can make you feel like you’re living in a creaky old haunted house. Below, you’ll find our tips for how to for good. If these tips for repairing squeaky floors don’t work, we recommend calling an Grand Rapids hardwood flooring contractor in your area.
Insert Shims into Gaps
A shim is a small wooden wedge. You’ll want to pick up a few of these at your local home improvement store the next time you’re out and about. You’ll also need another person to be able to find the places where the floor creaks.
Stand in your basement while the other person walks on the floor above you. Once you’re standing below a board that squeaks, take one of your shims and insert it between the gap between the subfloor (plywood) and the joist (supporting wooden beam).
Use Construction Adhesive for Long Gaps
If the gap between the subfloor and joist is too big for a single shim to be effective, use construction adhesive to close the gap instead. Make sure the construction adhesive is being pushed into the gap, otherwise it won’t work.
Nail a Board to a Damaged Joist
While looking or squeaking floorboards, you may notice that the joist (supporting wooden beam) is damaged. Over time, it isn’t uncommon for the joist to slightly separate from the subfloor when it warps or deteriorates. Don’t worry. This is still an easy fix.
First, you’ll need a block of wood that’s long enough to cover the gap. Then, you’ll want to run a strip of construction adhesive along the top of the wooden beam and stick it to the subfloor before nailing or screwing the new block of wood to the joist.
Add Blocks between Squeaky Joists
If the source of the squeaking is coming from the joists themselves, you will need to up the ante. Get some 2x8 blocks from the home improvement store and run a bead of construction adhesive along the edge that will be positioned against the subfloor.
Next, you’ll want to insert the wooden blocks at the midway point of the joists. Secure the block in place with nails or screws. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
Drill Through the Bottom
Don’t try this method unless you feel fairly confident you won’t drill through your new hardwood floors. If you hear , this is probably caused by the wood floor rubbing against the plywood underneath.
To stop the squeaking, you will need to drive short screws into the plywood. Make sure that the screws are short enough that they won’t drive a hole through the above. If you’re unsure if you have the right size, try driving a screw from the underside of your closet. No one will notice a hole drilled in your closet if you mess up.
All of these tips are for how to fix squeaky hardwood floors from below. However, sometimes there is no . When this is the case, you will need to contact a reputable hardwood flooring repair company to resolve the issue.
Need to Repair Squeaky Floors?
If you are interested in our hardwood floor repair service in Grand Rapids, please feel free to give us a call at(616) 458-4806. The hardwood floor contractors at Complete Flooring & Interiors are dedicated to helping homeowners prolong the life of their hardwood flooring.
This blog post has been updated.