How To Fixing Cracks and Squeaks in Hardwood Floors
A wooden floor is an asset to any home. But when hardwood floors begin to crack and squeak do not just take the frustration involved. Most squeaks occur as a result of the normal cycle of seasonal contraction and expansion. From dry winters to humid summers, and back to dry winters, this seasonal change causes fine cracks to develop during drier conditions and wood to swell during wet conditions.
Squeaky wood floors are usually caused also by rubbing between the boards themselves, or by the subfloor moving against loose nails. This is an annoying problem, but luckily it doesn’t take much to fix these problems and get your floors back to looking like new.
Some tips will point you in the right direction to accomplishing the not-so-difficult task of fixing these little annoyances. These several levels of repair alternatives are provided so you will be able to find one to suit your situation.
Cracks – The response of humidity or the lack of it is happening constantly in your wood floors. Tiny cracks between edges of boards may come out when dry conditions are produced by your heating system.
This can usually be reduced simply by installing a humidifier. Both family and floors do well from a healthier environment and a balance of moisture substance in the house.
Squeaks - When interiors become damp in rainy weather, planks may expand so that edges rub together and produce a squeak. Improper fastening of the floor or subfloor can also cause squeaks. To fix this try any of these ways.
1. Lubricate. The easiest solution is to practice lubrication. Identify the squeaky floor boards and then use a generous amount of powdered soapstone, powdered graphite between the boards, or talcum powder.
Try dusting the cracks between the floorboards with the talcum powder or applying a few drops of floor oil between the cracks. The powder or oil can stop the squeaks when the two pieces of wood rub together. Place a fabric or towel over the area and work the powder in by treading on the towel.
One or two additional applications might be necessary. Nonetheless if the squeak is caused by a gap between the subfloor and joist this technique will not work.
2. Glazier points. Another solution is to drive glazier points, those small triangular pieces of metal used in the installation of window glass, into the spaces between the boards. Use a putty knife to wedge them in place.
3. Liquid wax. If your floor has a wax coating (not urethane or a varnish), then apply liquid wax in between the boards.
4. Finishing nails – If previous ways do not success, drive finishing nails through pilot holes drilled into the face of the flooring or through the floor into the subfloor. Start by pre-drilling pilot holes to forbid the wood from cracking.
Use a gauge bit that is about the same or slightly smaller than the nail and start the pilot hole no closer than 1/2 inch to the border of the floorboard. Aim the drill slightly toward the center of the board. Make certain that you do not drill into the subfloor, or the nail won’t hold as well.
After the pre-drilling is finished, put downward pressure on the floorboard as you force the nail into the pilot hole. Use a nail set to countersink the head of the nail, and fill the hole with wood filler to match the color of the floor.
5. Shim the squeak – The squeak is located in the subfloor sometimes. If the squeak is located over a joist, check for a gap between the joist and the sub floor. To repair the gap you will need a wood shim, wood glue, and a hammer.
The best shims for this purpose are exterior wood siding shingles because their taper is more gradual than the pre-made shims found in most stores. This will push the floorboards back down on the sub floor. When you pinpoint a squeak and find the gap, you can spread some glue on both sides of a shim and tap it firmly into the gap.
Start at the perimeter of the room and work your way to the center repeating the tapping. Use plenty of shims to completely close gaps then hammering it
6. Screws through joists – Another method is applying construction adhesive to the crinkles where the joist meets the subfloor. Then, you can drive screws at a slight angle, up through the floor joists into the subfloor to reduce up and down movement in the subfloor itself.
To get a tight fit, after you have applied the adhesive but before you have driven the screw, ask somebody to stand on that part of the floor in the room above, and then drive the screw. Special screw-on brackets are available for use from underneath on squeaky floors. One leg of the right-angle bracket is screwed to the joist; the other is screwed into the floor to pull loose flooring together.
Four of these brackets, with screws, are available from Improvements for about $15.
7. Bridge and Block – If the squeak is coming from the subfloor and not the floor boards, install a bridge – small square piece of 3/4″ plywood to join two pieces of subfloor. Use construction adhesive to the one side of the plyboard before placing it against the subfloor, then drive screws through the block into but not through the subfloor.
A block involves installation of a short piece of 2×3 or 2×4 aboard of a joist. Apply construction adhesive to one edge and one side of the block and position the adhesive side of the block against the side of the joist, with the adhesive adjoin against the bottom of the subfloor.
After that, with someone standing on the floor above, drive two screws through the block into, but not through, the subfloor and into the side of the joist.
Squeaky Floors under Carpet
The best way is to take up the carpet, but excluding that, finish nails work pretty well but you must be able to locate the floor joists. There are special screws that are made for this purpose too and work better. They are quite narrow and have heads that break off after you drive them into the floor joists.
They are called Mr. Squeeeky which consists of screws that break off after they are screwed into the floor. These screws do look like they will do the job. Whether you buy the Mr. Squeeeky set up or try it yourself I would recommend doing the first one in the corner, where you don’t walk.
Just to get the feel. When you do it over the squeaks, add some extra weight that really weights it down over the joist, so it gets pulled in tight. With the threads going through both of the underlayment or sub flooring as well as the joist, the screw will not be able to pull them all together. So you want the weight on top to do that.
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