Lifting Glues Chipboard Floorboards - is it worth it?

[Aaron B]

Hi,

I am laying a new laminate floor in one of the bedrooms and have just lifted the old carpet and had my first look of the tongue and groove flooring. Some of the tongue and groove joints are very loose and when walked on sag and cause the floor to creak slightly - in the extreme cases the floorboards seem to rock slightly when stood on at opposite ends. With the carpet down this was not noticeable so it is only since i lifted the carpet i have found the issue.

At the moment i think my only option is to try and cut the floor boards using a circular saw and then lift a section and install some noggins to support the joints where they go between joists. My concern with this is that the boards appear to be glued rather than nailed or screwed and I am worried once i cut the boards they will be impossible to lift, or even if i can lift them i will damage the joists (we have a new build which has those strange I-Beam type things made from plywood). So based on this my questions are:

• Would it be better to just cut small pieces of the floor up in between joists and then fix these back down with noggins?
• What is the best way to try and lift large pieces even though they are glued down?
• Can i screw the noggins to the chipboard or do they need to fix to the joists?
• Has anyone attached noggins to the lightweight beams used in new builds - what is the best way to do this?

Any help is much appreciated before i butcher the floor

 

[foxhole]

Needs screwing down to joists, glue is not enough.

 

[Aaron B]

Thanks for the reply - so is it even worth lifting the boards or just screwing down as much as possible to joists? I was going to use some tongue tite screws as they seem to have some good reviews.

 

[ironsidebod]

When you get to screwing the boards to the joists, I can recommend these: https://www.toolstation.com/spax-wirox-t-star-plus-flooring-screw/p31871

Drive in nice and easy and pull the boards tight!