How to Repair a Squeaky Floor

A squeaky floor can drive even the most low key people to the point of wanting to pull their hair out by the roots. Having a squeaky floor in your house is no surprise, especially if you live in an older home. You see, as times passes, the wood that makes up the base floors in your house shrinks, dries up, or becomes weak.

These actions cause the floor boards to loosen up in one way or another. Sometimes nails pop out and allow a board or two to raise up and and down when they are walked on.

But, don’t get excited! You don’t ordinarily need to replace an entire floor in order to silence a squeak. You can easily make the repair yourself in no time, with little or no cost at all.

The first step in this do-it-yourself project is to find the exact spot where the squeak is. You’ll need a helper to walk around on the floor while you listen for the annoying noise to happen. Then, go downstairs so you can watch the floor from underneath. Keep a lookout for boards that move up and down or shift back and forth when your helper walks across the floor.

Once you have located the location of the squeak, you’ll need to fix it by using one of these remedies:

1. Baby Powder can do more than keep a baby’s tush dry. Sometimes, if the floor boards are secure, but yet have become loose enough so that they rub together, a squirt of baby powder between the offending boards can silence the noise.

If the powder doesn’t do the trick, then you’ll have to switch to Plan B. You’ll need to hammer glazier points into the space that’s in between the floor boards. Hammer a glazier point down into the wood. Separate each point so they are about five or six inches apart.

Glazier points are readily available at your local hardware or home supply center. They are typically used for framing pictures or for replacing window glass. But they are also handy for home repairs such as this project.

2. If you notice a gap between the wood floor and the subfloor, then you’ll need to install a wood shim or two. Shims will successfully fill in the gap and not allow the board to move up and down any longer. This should end your squeaky floor problem.

Make sure the wood shims you use fit into the gap without pushing the floor boards up. You want to fill in the space, not loosen the boards and cause further problems.

3. You can also tighten loose boards by installing a wood screw or two. From underneath the floor, insert a wood screw into subfloor. You’ll need to use a screw that is long enough to go through the subfloor and just into the loose board. But! Be careful not to drive the screw all the way through the top floor board! The screw should stop about a quarter of an inch below the top of the board.