Thread: Squeaky Floorboards

HI Malcolm,

quite a common issue...

firstly talcum powder may solve the noise issue but not the movement causing the noise.

Re-nailing the boards will stop the movement for a little while, but take a closer look to find out if the movement comes from a warped board or a shrunken joist. Get someone to walk over the area whilst you are under the floor and see which joists may need small packers, once there is no more movement nail 'em down again (using different holes)

The time spent doing this will be well rewarded as you don't want to spend all the money on a new floating floor which looks fantastic and the first time someone walks on it it squeaks like 20 year old pine

Good luck

Hi Malcolm,
I have had a similar problem with my existing hallway floor (cyprus pine) where I found that despite a few ton of nails being hammered into the floor, both by me and the previous owner, the squeaks still remained. Like you I intend in the very near future to cover the existing boards with a floating floor and need to fix the squeaks prior to laying the floor.

The majority of squeaks found were from the mid-span of the board (between the joists?) where maybe the tongue or groove has broken or cracked.

The use of talcum I feel is only a temporary fix and the squeak will come back.

What I did find that works was to screw in a small csk self tapper between the boards at the mid-span which in some cases I ended up with a row of screws right across the hallway. As the floor was to be covered, I'm not really concerned with the astectics of the existing floor.

regards

Mark

Thanks for those comments - I'll have a look under the house and try to see exactly where the squeak is coming from - and try to use an appropriate method.

Looking at the types of nails you can get for a nail gun there seem to be a couple of nail which might be worth considering a. similar to decking nails which grip into the wood, and b. a nail with a resin coating the tip - this apparently melts the solidifies with when going into the joist.

Any thoughts.

Regards

Liquid nails between the joist and the offending board worked for me - primative but effectivly stopped that damn squeek.

DONT use a nail gun, do the job properly, if the boards are never to be seen again use Galvanised screws. the nails in a gun will stay in the joist but if you have a tendancy for movement the heads will become loose in soft pine.
Use packing where required and screw through the board and packing.

Why would anybody want to put a floating floor over cyprus pine.?

Originally posted by Taffy
Why would anybody want to put a floating floor over cyprus pine.?

Taffy
The cyprus pine is 3rd quality, very short lengths, 30-40% of all boards are split where nailed, on average 6 to 8 nails at every joist, full of knots with holes (depressions in the knot) and in general a very ugly looking floor.

Carpet is not an option due to allergies within the family.

If this floor had of been better quality, I wouldn't consider the expense of a floating floor.

Markw

Markw,
Point taken,
its just that I have a cyprus floor and it polished up beautifully, however had it looked as poor as yours obviously does then I would have covered it also.

Taffy.

Anyone ever tried screwing 50mm x 50mm timber battons to the offending floor boards and the ajoining joists to totally secure everything up.? We cant screw the boards down from above because of carpet but I have a good 6 foot of clearance under our house to work with. I was thinking this method would fix the problem for good, a bit of mucking around with the battons but would end up as solid as a rock. Your feedback would be valuable.

Originally Posted by muzzap

Anyone ever tried screwing 50mm x 50mm timber battons to the offending floor boards and the ajoining joists to totally secure everything up.? We cant screw the boards down from above because of carpet but I have a good 6 foot of clearance under our house to work with. I was thinking this method would fix the problem for good, a bit of mucking around with the battons but would end up as solid as a rock. Your feedback would be valuable.

I've done this before with success. Also, if the squeek is happening between the joists, due to movement in an end joint or damaged floor board try cutting a piece of 16mm structural ply to fit between the joists and cover 4or 5 boards. Then screw it to the underside of the floor where neccessary. Make sure the screws are not too long, Ouch!!

easiest thing to do is find some self taping screws shorter than the thickness of the floorboard. With your helper standing on the squeaking boards and you underneath simply put in a screw between the culprits

hope this helps