What's the Best Way to Fix a Squeaky Floor?

Squeaky floors are great if you want to catch a snoop in your house, but they're terrible for pretty much every other reason. Thankfully, there is a quick fix for insufferable floorboard sounds?in fact, there are a few solutions. The DIY experts at Stack Exchange are here to help.

I have a home built in the 1940's. The main floor creaks a lot and more squeaking and creaks seem to spring up in new places all the time. Is there an easy way to stop the squeaking and creaking? I don't necessarily need to prevent future annoyances, but I would like to stop the loudest creaking now.

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shirlock homes Answers:

The main cause of wood floors squeaking is wood shrinkage around the nails. If you can localize the areas that are the worst, a common way to minimize squeaks is to drive screws up from the bottom through the subfloor into the hardwood. Be absolutely sure to use screws that will are long enough to grab the hardwood, but short enough not to stick through.

If you do not have hardwood floors then you'll have to decide among a few different techniques appropriate for specific floor coverings, ie. carpet, tile, vinyl, etc. With carpet, for instance, there are special breakaway screws (such as these made by McFeely's) that can be installed from above. With tile or vinyl, the screw from under method is often the way to go.

Evil Elf Answers:

I have used "Counter-Snap" through vinyl and carpet, and it worked great. All it takes is to locate the squeak, insert the patented "snap off" screw into the fixture, drill it down and let it snap off.

Mike Sherov Answers:

Fixing a squeaky floor beneath a carpet is a fairly complicated process that's probably best illustrated with video. This Old House provides a wonderful tutorial.

The procedure demonstrated at that link does not require you to pull up any carpet and uses scored screws to hide your work. This seems to be the most hassle-free way to do what one might expect to be a huge job.

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Illustration by Sean Gallagher.

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