Is there anything you can do about creaky floor boards?

Question

I live in an old farm house and the floors are constantly creaking and waking up my baby, anything I can do?

Answer 1

You really can nail them down. Go to your local hardware store and ask someone there for the correct type of nails for the job. (I think they are just "finishing" nails, but I am not sure.) Then just make sure you nail the floor boards into the supporting joists that hold up your floor... The hardware store will also have "crayons" to color in the very small holes you make in the floor.

I had to go through this procedure in the house I just bought. The floors are much quieter now.

Answer 2

Yes, but it can be a lot of work and/or expensive.

Creaks are due to movement of one piece of wood against another, so reducing niose requires either immobilizing the two surfaces or lubricating the contact points. The most effective immobilization is with screws, not nails.

If the floors are finished and you don't want to have any marks on them you have to get at them from below. For a few creaky points, wedges inserted between the boards and joists might be enough. Or some graphite lubricant (it won't dry out) sprayed into creaky points through a fine drilled hole from above or from below may reduce noise.

For more extensive creaks screwing planks or pieces of plywood across the floor boards from below (being sure not to use screws so long they come through the floor boards) can be effective. Given the work involved try in a small area to see if it is worth continuing.

If you can't get at the floor from below and you are prepared to refinish the floor, screw down the floor boards into the joists and lay plywood over the old floor and screw it down on a 6" grid. Then lay new flooring.

If you can't reach the floors from below on a wood floor you could consider screwing down the offending boards and cover the heads (countersink them below the floor surface) with wood plugs, or use a chisel to lift a flap of wood, insert a screw and glue the flap back in place.

Remember that a drywall ceiling can be opened up and patched later if you need to get at one or two spots in a floor above.

Answer 3

Usually creaking boards occur when nails have loosened. The boards can be rescrewed from above, screwing them is better than nailing.

If you can get to the boards from underneath and see the culprit nail, you can pull it tight and crimp it under to keep it from squeeking. You still need to rescrew the area to make sure the boards are not moving. Even if you get the squeek out, it can come back, but screwing will make it less likely. If it is a wood floor and you are screwing from above, you can fill the area with wood filler and color it to match the existing floor.

Many floor tech's know how to take care of this problem, so it might be good to hire a handyman familiar with flooring or actually hire someone from the flooring industry.

Answer 4

Yes, go in the basement, while someone is up and have them step on the Creaking board, put a shim under it and renail it. If this is a Second story w/o access- use a Finish nail and go through the carpet, worst case, pull back the carpet and Renail -

Answer 5

Put a carpet or a floor mat over that part of creaky floor boards. It should be able to cushion the pressure and no more creaky sounds will be heard.

Answer 6

Putting a nail in there works. We have the same problem in spots on our kitchen floor. My dad just went to the unfinished part of the basement (we have a 1-story house) underneath & put nails in the floor there & yay no more creaking! :-)

Answer 7

To get rid of those squeaks, try pouring a bit of talcum powder, cornstarch, or powdered graphite between the floorboards that are rubbing together. If these home-style treatments don't help, have a professional take a look for possible structural problems.

Answer 8

You will need to get in the basement and shim from underneath.. You should also screw into floor joists where it creaks.

Answer 9

have someone handy come over, or you can attempt it yourself, but go into the basement, find those evil floorboards, and nail them down tight :o)

Answer 10

don't walk on the creaky ones?