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Essentials to getting it done RIGHT... |
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We'll teach you:
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| 1. How to identify the cause of the squeak |
| 2. How to renail the wood floor |
| 3. What tools to use and where to buy them |
| 4. How to salvage a wood floor |
5. Renailing the subfloor and reinstall the salvaged floor
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...THE FIRST TIME!
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In most cases the three wood floor members (the joist, subfloor and finished hardwood) have separated, and the nails binding them are moving in the nail holes. A little dust in these nail shafts makes the boards squeak. That’s why talc, wax and graphite offer a temporary solution. But why not try a permanent fix? Oh, by the way, simply resanding and finishing a squeaky floor will do little to solve the squeaking problem, don’t let any contractor con you into just doing that.
This separation is generally caused by seasonal shifting of the boards, and you would be well advised to keep the indoor relative humidity levels to about 40-60%. And I do mean all year round. Sadly though some hardwood floors were poorly nailed in the first place. A lot of wood floor contractors will not do the proper preparation of the subfloor, or they will lay a hardwood floor in the wrong direction. Be sure to read my Wrong Way Floor article (free) in the Case in Point section of this web site. Or worse yet they will have stapled the floor down with those awful flooring staples. Read the other free article about these lousy fasteners in the Primatech article in the Floored News. In the worst case you may have a OSB subfloor that got rained on during construction, and now causes no end of popping or squeaking.
I spare no details in this article. I will discuss a simple renailing of the loose boards on up to how to remove and reinstall a wood floor. I will give you not only the methods, but the access to the proper (yet inexpensive) tools to do the job well the first time.
