My home is only 6 years old, but I have 1 spot in my bedroom where the floor is REALLY creaky. Can I fix it?

Question

Why is it creaky? Its about a 3 square foot spot that creaks really loud when I step on it. Can I fix it somehow?

Answer 1

Yes, they have covered this on this old house. There is a special screw system that you can put in carpet or hardwood that will secure the flooring that is causing the squeaking.

Either check out the this old house website or go to like an ace hardware and ask about it.

Basically you screw the specialized screw into the floor to the subfloor in the squeaking area and then the screwhead breaks of with the use of an adaptor and you don't see the screw anymore but the squeaks are gone

Answer 2

If you have carpet, peel it and the pad back so that you can see the rows of nails in the plywood subfloor. These are where the floor joists are located, which are usually 16" apart. Using a drill motor with a Phillips bit (or an impact driver if you have one), screw 1⅝" drywall screws 6" on center through the plywood and into the joists.

If you've got a finished wood floor, you'll have to use the special screws that sanjonny wrote about.

The builder should have applied construction adhesive to the top of the floor joists before putting the plywood subfloor in place and nailing it down. Sometimes the adhesive is not put on thick enough, or is allowed to get hard before the plywood is dropped in place, giving a weak bond that leads to squeaking. It is also possible that the joist is warped vertically, leaving a gap under the plywood that causes the squeak. Screws generally will close up the gap and stop the squeaking.

Answer 3

if you have a carpeted floor there is no need to pull back the carpet and pad. often a stud finder will locate the floor joists and you can drive the screws through the carpet ,the sub floor and into the floor joist. I would use deck screws at least 2" long though. These have an unthreaded section below the head that allows the screw to tighten turn in the sub floor and tighten it against the joist rather than drawing the head up tight against the sub floor and letting the gap remain between the joist and the sub floor.

Answer 4

I've read that baby powder sprinkled on hardwood floor joints and broomed in the cracks eliminate creaking. If your floor is vinyl or a laminate, and you can get under in to the floorboards ( as in the basement ) then spray the cracks in that creaking area with W D 40 or a food baking spray. Both contain a light oil and will penetrate/lubricate between the wood strips and prevent them from rubbing against one another.