How to Fix Squeaky Floors - Dampen the Sound

Much of the sounds made by floors can be solved, depending on your flooring.


For floors having Hardwood Flooring :

Hardwood floors must be addressed from below. Which means that you must have direct access to joists. Oriented Strand Board flooring (OSB) issues can be repaired with the following where other methods may be ineffective (such as kit/screw fixes). As can plywood deck flooring.

1) Determine the noise location. By pressing with body weight throughout the room. While a person pinpoints the area with flashlight below. Notice if the sound is being caused by lack of attachment, by "misses" or by nails that have pulled free (communicate via smart or cell phones, etc.)

2) Locate and mark the joist areas within the open cavity beneath while the squeaking occurs. Place blue tape to mark the area above where weights will later go.

3) Taking a spare stud, check for straightness and that the wood will fit up evenly at upper joist/floor corner beneath. Attaching studs on both sides may help in more severe cases.

4) Pre-drill screws sideways into the stud(s) with no tips poking.

5) Look to see if a shallow space exists between the joist and lower floor surface at the repair site. It may help to force some amount of high grade adhesive into the crack

6) Apply adhesive to the top edge surface(s) before attaching. Then, holding stud snugly against the upper corner, secure into place.

7) Set floor weights within the blue tape outline and allow to dry.


For Carpeted Floors:

It's best if you can resecure the floor before new carpet is being installed. If carpet is already down, it will need to be temporarily pulled from the tack strip and rolled up to expose the bare floor.

Again you'll need to determine where the squeaks are by pressing your body weight throughout the room, and also placement of underlying joists. Keep in mind that present patterns of attachment can't always be followed since it is often "misses" that contribute to the squeaking.

Using either a power drill or impact driver, set additional screws holding the loose floor down, checking after for tightness the same way squeaking was found.


For Vinyl Floors:

Usually it's best to wait until new flooring is going in.