Winter time means colder weather, which means you might not be going outside as often as you normally do. More time spent in your home means you might start to notice the little imperfections you may not have realized before. A perfect example of this would be squeaky stairs and floor boards.
The occasional squeak might be tolerable, but if you’re planning on selling your home in the near future, repairing your squeaky floors might be a good idea.
Despite common belief, you shouldn’t have to put up with squeaks due to fear of costly expenses. In fact, most of the time fixing a squeaky floor board is an inexpensive, simple, do it-yourself fix.
Repairs from Below
If the squeaky floor is above a basement or a crawl space, have someone walk along the boards to identify where the squeak is coming from. Once you pinpoint the exact spot, gently hammer a wood shim coated with carpenter’s glue between the joist and the subfloor. Be sure not to hammer too hard, because you will end up lifting the sub-floor. Your goal by doing this is to eliminate any spaces between the two pieces of wood. For additional support drive a 11/4 in. drywall screw at an angle up through the joist and shim and into the sub-floor.
If you don’t trust yourself with screwing bolts into your flooring, you can purchase a few devices to do the work for you. The Squeak Ender is a great device to permanently solve your squeaky floor problem. Squeak-Enders pull the sub-floor tight against the joist, therefore eliminating the squeak. Best of all, they only cost 7 dollars!
Working From Above
If you can’t repair the floor from below, you’ll have to repair your floors from above. If you have a carpeted floor, the easiest repair is to purchase the Squeeeeek No More kit. This kit can be used on a carpeted floor laid over a wood subfloor. Follow the instructions on the box for use.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Ideally you want to repair floors before they cost you a ton of money, but reach out to local contractors for a consultation to see if the floor is repairable yourself.
