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I am renovating a 1920’s row house and I need to stop the squeaks in a 2 inch strip harwood floor. The floor is in the kitchen, and squeaks almost everywhere you can step. It was under 2 layers of linoleum, but fortunately there is no adhesive on it so it can be refinished in place quite nicely…except for the squeaks.
Can this be done without pulling up the whole thing? The subflooring is 1″ thick softwood laid diagonally over 2×8 joists on 18″ centres spanning 8 feet.
Thanks, Mark J
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Hi Mark,
Is the floor accessible from below?
If you can see from below, have someone walk on the floor above while you observe the action of the planking. Sometimes the floor squeeks from the nails between the subfloor and the joist.
This is caused mostly by one or more of the joists sagging over the years.
If this is the case you can shim the gap using a hardwood shim and glue on both sides and insert till snug.
If it's the hardwood that is separated from the subfloor, you can drill holes from below and if a gap exist between the two, squeeze a mess of glue between them and screw from below to draw it down onto the glue. Use screws that will reach 3/4 of the way into the upper layer of hardwood and not penetrate through.
Just a few thoughts...
Gabe
*If this old house could talk...Squeaks = charm and character
*Gabe's technique will work, but you've got to be real careful doing it. The 1920's oak flooring was only 5/16" thick, and the stuff they used for sub floor can vary in thickness by as much as 1/8", so you don't have a whole lot of room between not far enough to hold and breaking thru the finished surface. Another possible gotcha -- there might be tar paper between the sub floor and hardwood. First time you go down there, take a good look and poke around for termite and/or dry rot damage, especially since this has been a kitchen for over 70 years. BTW, they often left some pretty good size gaps between the subfloor planks, so you'll probably be able to stick a thin ruler in there. You might measure with and without your helper stepping on the place you're measuring. Good luck.-- J.S.
*Gabe has it right, be careful with the shims though, you don't want to drive the floor up. I would be suprised if your flooring is less than 3/4". Usually that is applied over old 4" fir flooring in an early remodel.If subfloor is the problem, a screw at an angle through the joist might do the trick. If it's the hardwood and not the subfloor, screws through the subfloor into the hardwood should do the trick.But I'm with Tom, leave a few squeaks at least!steve
*Thanks for the advice - I will leave a few squeaks as I can only get at about half the floor from the basement. There is no tar paper and the hardwood measures 3/4 with the 1" softwood (fir?) subfloor. (I pulled apart a hot air duct - to be moved as part of the remodelling.) The rest of the house has a squeak here and there which can be walked around or stepped over at night, I should be able to accomplish the same for the kitchen. Mark
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I am renovating a 1920's row house and I need to stop the squeaks in a 2 inch strip harwood floor. The floor is in the kitchen, and squeaks almost everywhere you can step. It was under 2 layers of linoleum, but fortunately there is no adhesive on it so it can be refinished in place quite nicely...except for the squeaks.
Can this be done without pulling up the whole thing? The subflooring is 1" thick softwood laid diagonally over 2x8 joists on 18" centres spanning 8 feet.
Thanks, Mark J