I have a house that I did last season – completion in Nov – that has one small squeak in the floor.
Unfortunately it’s in the bathroom, right in front of the throne where you’re feet are while you’re thinking. Also happens to be right in front of the shower. Customer would like it to end.
Floor is sheet vinyl over self-levelling lightweight concrete with electric heat grid in it over 3/8 osb glued and stapled to 5/8 plywood glued and screwed to 2×10 joists.
Only takes about 15lb of weight to activate the squeak, so I’m guessing it’s in the shim layer (which is there to match levels with the hardwood in the next room). I can locate it to within an inch or two with a stethescope (always knew that old EMT training would come back to benefit me somehow)
I’ve tried injecting polyurethane glue with a syringe with no effects after almost 250ml, which is a lot of gorilla glue.
Any other ideas are much appreciated.
I know I know, I’m not a fan of heat under sheet vinyl either, it was a customer request to continue flooring from the hall and kitchen.
thanks much
j
Replies
Loud fart fan, activated by the light switch.
Ah, just a smart-a$$ thought - truly wish I had a real idea for you.
Greg
It really is a small squeak - you can hardly hear it in the daytime at all. Unfortunately the customer is a bit of a nervous insomniac, for all his other very admirable qualities which include his willingness to pay bills on time and without question and his willingness to refer me to just about everyone he knows.If the joist bay below wasn't so full of pipes and a duct I'd just isolate the staple in question and drill out that area with a small hole saw. j
Can you get in there enough to push a shim into it? If so, use a plastic shim or something that won't shrink like wood does.
another though, instead of injecting glue, inject some oil. =)~ Ted W ~
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Where are you injecting the glue?And you said that the joist day was full ducts and pipes. Are you sure that one of those is not rubbing against the sub-floor or that the joist is moving just slight to cause a rub?.
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Since you said it is also in front of the shower, is there a wall or curb involved? It may be the floor flexing down and squeaking against framing that is not.
That's what I thought until I got the 'scope out since the shim layer of osb does come up against the fiberglass curb of the shower. I think I'll try my little hole saw trick since I know pretty much exactly where the squeak is and it's not involving a joist. I'll put a 1" hole saw on a big long extension shaft and drill out a few of the staples right in that area and hope for the best. j
Feed the guy a lot of strong tea so that he develops tinnitus.
That's funny because the whole problem is that he DOES have tinnitus.
He tells me that when it's night-time and things are very quiet the ringing in his ears is deafening and he can't sleep, so he gets up, and then when the ringing is so loud in his head any little additional sound is even more deafening. I always thought that tinnitus was just the ringing, but it seems like the problem for him is that his ears no longer know how to decide how loud or quiet any given sound is. Anyway, he's really really interested in me finding a good solution to this very quiet little squeak. j
Noise canceling headphones may help him all around.
U mention a lot of pipes down there.
I had one a few years ago in a tight bathroom like that and pulled the subfloor up before doing the tile.
what it turned out to be was not typical wood on wood or wood/nail squeak. The plumber's helper when drilling a 2" hole for the waste plastic from the sinkl had his drill off at an angle, so when that plastic waste line went through, it was tight snug to the wood of the hole, and the squeak was plastic/wood. Had I been injecting glue at the subfloor plane I would never have gotten it done. I did a littl e chisling to make for a looser hole, then greased the slip with spray white lithium.
you might be able to pul up the taoilet, and make a larger hole under that pot hole, and see what is there, or go at it from the ceiling below.
Sometimes mystery squeaks can be fixed with a bunch of injected spray foam, but that can make a mess for getting to it later if it doesn't work.
best of luck.
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Cut all the nails in that area that attach the joist to the subfloor.
Yeah, or toe-screw up through the joist (being very careful of screw length). Or inject glue between joist and subfloor.But all of these are difficult/impossible with the mechanicals in the way (though cutting the nails may be possible if one can work a MultiMaster in there.
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I've tried injecting polyurethane glue with a syringe with no effects after almost 250ml, which is a lot of gorilla glue.
Did you inject some water after all that glue? That's what makes it foam as it activates... just a thought.
Bill
No, I didn't inject any water with the p.u. glue. These folks are keeping their indoor humidity at or above 50% for a reason that is very clear to them but not to me. There's no lack of ambient moisture for the glue to draw from. We've gone over the reasons to keep it lower from the house's point of view, but eventually it's the residents that choose how to live in their place. It's not so bad now that it's springtime, but imagine what that place was like in February when it was -35F outdoors and 77F indoors with 50%+ humidity. We actually have a waiver on their construction warranty for it. j
I like Piffin's reply #8.
I had the same problem in my master bath, a little squeak.
I knew it wasn't the flooring...3/4" CDX subfloor, topped with 1/2" ply underlay, topped with brazilian cherry hardwood.
I reached through my tub's access panel and grabbed ahold of the tub drain line, which I knew ran through the joist bay where the squeak was coming from, and gently pushed the pipe.
<squeak>
It was the PVC drain line running through the joist bay. Rubbing on who knows what. A pipe hanger? The joist itself? One idea was to go through the ceiling below to get at the offending section, stabilize it, then patch the drywall.
Instead I sat there and jiggled the pipe around for several minutes one day until the squeak went away.
T'aint never returned.