Worked like a charm. Pulled the insulation. Found multiple screws and nails that completely missed. Who hired these guys? Like they say, if you want it done right, do it yourself. Thanks for the tip!
The wax is great. I've had pretty good luck pressing the wax down just shy of level with the floor, and painting a bit of clear acrylic shell over the wax. Polish it all down smooth, and it's an amazing result.
We live in a home built in 1940, with beautiful original solid hardwood flooring. It's also squeaky as heck. We've long accepted it, and I don't want to drill into such old hardwood. But checking if the cross bracing is a culprit is a great idea - I suspect a lot of it is! it's fastened with old 16d nails and there are many splits in the old wood. I have access to it and will do some experiments to see if any of the squeaks are from the cross bracing. Thanks for the tip.
Mine's 1920s, if anything like mine, can also be between boards, which talcum powder can aid with without drilling. Just find actual talc (harder nowadays), brush it across the floorboard seams to work it in, then wipe up excess with damp paper towel (don't breathe it in obviously). The half of mine that new nails didn't resolve, talc did.
If you have access from below you can also run a bead of construction adhesive along both sides of the floor trusses. This helps attach the truss to the decking, so they move as one.
I call my squeaky floors my custom "Anti Ninja" flooring. 😂 There's a few spots in the 100 year old house I'll have to try this out on. Thanks for the video!
I’ve used those screws that break off in a similar fix for carpeted floors that squeak. Admittedly, when doing this from above I have had more success minimizing rather than eliminating the squeaks
I plan on redoing my floors on the future. The problem is that they laid linoleum under the present flooring. Gonna have to remove the linoleum along with the 1/4 boards under it in order to get to the actual subfloors. It’ll definitely be worth it when we’re done !!
In my 30 yo house I've found that the floor squeaks are from nails that have missed the joist, but are right up against the joist. So, any deflection of the floor makes the nail rub against the joist... that causes tremendous squeaking noise. I've watched a nail while my wife walked on the floor and I could not visually detect the floor/nail moving... so, it doesn't matter how slight the deflection is... it's from ANY rubbing of the nail. I found that the simple fix was to slightly bend the nail away from the joist. Just an eighth inch (5 degrees?) completely got rid of the squeak. Of course in my case my basement was not finished, so I had access to the floor and joists from below. This is also one of the reasons that I'm using a drop ceiling in my basement... I don't want to give up access to this space.
I have a home built in 99. Floor squeaks HORRIBLY in the kitchen. Went into my unfinished part of the basement which is directly under the kitchen. There are atleast 75 nails that missed the joists across the entire kitchen. Came to TH-cam and saw your comment! I will try this soon!!
Good tip on the wax. It's almost impossible to get wrong. However I personally wouldn't have bothered with the black felt tip. As a certified perfectionist and OCDer, my rule of thumb is get it close enough then leave it for two weeks. If you still think about it / notice it after two weeks then spend more time on it, but 99% of the time just filling the hole with the closest overall colour will be plenty good. Chances are you'll just scratch it in a month anyway.
My house is on a slab concrete foundation with wood flooring placed right onto the slab. There are some spots where it feels like I've stepped on a bubble, the flooring gives just so slightly. I suspect it has to do with those spots not having enough glue underneath, and the flooring pieces thermally expanding a bit. Any tips for how to secure these areas down?
I was taught there are squeaks and creeks. Squeak is metal against wood. An example of what was shown in the video. Creeks are wood against wood. An example could be t and g of the hardwood floor. Many possibilities on both. I’ve found this to be pretty accurate.
Hello, I wanted to drop by and leave a comment... I didn't want to look through the videos to find the one that I think that you taught on fixing a door feature... I bought this 80 year old house and the back door glass outside door is not wide enough to fit when in the locked position. You may or may not be the person but I thought that's why I subscribed to your channel... at that time. a little background story. Fast forward to tonight... I got tired of the wind blowing open my outside glass door when the latch wobbled. It was the last straw tonight and therefore I decided to put your suggestions in motion and stop my door from blowing open. I got a piece of cardboard... Take off the latch fixture and drew a pattern on one piece of cardboard then, I cut out the pieces and tried it with one... It was not enough so I went back and measured another piece... cut that, and when I added that, it worked. Viola! I just wanted to say thank you for your channel...
For those that new nails/screws don't resolve, like board on board squeaks, talcum powder can lubricate (although need to find legit talc, not modern baby powder substitutes). Just brush into joints, working it in, then clean up with damp paper towel to avoid brushing up dust or breathing it in obviously.
Water pipes, gas pipes and the like should generally be in the middle of the joist, if they're going to go through (and usually only near load bearing walls, not in the middle of rooms), and any sensible installer isn't going to run those kind of utilities next to the decking if they're going parallel. They SHOULD be at least 2" under the deck even if the joist is a just a 2x6 (it's probably more). Figure out what thickness of flooing you have by looking under your heater vent covers, you can usually fish a bent wire next to the duct to use as a gauge. Keep whatever screws you use to the thickness of your flooring + deck + 1 to 1.25 inch, and you SHOULD never have a problem unless a real tard built your house. Those rules of thumb will generally keep you safe, (as well for doing drywall or mounting cabinets). To be 100% certian, cut a hole from underneath if you can, or buy, beg, borrow or steal a bore scope / inspection camera with a 90 degree lens and poke a hole into the joist bay from above and have a peek at what's going on. Bore scope cameras are inexpensive / good enough these days that you don't have to spend a fortune. They are handy for all kinds of handy things. I recommend the Teslong ones, and the hole only need be 0.22" or so--easy enough to cover up, usually.
@@nominalvelocityAbout your formula (flooring + deck + 1 to 1.25 inch) for screw length, why the “extra” 1 to 1.25 inch? Are you coming from below or from above?
Someone suggested talcum powder if you have access to underneath. Believe it or not I used WD40! Was able to access from below (had someone up above stepping around to hear where squeak was) I just sprayed a line of WD40 (with the little spray tube) all along either side of the joist where it connected to the floor and presto! no more squeak. Don't know how long it will last, but hopefully a long time.
I have to figure a way to fix creeks and squeaks from the person above. Tried screws that have heads thay snap off that works well, drive them right thru carpet and dont even see it afterwards. Now I think the ceiling is making the noise. Guess Ill try screws going up then plaster the holes.
Huh, I don't think I've ever seen cross-shaped joist blocks in the UK. Here we use noggins and the cheaper newer houses use chipboard or OSB instead of floorboards.
On real hardwood or any 3/4 wood if you have access from below---i used 1 1/4" nails--finish gun--squeak is gone! Nail subfloor on the angle to grab TJI lip or if you have 2by10s same thing! I was struggling with that squeak for 10Years, now iam reaplacing insulation in the crawl--and at the same time fixing squeak!
The only sure way to fix squeaks is to install noggins between the joists to stop them twisting. So if you don’t have access from below … yep, that means lifting the floor. Better still, install noggins before laying the floor.
My 1939 home is unlevel from top to bottom, from settling, not foundation damage, and the wood floors and stairs complain every time they get walked on. I'm pretty much resolved to having squeaking floors forever. But hey, at least nobody can sneak up on me!
My floor only squeaks in spots from the 5000 nails they used in the underlayment for the linoleum 😂. The sub floor was screwed and glued. Your 5:13 reenactment was pretty funny and you didn't even show a retake of it. 🤣
What if my entire house squeaks due to the floor settling? At least that's the only reason I can think of why it's squeaks with every step anywhere in the house.
@TheFunnyCarpenter FYI; TH-cam is playing games with subscriptions again. I've had to re-subscribe to your channel twice in the last week, and *twice* just today! 😡
Yeah, great idea... and straight into the gas, water pipe, or electric cables. This video is sure to cause more harm than good for inexperienced people.
@@TheFunnyCarpenter I just gave my personal opinion. Am I entitled to have it here or not? Why is everyone so attacking when someone thinks differently? I stated that I liked the video and thought the idea was great, which I have used myself for years. However, I also damaged the water pipe and nearly the gas line, which shouldn't have been there. Just saying, guys, this is my own experience, and everyone should be allowed to have their own opinion. If you disagree, let's have a friendly chat about it. Good dialogue can lead to very interesting outcomes. Greetings from a subscriber 👍
Can this method be used on floating laminate floors too? The screws would fix the laminate floors in place and take away the floating characteristics. Not sure how much the 'floating' is happening in the floors to not warrant using this method.
My grandfather would just put a piece of furniture over the spot. Worked every time!
Thanks for the tip, I now have a sofa in front of my kitchen sink and the floor no longer squeaks.
@@Shazam999 My grandmother had a similar complaint!
Who needs a hallway anyway!@@Shazam999
Can’t do that in doorways or the top of the stairs…😡
🇦🇺 This is why I love this channel - it's all relatablel stuff! Appreciate your work. Have a great weekend!
Cheers Maria🍻
Worked like a charm. Pulled the insulation. Found multiple screws and nails that completely missed. Who hired these guys? Like they say, if you want it done right, do it yourself. Thanks for the tip!
The wax is great. I've had pretty good luck pressing the wax down just shy of level with the floor, and painting a bit of clear acrylic shell over the wax. Polish it all down smooth, and it's an amazing result.
We live in a home built in 1940, with beautiful original solid hardwood flooring. It's also squeaky as heck. We've long accepted it, and I don't want to drill into such old hardwood. But checking if the cross bracing is a culprit is a great idea - I suspect a lot of it is! it's fastened with old 16d nails and there are many splits in the old wood. I have access to it and will do some experiments to see if any of the squeaks are from the cross bracing. Thanks for the tip.
Mine's 1920s, if anything like mine, can also be between boards, which talcum powder can aid with without drilling.
Just find actual talc (harder nowadays), brush it across the floorboard seams to work it in, then wipe up excess with damp paper towel (don't breathe it in obviously). The half of mine that new nails didn't resolve, talc did.
If you have access from below you can also run a bead of construction adhesive along both sides of the floor trusses. This helps attach the truss to the decking, so they move as one.
There is a floor squeak repair kit that works on all floors - hardwood, laminate carpeted.
I was a new home warranty technician for 25 years. A great way to use those wax fillers is to heat the putty knife and melt the crayon into the hole.
Excellent video (as usual!!)
Mate your channel is great. Good info and straight to the point with smart tips. Thanks.
I call my squeaky floors my custom "Anti Ninja" flooring. 😂 There's a few spots in the 100 year old house I'll have to try this out on. Thanks for the video!
Omg! My grandpa built my house in 1945. The floors have more squeak spots than not! So this is great!
I am jealous that you live in such a family heirloom!
👍👍👍 Good tips. Thank you
I’ve used those screws that break off in a similar fix for carpeted floors that squeak. Admittedly, when doing this from above I have had more success minimizing rather than eliminating the squeaks
I plan on redoing my floors on the future. The problem is that they laid linoleum under the present flooring. Gonna have to remove the linoleum along with the 1/4 boards under it in order to get to the actual subfloors. It’ll definitely be worth it when we’re done !!
In my 30 yo house I've found that the floor squeaks are from nails that have missed the joist, but are right up against the joist. So, any deflection of the floor makes the nail rub against the joist... that causes tremendous squeaking noise. I've watched a nail while my wife walked on the floor and I could not visually detect the floor/nail moving... so, it doesn't matter how slight the deflection is... it's from ANY rubbing of the nail. I found that the simple fix was to slightly bend the nail away from the joist. Just an eighth inch (5 degrees?) completely got rid of the squeak. Of course in my case my basement was not finished, so I had access to the floor and joists from below. This is also one of the reasons that I'm using a drop ceiling in my basement... I don't want to give up access to this space.
I have a home built in 99. Floor squeaks HORRIBLY in the kitchen. Went into my unfinished part of the basement which is directly under the kitchen. There are atleast 75 nails that missed the joists across the entire kitchen. Came to TH-cam and saw your comment! I will try this soon!!
I’ve done that works pretty good.
Great tip!!! I hate squeaky floors.
Good tip on the wax. It's almost impossible to get wrong. However I personally wouldn't have bothered with the black felt tip. As a certified perfectionist and OCDer, my rule of thumb is get it close enough then leave it for two weeks. If you still think about it / notice it after two weeks then spend more time on it, but 99% of the time just filling the hole with the closest overall colour will be plenty good. Chances are you'll just scratch it in a month anyway.
My house is on a slab concrete foundation with wood flooring placed right onto the slab. There are some spots where it feels like I've stepped on a bubble, the flooring gives just so slightly. I suspect it has to do with those spots not having enough glue underneath, and the flooring pieces thermally expanding a bit. Any tips for how to secure these areas down?
I was taught there are squeaks and creeks. Squeak is metal against wood. An example of what was shown in the video. Creeks are wood against wood. An example could be t and g of the hardwood floor. Many possibilities on both. I’ve found this to be pretty accurate.
Hello, I wanted to drop by and leave a comment... I didn't want to look through the videos to find the one that I think that you taught on fixing a door feature...
I bought this 80 year old house and the back door glass outside door is not wide enough to fit when in the locked position.
You may or may not be the person but I thought that's why I subscribed to your channel... at that time.
a little background story.
Fast forward to tonight... I got tired of the wind blowing open my outside glass door when the latch wobbled. It was the last straw tonight and therefore I decided to put your suggestions in motion and stop my door from blowing open.
I got a piece of cardboard... Take off the latch fixture and drew a pattern on one piece of cardboard then, I cut out the pieces and tried it with one... It was not enough so I went back and measured another piece... cut that, and when I added that, it worked.
Viola!
I just wanted to say thank you for your channel...
Great video, thank you!
For those that new nails/screws don't resolve, like board on board squeaks, talcum powder can lubricate (although need to find legit talc, not modern baby powder substitutes). Just brush into joints, working it in, then clean up with damp paper towel to avoid brushing up dust or breathing it in obviously.
Dude, that was WAY too personal. I'm not EVEN going to ask what your wife has to say about it! 5:12
😂😂😂😂😂
Great tip! How is the leg doing? Back to normal?
Thanks buddy, the leg is much better! 75% ish🍻
@@TheFunnyCarpenter great to hear!! Watching this on holiday in the UK :)
Excellent! Thanks.
Awesome!
How do you avoid hitting a water pipe? I happen to not have access from below.
Pray.
Water pipes, gas pipes and the like should generally be in the middle of the joist, if they're going to go through (and usually only near load bearing walls, not in the middle of rooms), and any sensible installer isn't going to run those kind of utilities next to the decking if they're going parallel. They SHOULD be at least 2" under the deck even if the joist is a just a 2x6 (it's probably more).
Figure out what thickness of flooing you have by looking under your heater vent covers, you can usually fish a bent wire next to the duct to use as a gauge. Keep whatever screws you use to the thickness of your flooring + deck + 1 to 1.25 inch, and you SHOULD never have a problem unless a real tard built your house. Those rules of thumb will generally keep you safe, (as well for doing drywall or mounting cabinets).
To be 100% certian, cut a hole from underneath if you can, or buy, beg, borrow or steal a bore scope / inspection camera with a 90 degree lens and poke a hole into the joist bay from above and have a peek at what's going on. Bore scope cameras are inexpensive / good enough these days that you don't have to spend a fortune. They are handy for all kinds of handy things. I recommend the Teslong ones, and the hole only need be 0.22" or so--easy enough to cover up, usually.
@@nominalvelocityAbout your formula (flooring + deck + 1 to 1.25 inch) for screw length, why the “extra” 1 to 1.25 inch? Are you coming from below or from above?
How do you fix those shoe laces?
Would the fix be similar for a squeaky deck board? A few of my boards now squeak in one area when I walk on them.
Somewhere there is usually board movement and a nail!
if the nail missed the joist, wouldnt it be possible to just bent the nail out of the way or cut it since it doesnt hold anything anyways?
Someone suggested talcum powder if you have access to underneath. Believe it or not I used WD40! Was able to access from below (had someone up above stepping around to hear where squeak was) I just sprayed a line of WD40 (with the little spray tube) all along either side of the joist where it connected to the floor and presto! no more squeak. Don't know how long it will last, but hopefully a long time.
I have to figure a way to fix creeks and squeaks from the person above. Tried screws that have heads thay snap off that works well, drive them right thru carpet and dont even see it afterwards. Now I think the ceiling is making the noise. Guess Ill try screws going up then plaster the holes.
Do those wax crayons harden?
They hold up pretty well
Didn't know the issue with the blocking. I flag all the shiners and make the framers remove them before finishing.
Ryan Humiston got off the juice!
Huh, I don't think I've ever seen cross-shaped joist blocks in the UK. Here we use noggins and the cheaper newer houses use chipboard or OSB instead of floorboards.
Leave the squeaks. They make a great burglar alarm! 👍
On real hardwood or any 3/4 wood if you have access from below---i used 1 1/4" nails--finish gun--squeak is gone! Nail subfloor on the angle to grab TJI lip or if you have 2by10s same thing!
I was struggling with that squeak for 10Years, now iam reaplacing insulation in the crawl--and at the same time fixing squeak!
I tried the baby powder fix & it did absolutely nothing! I squeezed a lot in there too.. 😂🤣😂
0:06 I'm sorely tempted to ask for the story of the mismatched shoelaces.
My wife is always making fun of these shoes saying that I look like an old man…so I’ve really jazzed them up😂
Tell ya neighbors that 😮
what if yo screw into a pipe or gas line . always freaks me out doing those thing
The only sure way to fix squeaks is to install noggins between the joists to stop them twisting. So if you don’t have access from below … yep, that means lifting the floor. Better still, install noggins before laying the floor.
how fortunate the squeak was located adjacent to the joist
*EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT*, did I say EXCELLENT? Well, I meant it.👍
It would take me a solid year to get all the squeaks out of POS floors.
Yah….you can easily fix it from below….if you do not have insulation between joists 😢
My 1939 home is unlevel from top to bottom, from settling, not foundation damage, and the wood floors and stairs complain every time they get walked on. I'm pretty much resolved to having squeaking floors forever. But hey, at least nobody can sneak up on me!
I wish Americans would have found out the advantage of screws over nails earlier.
My floor only squeaks in spots from the 5000 nails they used in the underlayment for the linoleum 😂. The sub floor was screwed and glued.
Your 5:13 reenactment was pretty funny and you didn't even show a retake of it. 🤣
I like my sqeeky spots. I know where people or dogs are in the house. And if anyone is there that should not be.
"These squeaky floors aren't a defect; they're a feature. They give character to this house I'm trying to sell."
Definitely an annoying defect
@@nothingtoseehere93 Then I'm not going to let you buy my house.
😂😂. Ok
Definitely adds character to the house but, my floor’s “character” sounds like a fart.
If you fix the squeak, how will you hear the ninjas coming???
You said to use a finishing nail but proceed with using only screws.
What if my entire house squeaks due to the floor settling? At least that's the only reason I can think of why it's squeaks with every step anywhere in the house.
It's your shoes. See if there's still a squeak with bare feet.
@TheFunnyCarpenter FYI; TH-cam is playing games with subscriptions again. I've had to re-subscribe to your channel twice in the last week, and *twice* just today! 😡
That's strange!
This can be done only a floor professional who does flooring work.
Yeah, great idea... and straight into the gas, water pipe, or electric cables. This video is sure to cause more harm than good for inexperienced people.
Have you ever seen the inner working of a house?
Ah, the expert. There is always one, isn't there. Is that a culteral thing in the colonies?
Yeah I should pay a someone off Craigslist for 2000$ so they can do the same thing and change their name and address when I go sue them
Why don't you go watch something else.
@@TheFunnyCarpenter I just gave my personal opinion. Am I entitled to have it here or not? Why is everyone so attacking when someone thinks differently? I stated that I liked the video and thought the idea was great, which I have used myself for years. However, I also damaged the water pipe and nearly the gas line, which shouldn't have been there. Just saying, guys, this is my own experience, and everyone should be allowed to have their own opinion. If you disagree, let's have a friendly chat about it. Good dialogue can lead to very interesting outcomes.
Greetings from a subscriber 👍
Can this method be used on floating laminate floors too?
The screws would fix the laminate floors in place and take away the floating characteristics. Not sure how much the 'floating' is happening in the floors to not warrant using this method.