Creaky Floor Boards

[BluesForDan]

The hardwood floorboards in the side of the upstairs where my music room is squeak something awful. Especially at the entrance way to the room, where two boards butt ends right about where your foot falls. The whole room has squeaky spots all over. Since my brother moved out 5 years ago, there is not much traffic in there except for when I go in to play guitar (not as often as I should, I might add). At the doorway, I can feel the boards move independently of each other under the soles of my feet. Even light pressure from fingers can make the boards move noticeably (and creak, too).

The house had central air put in 18 years ago, and until last year, dried out horribly during the winter (humidity %s in the teens is not uncommon). These boards are probably dried out within a inch of their lives.

Is there plywood under hardwood flooring of a house of this vintage? Can these boards be snugged up with new fasteners? I can live with some creaking, but this is cacophony in motion big time. When I try to do any recording, not only do I have to worry about squeaky chairs, but squeaky floors. :jo

[doublee]

If its an old house it probably has no ply underneath. Use either trim head screws or the fluted/spiral type of nails, pre drill the hole thru the hardwood floor but not into the floor joists, at an angle ie not straight in (not perpendicular to floor). You also need to figure where the joists are. If there is space between the boards which it sounds like there is, you could shoot some glue in there before nailing/screwing.

[Slow Reflexes]

...Is there plywood under hardwood flooring of a house of this vintage? Can these boards be snugged up with new fasteners? ...Of what vintage?

And, yes, usually creaky floors can be tightened up or de-creaked with dry lubricant. Just depends how bad it is.

[BluesForDan]

Of what vintage?

And, yes, usually creaky floors can be tightened up or de-creaked with dry lubricant. Just depends how bad it is.

house was built ~ 1962-ish. It was only a few years old when we moved in January of '65.

I think there is plywood underneath, as the floor joists and floorboards are oriented in the same direction (just looked in the crawlspace to confirm this).

It is pretty bad. How do you get the dry lubricant (what is that, graphite dust?) in there?

[Suproman77]

Are the floorboards nailed or screwed in? You should have it redone with screws.

[MikeE]

Sounds like it's on the 1st floor which means it should have a subfloor underneath the hardwood.

[BluesForDan]

Are the floorboards nailed or screwed in? You should have it redone with screws.

nailed in

Sounds like it's on the 1st floor which means it should have a subfloor underneath the hardwood.

2nd floor American = upstairs (first floor in UK I think). For all I know, there could be strapping instead of plywood, but the floorboards are parallel to the joists.

[Mike Anderson]

There's a good chance the flooring wasn't properly installed.

I used to install flooring when I was a teenager. I was always taught to "break the joints" by at least a foot or more. Look at a spot where the board ends come together. Is there another joint just a few inches (or less) away in the adjacent strip of boards? If so, that's part of the problem.

The other thing is that the boards need to shoved against each other together very snugly before being nailed in.

If the installer was lazy, he probably didn't pay attention to these things. Unfortunately the solution I know of is to pull up the flooring and re-install it properly.

[Suproman77]

nailed in

Yeah, I thought so. Like I said, screws right into the joists, lots of them, and the problem should be solved for life.

[Dave Orban]

In severe cases, you may need to add shims under the floorboards in question.

For a second-floor problem, the easiest way to do this is to cut holes in the sheetrock of the ceiling below, cut and apply shims as appropriate, then screw through them from above.

Then, you just need to patch the ceiling holes, repaint, and you're good to go.

[lcjc800]

Quick easy fix, get a good stiff, dense broom like a hearth broom and a bottle of talcum powder, sprinkle the Tact liberally on the floor, brush across the joints, then along the joints, repeat to insure penetration, then sweep up the left overs, Start with a clean floor.
This should eliminate squeaking flood boards temporarily.