My daughter has just moved into a house that has a squeaky kitchen
floor. There is literally a "crawl space" under the house making it
very difficult to climb around. She has a linoleum covered floor.
Being a complete novice, but still wanting to look like the hero to my
little girl, how can I go about getting rid of these creaks? Thanks.

Say some more about the age of the house, the span length of the floor
joists the cross section of the joists, and the material of the
subfloor. This would not be the first house with joists not sized for
the spans; or not sized for the loads; or structural panels that are
too closely fitted; or older construction that has been damaged by
moisture or insects in the crawl space.
TB

wrote in message
ups.com...
Say some more about the age of the house, the span length of the floor
joists the cross section of the joists, and the material of the
subfloor. This would not be the first house with joists not sized for
the spans; or not sized for the loads; or structural panels that are
too closely fitted; or older construction that has been damaged by
moisture or insects in the crawl space.
TB

Usually, a squeaky floor is caused by a loose nail (or maybe several)
holding the flooring and subflooring to the joists.

The solution is to identify the squeaky areas and drive a screw through the
floor, subfloor, and into the joist.

The problem is that if you have floorcovering already installed, you can't
just go around driving screws through it or you'll ruin it.

This is my real problem. It already has nice floorcovering already
installed. In my house that I have carpet in, whenever I hear a squeek
I just drive a nail and it goes away. Might not be the correct way of
handling it but it works.

The thing with my daughters house is we're not going to drive a nail
through the linoleum.

I'm thinking that since the house is only 5 years old that the
subflooring in the kitchen will be at least 3/4". I think I might just
go underneath and drive a 1" nail un into the subfloor through the floor
joist at an angle?


Kyle Boatright wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...

Say some more about the age of the house, the span length of the floor
joists the cross section of the joists, and the material of the
subfloor. This would not be the first house with joists not sized for
the spans; or not sized for the loads; or structural panels that are
too closely fitted; or older construction that has been damaged by
moisture or insects in the crawl space.
TB


Usually, a squeaky floor is caused by a loose nail (or maybe several)
holding the flooring and subflooring to the joists.

The solution is to identify the squeaky areas and drive a screw through the
floor, subfloor, and into the joist.

The problem is that if you have floorcovering already installed, you can't
just go around driving screws through it or you'll ruin it.

"The Wanderer" wrote in message
. net...
This is my real problem. It already has nice floorcovering already
installed. In my house that I have carpet in, whenever I hear a squeek I
just drive a nail and it goes away. Might not be the correct way of
handling it but it works.

The thing with my daughters house is we're not going to drive a nail
through the linoleum.

I'm thinking that since the house is only 5 years old that the subflooring
in the kitchen will be at least 3/4". I think I might just go underneath
and drive a 1" nail un into the subfloor through the floor joist at an
angle?

That's a desparate fix, but it might work.

Personally, I'd pick an inconspicuous corner and drill a small hole in the
floor and gauge the thickness of the flooring and subflooring at that point.

Then, I'd locate all the squeaks, figure out where they are, and locate them
in the crawlspace.

After that, I'd make a reference marks on the joists (say 2" below the
floor) and drill angled holes through the joists and into the floor and
subfloor beginning at that reference point. If your reference mark is 2"
below the floor and the floor and subfloor add up to 1.5" (hypothetically),
I'd use 3.5" screws to hold everything together. With any angle at all, they
won't penetrate into the linoleum.

A tedious job, but doable...

How about using construction adhesive at the top 2 edges of each joist. It
is recommended for roofs to help hurricane proof the roof. I wonder if it
would help on squeaks.


"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..

"The Wanderer" wrote in message
. net...
This is my real problem. It already has nice floorcovering already
installed. In my house that I have carpet in, whenever I hear a squeek I
just drive a nail and it goes away. Might not be the correct way of
handling it but it works.

The thing with my daughters house is we're not going to drive a nail
through the linoleum.

I'm thinking that since the house is only 5 years old that the
subflooring in the kitchen will be at least 3/4". I think I might just
go underneath and drive a 1" nail un into the subfloor through the floor
joist at an angle?

That's a desparate fix, but it might work.

Personally, I'd pick an inconspicuous corner and drill a small hole in the
floor and gauge the thickness of the flooring and subflooring at that
point.

Then, I'd locate all the squeaks, figure out where they are, and locate
them in the crawlspace.

After that, I'd make a reference marks on the joists (say 2" below the
floor) and drill angled holes through the joists and into the floor and
subfloor beginning at that reference point. If your reference mark is 2"
below the floor and the floor and subfloor add up to 1.5"
(hypothetically), I'd use 3.5" screws to hold everything together. With
any angle at all, they won't penetrate into the linoleum.

A tedious job, but doable...

"Art" wrote in message
nk.net...
How about using construction adhesive at the top 2 edges of each joist.
It is recommended for roofs to help hurricane proof the roof. I wonder if
it would help on squeaks.

I think the screws would work *better*, but a tube of construction adhesive
only costs $3.00, and requires a lot less work than the method I suggested.
The original poster would only lose $3.00 and 30 extra minutes of work if
the construction adhesive didn't work. If it did work, he'd save far more
than 30 minutes.

OK. Thanks for the help everyone. I'm going to go with the
construction adhesive first and follow up with the screws as a lst
resort. I knew I'd get positive feedback here. Again, thanks.


Kyle Boatright wrote:
"Art" wrote in message
nk.net...

How about using construction adhesive at the top 2 edges of each joist.
It is recommended for roofs to help hurricane proof the roof. I wonder if
it would help on squeaks.


I think the screws would work *better*, but a tube of construction adhesive
only costs $3.00, and requires a lot less work than the method I suggested.
The original poster would only lose $3.00 and 30 extra minutes of work if
the construction adhesive didn't work. If it did work, he'd save far more
than 30 minutes.

baby powder, shims, article at:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/know...9967-3,00.html

My daughter has just moved into a house that has a squeaky kitchen
floor. There is literally a "crawl space" under the house making it
very difficult to climb around. She has a linoleum covered floor.
Being a complete novice, but still wanting to look like the hero to my
little girl, how can I go about getting rid of these creaks? Thanks.


1) Who OWNS the house? If she's renting, you should leave it
alone.

2) Floor squeaks are a pain in the ass. There is no thing that
is guaranteed to work.

3) Don't count on the floor being more than 21/32" thick

Things that might help include blocking between joists,
an extra support mid-jost supported by posts, glue injected
between the joists and the subfloor, followed by weights in
the kitchen, and screws. Nails probably won't help.

Suggest that her husband or boyfriend insert shims between the floor
joists & the subfloor at the squeak locations.

If your daughter is in her own house, my guess is that it's time to
stop doing the "crawlspace thing" & start giving advice.

If it's a rental forget it!

If construction adhesive doens't fix the problem it will be more
difficult to add shims later.

cheers
Bob

go under the hose with some wood tapered shims ,a hammer and some
elmers glue. get someone to walk on the floor making it squeek,when you
find it,tap in a shim between the plywood and the floor joist just till
it stops squeeking.some glue on the shim may help. lucas

http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm