Creaking floors. Picture of where nails are located.

[Sponnie]

Hi, my floors have started to creak really badly even though in November when I moved in they were fine.

I guess it's due to the heat but it's so loud it's affecting how I walk about in the early morning.

There is carpet on top and at this moment in time I can't afford to replace it as it's a 5m x 5m room. The hall is creaking too but that's no so essential. That has lino on it though. Can lino be lifted and replaced?

I seen some advice on YouTube that suggests finding the joists and then using 'break off screws' to drill into the joists and thus tighten the floor again?

I used a magnet to find the nails already in the floor and I took a picture. Would it be sensible or possible for me to use the break off screws and drill them near to the nails already located?

I don't know how to show the image in the post. I have uploaded two images of the same location to My Albums, I hope that helps?

Sorry for the long post. Hope you can help me solve this maddening problem.

Thank you.

 

[AlanE]

Lift the carpet and use ordinary wood screws about 4mm by 50mm.

Make sure the screws used are not threaded all the way to the head. They will then pull the flooring down tight.

Finally make sure the existing nails are hammered home so they don't damage the carpet.

 

[ree]

1. Are you certain that this is a suspended floor?
2. If it is then go crawl below the floor and examine the joists for movement in the joist pockets or wherever the joists bear. Also check for sagging or movement due to loss of packing.
3. The pics dont appear to be showing joist position(s) - you might have engineered flooring (or similar) nailed to ply sheeting sub-floor.
4. Perhaps someone previously tried to add nailing to fix the squeaking?

Anyhow, by lifting a corner of the carpet more will be revealed.

Thing is, if you nail or screw blind then you may hit a cable or a pipe.

 

[Sponnie]

Hi guys, thanks very much for replying so quickly.

The flat is above a shop so I'm not sure exactly how the flooring works. I just assumed it would have joists although the layout of the nails underneath the carpet does look strange and random in parts. The large coins were for nails/screws that attracted the magnet more.

I have uploaded a photo where I lifted a bit of the carpet (giant thumb alert) to see underneath. I hope that is enough of the flooring for you guys to identify as the carpet has no underlay and was glued down by the previous tenant and I have to wait a while before I can afford to replace it with underlay and new carpet.

Thanks again.

 

[ree]

It appears that the underlayment or sub-floor is ply sheeting or similar but i cant be certain. Until the carpet is removed dont do any nailing or screwing.

The creaking could be coming from a variety of sources - why not discuss with your landlord?

 

[Sponnie]

Hi ree, thanks for replying again.

I think I will have to discuss it with my landlord. When I first searched for a solution it looked like it was a simple fix but I just wanted to make sure by asking on here

I'm just not sure they will think it's such a big deal because during the day it won't sound anything like as loud as it does at night or early morning.

Ah well, fingers crossed.

Thanks