How to Fix Squeaky Wood Floors

Living in vintage houses is pretty fun until a peace-robbing squeaky noise emanates from the floor with the rhythm of your footsteps. The undignified sound may make you feel as though you are living in a haunted house. However, if you have never had an encounter with such, be assured that it is a real-time maddening ordeal.

Though, it’s a no brainer work to track down the source of your displeasure. Little did you know that the squeaks may not be a severe problem as it may seem to be and may cost you just a couple of minutes to fix. The annoying noise may be as a result of gaps forming between the joists and the floorboards, thus allowing them to rub up against each other. The irritating squeaky wood floors can either be fixed from the top or bottom depending on the area of occurrence using the following methods:

Bridge the gaps by use of shims

The setting of squeaks may even be better if you can have access to the space below the floor. You can go below the floorboards and have someone to gently walk on the squeaky wood floors as you try to locate the spot. After you’ve found the exact position of the peeps, you will have to use a spotlight to inspect whether there is a gap between the underside of the sub-floor and the top of the joist. There has to be a space. No matter how smaller the area may be, spread some carpenter’s glue onto the wood shim and push it into space.

Caution should be taken not to hammer the shim or forcefully to fit it into the small space. This may end up creating a hump in the above sub-floor. The primary purpose of the shim is to fill the space and ensure that there is no more space for rubbing up against the floorboards.

Fill long gaps

What if you found a long-running floor crack or space that may go the length of the floor? Well, for this kind of space, it wouldn’t make a sense to install another series of shim. Instead, you will only have to fill the gap by a bead of strong adhesive; most preferably the contraction adhesive. The resin is strong enough to hold the boards together when dry to stop the disturbing noise. However, you should always check if the running crack also appears on the other side of the floor even though they mostly appear only on one side. If the cracks exist on the other side too, apply an adhesive.

Fix and nail a board across the warped joist

This step can effectively fix the noise in the case of warped floors. The space between the joists and sub-floor may be due to the shrinking, twisting, warping, or deterioration of the floor joists. You can fix the problem through the use of a piece of wood of a reasonable length. Apply an adhesive on the top of the wooden block along with the joist at the top.  Hold the wooden block flat along the baseboards and firm it by driving a nail through and further  3-Inch screws.

Fix a wooden block to the joists

Alternatively, you can fix squeaky wooden floors by installing a wooden block between the joists. Ensure you cut the block from lumber of the same dimension as the floor joist. If the floor joist is size 2 by 6, ensure you cut a block of the same size. The blocks should fit snugly into space but not tightly against the underfloor. Spread the adhesive evenly and fasten the block with drywall screws of 3-inch size.

Drive in screws into the sub-floor

In most cases creaking noise is as a result of the rubbing action of the floorboards against the underlying plywood in the sub-floor. You can stop the movement of the floorboards up and down when stepped on by driving short screws through the underside of your floor up into the bottom of the finished floors. Make sure that the screws are short enough to avoid penetrating through into your finished floor. Being careless when driving the screws may land you into a new problem more than just a squeak.

Even though squeaky wood floors is a common phenomenon in old wooden floors, even the new ones are not an exception. As the new floors continue to dry over time, they may leave gaps between the floorboards and the joist that is always a prerequisite for squeaking. If you have been in endless perseverance of the annoying sounds, the above methods will fix your problem in a couple of minutes. You can always decide on the most appropriate process for your case.