the subfloor, so this is where you start to focus on adding the screws. Then you start walking the floor so you can find out if you got all the squeeks out. There was a place on the second floor in one of the rooms that we had to pull up the nail to get the squeek to stop. We don't know what it was rubbing against but taking out the nail was the only solution we hadn't tried. I love not having squeeky floors.