What can we do with hardwood floors that creak?
by
Dlelsnerhr
+9
We built a home and have lived in it for about 1 year. We have hardwood in the majority of the living spaces -family room, dining room, kitchen, hallways. There are spots where it creaks so loudly we can't stand it. The builder, installer and retailer offer no solutions. It looks gorgeous - but hate the noise. Anyone have this experience? A suggestion? A solution?? Thanks in advance
Related Discussions
Suggested Project Book
Do you have a basement?
Lubricate the Floorboards. Eliminating floor or stair noises can be problematic when the room underneath is finished and you don't have access to the joists or subfloor. When wooden floorboards are causing the noise, add a lubricant to the problem area. Locate the squeaks. Walk around stepping on the flooring till it squeaks. Pour talcum powder, or powdered graphite between the boards. Then place a cloth over the boards and walk on it to work the lubricant into the cracks. This will reduce the wood-on-wood rubbing between the planks or strips that cause the squeaking. Vacuum up the remaining powder. ***** To tighten down the floor, drive two 6d or 8d spiral flooring nails on a slight angle towards each other through the floor into the subflooring. Predrilling should be done to prevent splitting of the wood and breaking of the nails. Gauge the drill bit size by eye... use the drill bit that is the same or slightly smaller than the shank of the nail. Predrill through the flooring but not through the subfloor, or the nail will not hold. Keep downward pressure on the squeaky area at all times while nailing. This will help to assure a solid job.Use a nailset to put the nailhead below the surface of the floor, and fill the hole with colored wax wood filler to match the floor, or mix colors to create intermediate shades for a better match.
There is also a clear liquid called "Swell-Lock" that you can put in between the cracks to 'expand' the wood to tighten the fit. You can find it in most hardware stores or online. If it is a major issue, William had a good answer as to how to nail it down.
Baby powder works also.
We found that the squeaking beneath our carpet was the sub-flooring was nailed in instead of screwed in! When we took up the Carpet and replaced it years later and put down hardwood in some areas, hubs screwed down all the sub-flooring! The only other solution I have ever heard about is talcum powder!
Is the wood floor seeking or the between the floor and sub floor? We fixed our by randomly crisscrossing small support boards between the floor joist. If it's the wood planks then the powder works.
Thank you all !!!