Squeaky floorboards, can they be fixed? (Video)

amargar

Hello, I moved to a 30y old house and the floorboards under the carpet are incredibly noisy. I bought some flooring screws and put them where the nails are but I barely made any difference.

This is a video of me walking on them:

https://youtu.be/Dg_AQ-q-2gQ

Is there any way to fix it or I just need to replace the floorboards?

standardg60

Keep lashing the screws in, and not just where you're walking as the movement will transfer.

What size screws are you using?

olestoepoke

This is probably a silly question but are you sure the screws are going into the floor joists. Pointless otherwise. Use good quality course wood screws, use a drill not an impact driver and don't over screw them. Put two screws on each board where the joists are. If that doesn't work then the floorboards are not the problem, its the joists. To fix that you need to take up all the floorboards, repair or replace damaged joists put bridgers everywhere and reinstall the floorboards. A big job.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119127280#Comment_119127280

Agreed but i'd also wonder if the screws being used are long enough, tops of the joists may have degraded so i'd be using 4x70ml to get down into fresh wood

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119127340#Comment_119127340

You'll know if the screws are long enough after one or two goes. You need to feel a bite and sink them just below the surface, don't over screw. FYI I was a carpenter for 25 years.

hayse

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119127280#Comment_119127280

Why not a impact driver?

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119131410#Comment_119131410

Overkill, the screws could end up through the floorboards and out the otherside.

hayse

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119131476#Comment_119131476

Apart from user error is that the only reason? Same can happen if you use a cordless drill to drive screws. I haven’t used a drill in over 10 years to drive a screw.

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119131410#Comment_119131410

Impact drivers are great for certain jobs but can in the wrong hands lead to over screwing. I'd use a regular drill, more control to leave the screw heads just below the surface, and less noisy. Just my preference.

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119131484#Comment_119131484

No there is no other reason, if you are confident with an impact driver then go for it. I'd rather use a regular drill for more control.

kirk.

Don't put any screws in the middle obviously in case they're notched with services running through them

amargar

I used 60mm screws and I put two of them besides the nails in the joists on every one of them but still squeaks, I may have left some gaps in some places, will take a look again today

The Continental Op

60mm is the minimum I'd use, although having a couple of boxes (thousand in each) of 80mm you might guess what my first choice would be. However I don't think longer screws would be much help.

A few more questions. Are these tongue and groove flooboards? When you look at the floorboards is there much cupping in them where the edges are slight higher than the middle? How easy would it be to remove all the nails? - To relay existing boards much tighter. Is the noise worse when you stand on the middle of a board between the joists and do you get any noise when you just stand on the joists?

Klopp

I had similar problems and didn't follow my own advice. I would lift all the floorboards up and reattach down them with glue and flooring screws.

The Continental Op

One other thought is were exactly is the noise comming from? Have you tried getting someone else to walk around while you have you ear low down listening for the exact location(s)?

Wheety

I tried fixing a bad creak when I had just moved in an screwed perfectly into a pipe. I ran out into the landing whacked my shoulder off the attic door as I got up to shut the water off. :-D

Craazysteve

Screwing them down to the joists will work, but be 100% sure where all the pipework etc is, don't just assume they're where they "should" be. Take up floorboards first if you're not certain. I'm in a similar age house, and was recently fixing some squeaky floorboards before a new carpet install. There was a water pipe just under the surface, right at the edge of a floorboard and of course I managed to put a screw straight through it. (it was the last screw to fix the final squeak, of course)

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058247800/squeaky-floorboards-can-they-be-fixed-video

amagar

You must ascertain that you will not cause leaks in pipes.

You are endeavouring to get the Tongue & Grooved Floor boards fixed tightly down on to the tops of the Floor Joists.

Here’s what you need to do.

1. Get 60 mm long Nr. 10 screws.
2. Get a 4 mm or 5 mm drill bit.
3. The head diameter of the screws will be 9.5 mm
4. The thread diameter will be 4.8 mm
5. Driving a screw down through the t&g board and joist may not solve your problem because the screw may keep the flooring board up from the joist. This depends on the type of timber in the flooring board.
6. The joists will usually be soft softwood timber.
7. Before you drive the screws drill a 4 mm or 5 mm hole in the t&g floor boards, in the full thickness of the flooring for every screw.
8. Do not allow this bit to drill any hole in the joists.
9. Drive in the screws through the holes in the t&g boards and down in to the joists.
10. The heads of the screws should pull the t&g flooring down tightly on to the tops of the joists.

amargar

I think the job is getting a bit complex for me, do you know anybody that I can hire for this in Dublin? To either fix it or replace it.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119137625#Comment_119137625

While thats a good point forget all drilling, all you need are half thread screws the ones that look like this

Thats a 4.5 x 75mm decking screw from screwfix. I use then a lot and they will pull down the floorboard down tight. You don't specifically need decking screws but they will do the job. I would use the 4.5 size as the head is slightly larger than the more often used 4 size so willl have more area to pull down.

If you have used this type of screw full thread screw

then you should have drilled a hole the diameter of the thread in the floor board first to preven the screw thread just under the head binding in the floorboard preventing it being pulled down tight (or as tight as it will go) to the joist.

If you have already used the (wrong) full thead screws then just try replacing a couple of runs with slightly longer (75mm or 80mm) half head screws to see if it makes any difference. The holes in the floorboard made by the full thread screws will help the half head screws go down tighter. DO BE AWARE that sightly longer screws may increase your risk of going through something so know where pipe and cable runs go.

The Continental Op

OR made for the job https://www.screwfix.com/p/floor-tite-screws-4-2-x-55mm-200-pack/49231 I'd prefer longer but I'm not doing the job.

amargar

These are the ones I used:

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/spax-wirox-tx-countersunk-wirox-flooring-screw-4-5-x-60mm-300-pack/88716

The Continental Op

They should have been fine I know someone that used to use a lot of these with a similar thread https://www.screwfix.ie/p/spax-wirox-cylindrical-head-decking-screws-silver-4-5-x-60mm-250-pack/8667t and swore by them but I was just never conviced they pull in as tight as half thread screws.

standardg60

Op can you post a video of you screwing in a screw?

hayse

Spax screw have stood test of time.

amargar

OP here, I have removed a piece of the floorboard to see if I could find where the problem was, and it seems that just stepping on the actual joist makes all the floor squeak around it, does this mean that the problem is at the joist? Can it be fixed with more screws?

The Continental Op

Look and "hear" a bit more. Could it be movement of the joist is transferring back to the floorboards, the joints on the floorboards are loose and the movement in those joints is making the noise. What I am thinking is if the floorboards were tight together you wouldn't get so much noise.

What I am saying is the small area of connection between the boards may be making the noise (your pictures showed wide gaps). Tightening them up might fix that.

Only you can jump up and down on things and listen (or with a helper) to find out where the noise is coming from.