How to Fix Squeaky Floors from Above – Squeaky floorboards make their presence known whenever you walk on them. You may need to walk, see and listen carefully to find the exact location. If you can access the bottom of the floor, try to fix the winch invisibly underneath. If there is a ceiling just under the ground, you may be able to fix the noise from above and hide the repair with wood filler.
How to Fix Squeaky Floors from Above
Things You Need
- Chalk or pencil
- Wooden block
- Carpenter’s glue
- Locator beams
- Hammer
- Drill
- Flathead screws 2 1/2 inches
- Screwdriver
- Wood Filler
- Putty
- Cloth or paper towel
If you can access the floor below
- Put on the protection of eyes to keep dust out of your eyes, and stay downstairs while you ask someone to walk upstairs. Listen to the winch. When it does, watch to see if the plates are raised slightly bending down against the floor joists when the other person walks on them.
- Mark where the plates are lifted from the floor joists with chalk or pencil.
- Spread carpenter’s glue in a thin wood or tile and touchpad between the floor joist and the floor with a hammer. Select a shim that is thin enough that it just fills the gap, but not lift the floor.
If you need to work From Above
- Remove all rugs and walk on bare boards until you find the exact location of the winch. Look for one or more tables that depress little and creak when you step on them.
- Using a stud finder, find out where these boards through the floor joists.
- Make a pilot hole for a screw through the floorboard and the crossbar. Increasing the hole at the top with a bit which is as large as the diameter of the screw head, so that it can sink the head of the bolt 1/8 inch below the floor surface. Make a similar hole in floor joists wherever you find a raised board creaky.
- Screw flat head screws into the holes while someone is in the floorboards so that the screws hold down the floorboards hard. Use screws 2 1/2 inches, or those that are long enough to go one inch below the beam, depending on its thickness floor.
- Using a spatula, to fill the hole above the screw heads with wood filler. Choose pasta that is colored near the ground color. With a damp cloth or bad paper towel, wipe off the excess before it dries. Alternatively, sand the area around the repair, and finish it to match the rest of the floor.
Tips warnings
- If you notice a joist cracked or weakened floor to examine the lower floor, a shim will not necessarily solve the winch, since the own floor joist may be moving every time someone enters the ground. You will need to strengthen the floor joist, attaching a beam sister beside him or adding a post to reinforce it.
- If you look downstairs and not notice any difference between the floor and the top of a floor joist, check the top floor surface and look for a single floor plate that is raised and grinding against your neighbor when you step on this. Fix it by screwing it down as described.
- Substitutes for nails nailing two screws in each post at an angle and sinking punch heads with a nail.
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