How do we fix our hardwood floor?

Tom Bastean
by Tom Bastean
Our hardwood floor creaks in one spot when you walk on it . What can we do as the basement under it is totally finished ?

  6 answers
  • Joyce Eikenberry Joyce Eikenberry on Aug 12, 2017

    Sprinkle talcum powder -- or better yet, diatomaceous earth (DE)! -- between the floorboards and sweep it into the cracks well. The powder will lubricate the squeak. Better yet, if you use DE it will prevent fleas, gnats, and those little bitty black ants.

  • William William on Aug 12, 2017

    Talcum powder is a temporary fix. Once it dissipates the squeaks come back.


    I had the same problem in a hall above a finished basement. This is an old carpentry trick. Use your foot to find the squeaks. Mark them with pieces of tape. Drill 1/8" holes into the wood at an angle facing each other about 1/2" apart. Use 8 Penny (8d) finish nails and nail them into the holes. Countersink the nails and fill the holes with a Minwax wax pencil same color as the floor. The nails at an angle will pull down and hold the floorboard from moving.



  • Sharon Strain Sharon Strain on Aug 12, 2017

    Baby Powder

  • Renee Vlna Renee Vlna on Aug 12, 2017

    if you don't have talcum powder, which now a days they are finding bad for you, just grab the corn starch out of your kitchen cabinet.

  • David Harmon David Harmon on Aug 12, 2017

    look up Dri Tack wood floor adhesive repair kit , to inject between subfloor and existing floor. its liquid latex. Works like a champ.

  • Diane Diane on Aug 12, 2017

    Depends on why it is creaking. If the nails used to attach the board to the sub-floor are squeaking, try getting some talcum powder or WD-40 in there. Try this first if you aren't sure. If the board is somewhat warped, you could try screwing it down using an unobtrusive looking counter-sunk screw and fill the screw head with coloured wood filler to match the floor colour, and then seal it with some sort of sealer. If the creaking is actually the sub-floor, taking the hardwood up is the only way to fix that. I've had some success with these methods. If you can't fix it, over time you'll get accustomed to it and hardly notice it.