My second floor hallway has a very bad squeak. I bought a repair kit called Squeak No More but its not working. I was able to locate the joists and I put a crap ton of their special screws in there but it did not help at all.
The floor is carpeted and I do not have access from below. I'm really losing my mind how to make this stop. Any thing else I can try?
Posts: 5499 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA | Registered: February 27, 2001
Remove carpet and padding then surface screw the entire hallway (into the joists) then reinstall carpet. If you aren't familiar with removing carpet best have an installer remove it carefully cutting the seams apart under doorways, you screw the floor while he goes outside and smokes a cigarette, then he can relay it.
If possible, live with the squeaks and fix them when you replace the carpet.
No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride.
When they installed the flooring in 1893, some of the boards didn't make it all of the way to a joist. They depended on the tongue-and-groove joints for support. Some of the tongues have since sheared away. Hence the bouncy boards as the GF calls them.
When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth. - George Bernard Shaw
Posts: 15529 | Location: Virginia | Registered: July 03, 2007
Yeah, if you've tried the screws, not a whole lot more you can do with a squeak. If it's more of a pop and not a squeak, sometimes those are wall issues and you can shim under the baseboard and under the wall plate to help take care of those.
------------------------------ I'm a right wing, anti-illegal, pro-life, gun owning, straight, white, college educated, politically informed, conservative, Christian male. Liberals hate me.
We had a squeaker in the hallway, near the bathroom door. Lots of screws, new under layment, then some glue down vinyl planks. This is in our rental, so I think I'm done....nope, still squeaks. A search downstairs discovered a nail in the wall framing had worked loose and it and a couple others were driven back up into the wall. Nearly drove me nuts trying to locate that sucker.
Posts: 1320 | Location: Montana | Registered: October 20, 2007
gpbst3, you have a genuine Nightingale floor! You have just increased the value of your house-
Nightingale floors were floors designed to make a chirping sound when walked upon. These floors were used in the hallways of some temples and palaces, the most famous example being Nijo Castle, in Kyoto, Japan. Dry boards naturally creak under pressure, but these floors were designed so that the flooring nails rubbed against a jacket or clamp, causing chirping noises. The squeaking floors were used as a security device, assuring that none could sneak through the corridors undetected.
Posts: 1513 | Location: PA | Registered: March 15, 2009
I saw where you could sprinkle talcum powder to stop board squeaks but that was on a noncaepeted floor.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
Posts: 20376 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011
Here's what I did on a previously house that had squeaky floors by the stairs... There was a kinda expensive carpet overlaid. I call it the five dollar fix because the wood glue and the tool costs less than five bucks.
First, you take an ice pick and map out where the seams lie by gently pushing pick through the carpet and mark on top with any kind of tape for reference. (You just want to know seam runs and where to inject).
I had gone to the dollar store and bought a turkey broth injector syringe (which comes with an approximately 2" SS needle).
Second, get the container of white wood glue. A paper or plastic disposable small cup works fine. Pour a paper cup of elmer's wood glue almost full and thin it slightly with water. Stir well. Fill the syringe with the thinned glue mix.
Then go down the marked seams and inject the solution into the seams at least a foot on each side of the squeaks. Make sure you stop injection pressure before pulling out the syringe needle. Refill syringe as necessary. You can disassemble the syringe and wash in water if desired to reuse.
Worked for me and didn't involve tearing up the carpet. It will dry and harden in 24 hours.
Posts: 1513 | Location: PA | Registered: March 15, 2009