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Squeaky Floors

QUESTION
My sister has squeaks in her ceramic tile floor in the kitchen and entry hall.  How can she quiet those squeaks?

ANSWER
If you have access beneath the floor, have someone stand on the floor to locate the squeaks.  Then have him step off that area and you can drive shims – tapered wood shingles or plastic wedges – between the plywood floor and joists.  This will bring the floor tighter against the joist so it will not move when walked on.  If there are two layers of plywood as there should be, you can have your sidekick stand on the floor while you drive screws into the plywood, keeping the two layers together so they will not move when stepped on.  Use solid brass screws 1 ¼ inches long.  Obviously you cannot drive nails or screws through tile.  So, working from below is handy.

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Question
Our upstairs floors, which are carpeted, squeak in places. Is there an easy way to fix this?

Answer
It is seldom easy to fix a squeaky floor, but there is a possible remedy. I recommend you try this in just a few places first, to see if you get good results. The repair uses special screws that can be driven right thru the carpeting into the supporting floor sub-structure. When the screws are in place, the heads can be broken off with a special tool that's not visible. A power drill is needed to drive the screws. Floor squeaks are generally caused by floorboards or sub-flooring that are slightly loose, causing the wood to rub against each other or they rub against the nails. To stop the squeaking, the screws must be driven through the flooring and sub-flooring and into the underlying joists, which support the floor. A Kit with 50 screws, a tool to aligned them, a drill bit and instructions are available from at www.improvementscatalog.com (item #110189, $30.00). Joists are normally spaced on 16" centers, so when you locate one, you can usually find others by measuring from joist to joist.

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