floor boards

[john kennedy]

i have renailed floor boards all over the house and still they creek,having run ins with neighbours.
Council man stated must be the way the structure of the house was built as he could not advise what could be done...all secure but unless it is because of the metal joists as upper flat. I dont know what the solution can be -any ideas

 

[masona]

Listern very closely and see where the noise is coming from,is it the floorboards or joists etc.? Might have to lift the floorboard and investigate.If it just the floorboards creaking then put talcum power and brush it in the joints.

 

[breezer]

pull all the nails out and replace with screws.

nails will work loose, if you put a screw in place of nail they do not work loose, aalso pilot hole is there and you will not hit any pipes or cables, since the nail didn't

 

[john kennedy]

nail all replaced with screws and no matter were you stand in any room the whole floor creaks.
it must be the joists as no other way we can do anything to rectify
....

 

[masona]

Do you know where the joists is resting on ? Is the joists in the wall etc ?

 

[nsutebufru]

I am faced with the same problem. Very squeeky floor boards all over 2 bed rooms - not localised. I have got someone to nail them down - no success. Then someone else tried to screw them down but no change. What can I do now? The house is old, built in 1950's. Should I just replace all the floor boards? What is the cheapest solution as want to sell the house?

 

[Building Contractor]

This problem can occur if the floor joists have not been installed with sufficient size per span ratio and/or not correctly strutted. Remedy can be very difficult with probable solution in doubling up on some floor joists where access can be achieved

 

[masona]

Does sound like no herringbone was not put in.

 

[nsutebufru]

Thanks for the replies and useful advice. The house is a livett-cartwright construction. The frame is made of steel stanchion rods and the walls built with concrete slabs. The squeeking became much worse after central heating was installed. What are herringbones? Given the advice about checking out the joists, I am considering getting a builder/joiner to check it out as it seems I need a pro for the job.

 

[masona]

What are herringbones?

To make the floor solid and not bouncing.

Gee,these young carpenter got it made, I has to make mine out of timber or I'm now classified as old

 

[nsutebufru]

I have finally decided to replace all the floor boards with fibreboards, which I understand is what is used for most new houses now. Will cost me £500 but hopefully that will be the end of the squeeks!!!

Thanx for the ideas

 

[IanDB]

Don't bank on it!! If the fibre boards aren't secured properly you'll end up back at square one!!

 

[masona]

Agreed, best to lift the floorboards up and have a look at the joists for movement as you're going to do it anyway.

 

[John Dee]

AS a matter of interest, if the concrete floor was flat enough, could you glue the boards in to position?

 

[foxwoodlad]

i have renailed floor boards all over the house and still they creek,having run ins with neighbours.
Council man stated must be the way the structure of the house was built as he could not advise what could be done...all secure but unless it is because of the metal joists as upper flat. I dont know what the solution can be -any ideas

to solve the problem pull up a couple of floorboards. you will see the steel joists . on the top and bottom of the joists is a piece of angle iron the angle iron is screwed to a timber batten. when you stand on the joist you will see that there is a gap between the timber batten and the angle iron. that is what squeaks. buy some 80mm self drilling screws from screwfix and scre the batten down thro the angle iron and the screww taps into the steel ,stopping the squeaking, once you are confident of this you can 100mm screws which will go thro the ex floorboards, timber batten and angle iron. i would recommend you pull up evert 8th board, locate the angle iron and draw pencil line to make accurate drilling as the angle iron is only about 25mm wide. the screws are a tenner a box . it works and you can sleep easier without that bloody squeak! steve