
The third reason your floor could be creaking is because the top of one Joist is too low and not level or flush with the other joists and noggins around it.Whilst this is happening, the screw or nail is rubbing against the joist below, causing the squeak or creak. Because the screw or nail has not fixed the floor down properly it is able to bounce up and down when walked on. This is a common reason why your flooring is squeaky.
During the flooring installation a nail or screw has either missed the joist completely, just caught it or has split out of the side of the joist . It sounds too stupid to occur but it is really common! This can also happen because someone has cut the floor to access a pipe or something below and not put it back properly with enough support below it. Therefore it moves up and down with no support underneath and is rubbing against the adjacent board or against the joist itself. Floorboard has been cut short and the join just misses the joist below. In the image of a floor structure below are 5 common reasons your floorboards are creaking, a sixth one not shown but is explained after: If it is just a spot here or there you could be looking at a quick and inexpensive repair job. If your entire floor is creaking you may have a fairly big job on your hands. Whichever it is, the creak or squeak will be caused by the friction of two or more things moving and rubbing against each other. The cause of your creaky floor could just be movement between your floorboards themselves and the joists below, or the nails or screws that were used to fix the flooring or joists in place during construction. If a pipe is causing the floor to creak, you may want to sort it out ASAP because after time the joint or pipe itself could become worn and burst, flooding your home! Squeaky floorboards could be something you should worry about it all depends on the actual cause of the creaking itself. (see my comments at the end of this page first before you go ahead and buy the kit) Why is my floor squeaking, and should I worry about creaky floorboards? If you want to have a go at fixing the squeaks with a squeaky floorboard repair kit Large nails/screws to fix the extra timber to the joists. If it turns out to be a big job, you may also need PVA glue, expanding foam & Gripfill could help. 50-70mm chipboard screws (for chipboard floors laid on joists). Pilot hole drill bit for narrow plank floors, like pine. Possibly a nail bar for removing awkward nails or screws. *Pipe/Cable detector!!* whatever you do, do not drill through a pipe or cable.!. What tools are needed to fix a squeaky floor - is it an expensive repair?ĭepending on the reason your floor is creaking, the repair could cost anything from a few pounds to a couple of hundred. Luckily there are several methods here you can use to fix most of the issues for good, hopefully without too many tools and for a relatively low cost. Tongue and groove chipboard floorboards should always be glued at the joints with lots of PVA wood glue but that won't be much help if everything is wet when installed. As the timbers dry out when the heating is on after the build is finished, even though the timbers are seasoned and treated before delivery they shrink a lot and contract away from each other. If the floor structure is built during a UK winter, and all of the timbers and flooring are damp or saturated, this is a really good sign your floor could later develop creaks.
It is really common for floors to creak and squeak on the hallway upstairs, staircase itself or the landing which are all high traffic areas, so can therefore get really annoying.
Whilst a squeaky floor creaking might help alert you to an intruder in the house generally it is pretty annoying to be woken up by others in the night and therefore something you might want to fix. 6 common reasons for a squeaky floor and even more ways to fix them for good Use these quick and easy methods to stop your floor boards from creaking and squeaking