We recently ripped up the carpet in the living room, and the hardwood floor
underneath is 3-width pieces, with what appears to be those round "dowels"
which cover the nails. In other words, where the nail was pounded in,
there's a small cylindrical hole drilled into the plank about 1/4 inch, the
nail was punded in, then the nail head was covered with a round wooden plug.
One of the plugs cracked and came out because it looks like the nail was
forced up from underneath.

I have 2 questions about this:

1) The floor is unbelievably squeaky and creaky, and not just in a few
spots. The whole thing, all over, is unbeLIEVABLY creaky; our 30 pound dog
just walking around squeaks it at every step. Seriously, it's crazy. I
have heard this is typically because the planks are a little loose, OR the
subfloor where it is nailed into the joists is a little loose. To begin
trouble-shooting, how can I remove these plugs to get at the underlying
nail? Several plugs are a little above the surrounding plank, but they seem
to be glued in, or are at least too tight for me to get them out via any
means I have immediately at my disposal. I don't see any protruding nails
in the basement ceiling (it's bare, so I can see the subfloor and joists),
but even if I did, I imagine pounding them up would break the plugs anyway,
and I'd like to avoid that. If I NEED to just break them to remove them and
replace them with new plugs, what's the best way to do that?

2) (moot if I have to break and remove the plugs from the answer to 1)
When I sand the floor to (hopefully) refinish, how do I handle these plugs,
especially the ones that stick up just a tad? It seems like they'd tear the
heck out of a sander, or at least the paper in it. Do I just press on them
and sand down until they're flush?

Any help is appreciated, and thanks for reading.

"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
We recently ripped up the carpet in the living room, and the hardwood
floor underneath is 3-width pieces, with what appears to be those round
"dowels" which cover the nails. In other words, where the nail was
pounded in, there's a small cylindrical hole drilled into the plank about
1/4 inch, the nail was punded in, then the nail head was covered with a
round wooden plug. One of the plugs cracked and came out because it looks
like the nail was forced up from underneath.

I have 2 questions about this:

1) The floor is unbelievably squeaky and creaky, and not just in a few
spots. The whole thing, all over, is unbeLIEVABLY creaky; our 30 pound
dog just walking around squeaks it at every step. Seriously, it's crazy.
I have heard this is typically because the planks are a little loose, OR
the subfloor where it is nailed into the joists is a little loose. To
begin trouble-shooting, how can I remove these plugs to get at the
underlying nail? Several plugs are a little above the surrounding plank,
but they seem to be glued in, or are at least too tight for me to get them
out via any means I have immediately at my disposal. I don't see any
protruding nails in the basement ceiling (it's bare, so I can see the
subfloor and joists), but even if I did, I imagine pounding them up would
break the plugs anyway, and I'd like to avoid that. If I NEED to just
break them to remove them and replace them with new plugs, what's the best
way to do that?

2) (moot if I have to break and remove the plugs from the answer to 1)
When I sand the floor to (hopefully) refinish, how do I handle these
plugs, especially the ones that stick up just a tad? It seems like they'd
tear the heck out of a sander, or at least the paper in it. Do I just
press on them and sand down until they're flush?

Any help is appreciated, and thanks for reading.


This won't solve all your problems, but try something cheap and easy before
you drive yourself nuts trying to fix the squeaks. Got a container of
squeeze mustard? Finish it, clean it really well and let it dry thoroughly.
Fill it halfway with talcum powder. Go down in the basement and squirt the
powder in between all "seams" where you hear squeaking. I did this in my
last home and it lasted for several years. Your mileage may vary.

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:20:39 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:


This won't solve all your problems, but try something cheap and easy before
you drive yourself nuts trying to fix the squeaks. Got a container of
squeeze mustard? Finish it, clean it really well and let it dry thoroughly.
Fill it halfway with talcum powder. Go down in the basement and squirt the
powder in between all "seams" where you hear squeaking. I did this in my
last home and it lasted for several years. Your mileage may vary.

Good suggestion.

OP, if you can't do this, get a container of talc, use it all up, and
fill it with mustard. Then, find a baby and before you put a new
diaper on, cover his behind with mustard.

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:20:39 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:


This won't solve all your problems, but try something cheap and easy
before
you drive yourself nuts trying to fix the squeaks. Got a container of
squeeze mustard? Finish it, clean it really well and let it dry
thoroughly.
Fill it halfway with talcum powder. Go down in the basement and squirt the
powder in between all "seams" where you hear squeaking. I did this in my
last home and it lasted for several years. Your mileage may vary.

Good suggestion.

OP, if you can't do this, get a container of talc, use it all up, and
fill it with mustard. Then, find a baby and before you put a new
diaper on, cover his behind with mustard.


Especially if the baby's name is Nathan, and he's famous.

"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
We recently ripped up the carpet in the living room, and the hardwood
floor underneath is 3-width pieces, with what appears to be those round
"dowels" which cover the nails. In other words, where the nail was
pounded in, there's a small cylindrical hole drilled into the plank about
1/4 inch, the nail was punded in, then the nail head was covered with a
round wooden plug. One of the plugs cracked and came out because it looks
like the nail was forced up from underneath.

I have 2 questions about this:

1) The floor is unbelievably squeaky and creaky, and not just in a few
spots. The whole thing, all over, is unbeLIEVABLY creaky; our 30 pound
dog just walking around squeaks it at every step. Seriously, it's crazy.
I have heard this is typically because the planks are a little loose, OR
the subfloor where it is nailed into the joists is a little loose. To
begin trouble-shooting, how can I remove these plugs to get at the
underlying nail? Several plugs are a little above the surrounding plank,
but they seem to be glued in, or are at least too tight for me to get them
out via any means I have immediately at my disposal. I don't see any
protruding nails in the basement ceiling (it's bare, so I can see the
subfloor and joists), but even if I did, I imagine pounding them up would
break the plugs anyway, and I'd like to avoid that. If I NEED to just
break them to remove them and replace them with new plugs, what's the best
way to do that?

2) (moot if I have to break and remove the plugs from the answer to 1)
When I sand the floor to (hopefully) refinish, how do I handle these
plugs, especially the ones that stick up just a tad? It seems like they'd
tear the heck out of a sander, or at least the paper in it. Do I just
press on them and sand down until they're flush?

Any help is appreciated, and thanks for reading.
Are you absolutely sure there are nails under the plugs? If the one that
popped had a nail, is it possibly a later repair attempt? What year was the
house built? In anything since 1950s, it is highly unlikely that there are
actual nails under there. Most likely edge-nailed tongue and groove, which
explains why you see no nails from below. Is the visible subfloor in the
basement plywood or 45 degree 1x6 planks? That is a real good clue as to
age. Plywood means late 50s or newer, plank means early 60s or older. Faux
plugs in floors were popular for several years in the 60s, and they did have
a bad habit of popping out. My father actually had to order bags of
replacement plugs from Bruce flooring, for several clients who kept having
them pop. A high-end flooring shop should be able to order replacement
plugs, or you could just have a cabinet shop turn a hardwood dowel to
correct diameter, and slice a bag of them for you. Installation is the same
as Norm shows on his TV show- a little glue (Gorrila glue would be ideal),
pound in, and use a rasp or edge saw to cut nearly flush, if needed. The
floor sander should have little trouble with them unless they are loose.

As to the squeaking- it is possible the original installation was botched-
no paper under the hardwood, not enough nails, boards nailed too loosely,
etc. Short of face-nailing with deeply-sunk nails and careful puttying, I
know of no permanent fix that doesn't involve ripping the old floor out and
starting over, and reusing old hardwood is usually very labor intensive and
less than 100% successful. If it is the topside boards squeaking against
each other, sweeping talc into the cracks may help a little to lube them.


aem sends...

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:40:15 GMT, "aemeijers"
wrote:

Faux
plugs in floors were popular for several years in the 60s, and they did have
a bad habit of popping out. My father actually had to order bags of
replacement plugs from Bruce flooring, for several clients who kept having
them pop.

I think your father was an innocent pawn in a plug-laundering scheme,
where unknowing carpeters etc. were used to acquire new plugs, while
bags of the original ones were sent to guerrila groups in Latin
America. Generalissimo Bruce was known leader of these groups.

As to the squeaking- it is possible the original installation was botched-
no paper under the hardwood, not enough nails, boards nailed too loosely,
etc. Short of face-nailing with deeply-sunk nails and careful puttying,

Any possibility of taking those plugs out and putting in screws that
go into either the floor joists or, if there is none at that point,
pieces of 2x4. Or nuts and bolts.

I don't know how many plugs there are or where they are, but would
that accomplish anything?

I
know of no permanent fix that doesn't involve ripping the old floor out and
starting over, and reusing old hardwood is usually very labor intensive and
less than 100% successful. If it is the topside boards squeaking against
each other, sweeping talc into the cracks may help a little to lube them.

Or mustard.

aem sends...

Thanks for your responses, everyone.

This is a 1929 house, the subfloor is diagonal pieces, and it does seem to
be plugs over actual nails.

I also do NOT see any paper or vapor shield between the top hardwood and the
subfloor (I'm looking between them where there is a hole cut in the floor
for the cold air return to the furnace)




"aemeijers" wrote in message
...

"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
We recently ripped up the carpet in the living room, and the hardwood
floor underneath is 3-width pieces, with what appears to be those round
"dowels" which cover the nails. In other words, where the nail was
pounded in, there's a small cylindrical hole drilled into the plank about
1/4 inch, the nail was punded in, then the nail head was covered with a
round wooden plug. One of the plugs cracked and came out because it looks
like the nail was forced up from underneath.

I have 2 questions about this:

1) The floor is unbelievably squeaky and creaky, and not just in a few
spots. The whole thing, all over, is unbeLIEVABLY creaky; our 30 pound
dog just walking around squeaks it at every step. Seriously, it's crazy.
I have heard this is typically because the planks are a little loose, OR
the subfloor where it is nailed into the joists is a little loose. To
begin trouble-shooting, how can I remove these plugs to get at the
underlying nail? Several plugs are a little above the surrounding plank,
but they seem to be glued in, or are at least too tight for me to get
them out via any means I have immediately at my disposal. I don't see
any protruding nails in the basement ceiling (it's bare, so I can see the
subfloor and joists), but even if I did, I imagine pounding them up would
break the plugs anyway, and I'd like to avoid that. If I NEED to just
break them to remove them and replace them with new plugs, what's the
best way to do that?

2) (moot if I have to break and remove the plugs from the answer to 1)
When I sand the floor to (hopefully) refinish, how do I handle these
plugs, especially the ones that stick up just a tad? It seems like
they'd tear the heck out of a sander, or at least the paper in it. Do I
just press on them and sand down until they're flush?

Any help is appreciated, and thanks for reading.
Are you absolutely sure there are nails under the plugs? If the one that
popped had a nail, is it possibly a later repair attempt? What year was
the house built? In anything since 1950s, it is highly unlikely that there
are actual nails under there. Most likely edge-nailed tongue and groove,
which explains why you see no nails from below. Is the visible subfloor in
the basement plywood or 45 degree 1x6 planks? That is a real good clue as
to age. Plywood means late 50s or newer, plank means early 60s or older.
Faux plugs in floors were popular for several years in the 60s, and they
did have a bad habit of popping out. My father actually had to order bags
of replacement plugs from Bruce flooring, for several clients who kept
having them pop. A high-end flooring shop should be able to order
replacement plugs, or you could just have a cabinet shop turn a hardwood
dowel to correct diameter, and slice a bag of them for you. Installation
is the same as Norm shows on his TV show- a little glue (Gorrila glue
would be ideal), pound in, and use a rasp or edge saw to cut nearly flush,
if needed. The floor sander should have little trouble with them unless
they are loose.

As to the squeaking- it is possible the original installation was botched-
no paper under the hardwood, not enough nails, boards nailed too loosely,
etc. Short of face-nailing with deeply-sunk nails and careful puttying, I
know of no permanent fix that doesn't involve ripping the old floor out
and starting over, and reusing old hardwood is usually very labor
intensive and less than 100% successful. If it is the topside boards
squeaking against each other, sweeping talc into the cracks may help a
little to lube them.


aem sends...

Is it 2 layers of diagnol pieces at opposite angles? That is the way it
used to be done. I wonder if screws were put in from underneath to connect
the 2 layers together would help.


"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
Thanks for your responses, everyone.

This is a 1929 house, the subfloor is diagonal pieces, and it does seem to
be plugs over actual nails.

I also do NOT see any paper or vapor shield between the top hardwood and
the subfloor (I'm looking between them where there is a hole cut in the
floor for the cold air return to the furnace)




"aemeijers" wrote in message
...

"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
We recently ripped up the carpet in the living room, and the hardwood
floor underneath is 3-width pieces, with what appears to be those round
"dowels" which cover the nails. In other words, where the nail was
pounded in, there's a small cylindrical hole drilled into the plank
about 1/4 inch, the nail was punded in, then the nail head was covered
with a round wooden plug. One of the plugs cracked and came out because
it looks like the nail was forced up from underneath.

I have 2 questions about this:

1) The floor is unbelievably squeaky and creaky, and not just in a few
spots. The whole thing, all over, is unbeLIEVABLY creaky; our 30 pound
dog just walking around squeaks it at every step. Seriously, it's
crazy. I have heard this is typically because the planks are a little
loose, OR the subfloor where it is nailed into the joists is a little
loose. To begin trouble-shooting, how can I remove these plugs to get
at the underlying nail? Several plugs are a little above the
surrounding plank, but they seem to be glued in, or are at least too
tight for me to get them out via any means I have immediately at my
disposal. I don't see any protruding nails in the basement ceiling
(it's bare, so I can see the subfloor and joists), but even if I did, I
imagine pounding them up would break the plugs anyway, and I'd like to
avoid that. If I NEED to just break them to remove them and replace
them with new plugs, what's the best way to do that?

2) (moot if I have to break and remove the plugs from the answer to 1)
When I sand the floor to (hopefully) refinish, how do I handle these
plugs, especially the ones that stick up just a tad? It seems like
they'd tear the heck out of a sander, or at least the paper in it. Do I
just press on them and sand down until they're flush?

Any help is appreciated, and thanks for reading.
Are you absolutely sure there are nails under the plugs? If the one that
popped had a nail, is it possibly a later repair attempt? What year was
the house built? In anything since 1950s, it is highly unlikely that
there are actual nails under there. Most likely edge-nailed tongue and
groove, which explains why you see no nails from below. Is the visible
subfloor in the basement plywood or 45 degree 1x6 planks? That is a real
good clue as to age. Plywood means late 50s or newer, plank means early
60s or older. Faux plugs in floors were popular for several years in the
60s, and they did have a bad habit of popping out. My father actually had
to order bags of replacement plugs from Bruce flooring, for several
clients who kept having them pop. A high-end flooring shop should be able
to order replacement plugs, or you could just have a cabinet shop turn a
hardwood dowel to correct diameter, and slice a bag of them for you.
Installation is the same as Norm shows on his TV show- a little glue
(Gorrila glue would be ideal), pound in, and use a rasp or edge saw to
cut nearly flush, if needed. The floor sander should have little trouble
with them unless they are loose.

As to the squeaking- it is possible the original installation was
botched- no paper under the hardwood, not enough nails, boards nailed too
loosely, etc. Short of face-nailing with deeply-sunk nails and careful
puttying, I know of no permanent fix that doesn't involve ripping the old
floor out and starting over, and reusing old hardwood is usually very
labor intensive and less than 100% successful. If it is the topside
boards squeaking against each other, sweeping talc into the cracks may
help a little to lube them.


aem sends...

Thanks for the feedback, Art.

Judging from the hole that was cut in the upstairs floor for the cold air
return, it is just one subfloor of diagonal pieces. I think I'm going to
try that screw remedy, it seems to be the most permanent of the choices.

Thanks again all.


"Art" wrote in message
nk.net...
Is it 2 layers of diagnol pieces at opposite angles? That is the way it
used to be done. I wonder if screws were put in from underneath to
connect the 2 layers together would help.


"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
Thanks for your responses, everyone.

This is a 1929 house, the subfloor is diagonal pieces, and it does seem
to be plugs over actual nails.

I also do NOT see any paper or vapor shield between the top hardwood and
the subfloor (I'm looking between them where there is a hole cut in the
floor for the cold air return to the furnace)




"aemeijers" wrote in message
...

"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
We recently ripped up the carpet in the living room, and the hardwood
floor underneath is 3-width pieces, with what appears to be those round
"dowels" which cover the nails. In other words, where the nail was
pounded in, there's a small cylindrical hole drilled into the plank
about 1/4 inch, the nail was punded in, then the nail head was covered
with a round wooden plug. One of the plugs cracked and came out because
it looks like the nail was forced up from underneath.

I have 2 questions about this:

1) The floor is unbelievably squeaky and creaky, and not just in a few
spots. The whole thing, all over, is unbeLIEVABLY creaky; our 30 pound
dog just walking around squeaks it at every step. Seriously, it's
crazy. I have heard this is typically because the planks are a little
loose, OR the subfloor where it is nailed into the joists is a little
loose. To begin trouble-shooting, how can I remove these plugs to get
at the underlying nail? Several plugs are a little above the
surrounding plank, but they seem to be glued in, or are at least too
tight for me to get them out via any means I have immediately at my
disposal. I don't see any protruding nails in the basement ceiling
(it's bare, so I can see the subfloor and joists), but even if I did, I
imagine pounding them up would break the plugs anyway, and I'd like to
avoid that. If I NEED to just break them to remove them and replace
them with new plugs, what's the best way to do that?

2) (moot if I have to break and remove the plugs from the answer to 1)
When I sand the floor to (hopefully) refinish, how do I handle these
plugs, especially the ones that stick up just a tad? It seems like
they'd tear the heck out of a sander, or at least the paper in it. Do
I just press on them and sand down until they're flush?

Any help is appreciated, and thanks for reading.
Are you absolutely sure there are nails under the plugs? If the one that
popped had a nail, is it possibly a later repair attempt? What year was
the house built? In anything since 1950s, it is highly unlikely that
there are actual nails under there. Most likely edge-nailed tongue and
groove, which explains why you see no nails from below. Is the visible
subfloor in the basement plywood or 45 degree 1x6 planks? That is a real
good clue as to age. Plywood means late 50s or newer, plank means early
60s or older. Faux plugs in floors were popular for several years in the
60s, and they did have a bad habit of popping out. My father actually
had to order bags of replacement plugs from Bruce flooring, for several
clients who kept having them pop. A high-end flooring shop should be
able to order replacement plugs, or you could just have a cabinet shop
turn a hardwood dowel to correct diameter, and slice a bag of them for
you. Installation is the same as Norm shows on his TV show- a little
glue (Gorrila glue would be ideal), pound in, and use a rasp or edge saw
to cut nearly flush, if needed. The floor sander should have little
trouble with them unless they are loose.

As to the squeaking- it is possible the original installation was
botched- no paper under the hardwood, not enough nails, boards nailed
too loosely, etc. Short of face-nailing with deeply-sunk nails and
careful puttying, I know of no permanent fix that doesn't involve
ripping the old floor out and starting over, and reusing old hardwood is
usually very labor intensive and less than 100% successful. If it is the
topside boards squeaking against each other, sweeping talc into the
cracks may help a little to lube them.


aem sends...