Preparing to lay hardwood floors...but having problems with my current carpeted floors squeaking... what to do

Answer 1

OK first lets look at what makes floors squeak. 95% of the time its caused by not allowing enough room for expansion when the sub-floor was installed. So the plywood or particleboard ends up rubbing on each other therefore squeaking. the proper way to solve this problem is to locate the joint and using a circular saw set to 3/4 of an inch cut a space only the width of the saw blade on the joint allowing the sub-floor to flex freely. a couple of screws are not a bad idea because the fasteners there now have probably become somewhat loose due to previous tension on that joint but if you don't release that tension (cut joint) then eventually it will return. I hope this helps. Good luck with your project I've done this several time for customers so if I can be of further help contact via e-mail.

Answer 2

I maintained a garden apt. complex and had to replace many floors. When you take up the carpeting you may only need to screw down some of the plywood or particle board where the squeaks are.

Answer 3

are you installing the hardwood yourself or is a professional going to do it? They should know how to fix it. But if you are doing it yourself, just put a couple screws in the floor where it squeeks, and make sure they are flush with the rest of the floor...my brother owns a flooring business and has to deal with it all the time.

Answer 4

before you install the flooring you need to lay luron as a sub flooring. and renail the whole floor this will cure the squeaking problem.

Answer 5

you may have to get under the house crawl space and find the floor joist near the area that is squeaking and place shims or wedges in that area. sometimes houses settle and the joist will pull away form existing shims or wedges

Answer 6

it sounds like the boards have come loose from the beams, check all the nails to make sure that they are in the wood good