Question: I have a floor that every single time I step on it I get the most annoying sound. I don't know what it does to me or why it bothers me so much. My kitchen floor squeaks and actually moves up and down if you are standing on it. The whole floor moves. How do I stop it from moving and squeaking. Help Me Greg!
Answer: It sounds like you have a broken floor joist. You are going to have to go under your house. If you have a basement this will be a little easier to fix. It is my guess that you don't have a basement or you would have seen the broken floor joist by now.
Have someone stand on the floor in the spot that squeaks and have them move up and down while you are under the house. Don't have them jump up and down while you are under the house. This could cause more damage to the structural framing of the floor. Once you are in the right position under the floor you can have them start moving slowly. What you are looking for is one of the floor joist that are moving.
If you see one of them moving. Look to see where the damage is. Is it a split, crack, wood rot or a big knot in the wood that has loosened up and fell out. Once you find the damaged floor joist you can now think about repairing it.
If you don't see any floor joist moving. Have the person on top start moving a little bit more and you can even have them jump on it a few times until you see something out of place. If you still don't see any broken floor joist. Start looking at the sub-floor, this will be plywood of some form, 1 x 6 or 2 x 6 materials.
What you are looking for is movement of any kind. Is there a separation or movement between the sub-floor and the floor joist. If you still can't find the problem maybe it is time to call in a professional.
The main thing you are going to be looking for is movement of any kind.
Most squeaky floors are caused from the sub-floor rubbing up and down on a nail. If you have carpeting and you have a squeaky floor you can do your best to locate a floor joist and screw right through your carpeting into the floor joist.
For more help on fixing squeaky floors visit http://gregvan.com/wood_repair.htm
Thanks for the great question. I hope it helps.
Greg Vanden Berge has been in the home building and remodeling business for over 30 years. With this knowledge he has created a few websites that provide useful information for home owners as well as contractors. His main goal is to educate professionals in the home related businesses, dealing with problems that can easily be avoided with just a little bit of information.
His website http://gregvan.com provides all kinds of answers to remodeling and new house building issues that could create major damage as well as possible damage to your pocket book.
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1 comment:
After reading the comments in regards to fixing a "squeaky floor" I'm having a hard time believing there's a broken floor joist involved. In my 30 plus years in the construction arena the only time I've seen issues with floor joists is when termites were involved. Also you cannot use standard screws when fixing a squeak under carpet. Standard screws will grab the yard of the carpet and start winding it around the screw. There are special screws on the market just for this type of application!
Before you can fix a squeaky floor you need to know where the squeaks are coming from and you need to understand your floor construction.
So where do squeaks come from? An estimated 85 percent of all squeaks come from the top of the floor joist and the underside of the subfloor. In most cases there's no glue between the joist and the subfloor and nails were used rather than screws. If nails were used, they most likely were not ringshank nails. Over time, regular nails will pop upward, causing the bottom side of the subfloor to rub on the top surface of the floor joist and on the shank of the nail—and a squeak is born!
Squeaks can come from around floor ductwork. Squeaks can be created if one (or more) of the floor joists crowns downward rather than upward. Squeaks can be found in the field, i.e., the areas between joists. Squeaks could also come from between the subfloor and the underlayment or at the joints where they meet in double-floor construction. In single-floor construction, the squeaks could come from where the subfloor's joints meet or between hardwood and the subfloor. Normally in single-floor construction T&G sheet goods are used—squeaks could also come from the T&G joints.
Here's my recommendations when it comes to purchasing hardware to fix a squeaky floor!
There are Floor Squeak Eliminator products on the market that can help with stopping annoying floor squeaks.
http://www.mysqueakyfloors.com offers these three products to help eliminate floor squeaks in three different ways: through finished hardwood floors and stairs, from the underside of the floor, and through carpeted floors.
Got a squeak? http://www.mysqueakyfloors.com offers a product that's just right for you!
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