New House / Chipboard floors terrible

cheesesarnie

Hi...just about to move into a 'new' house but the floor under the carpet upstairs is terrible (uneven/squeeking)....

looking at replacing the carpets so sounds like a good time to address the chipboard (which I guess is under the carpet)...

was think of replacing the chipboard completely like for like or should I screw ply on top?....any advice greatly appreciated

thanks

maninthestreet

The squeaking is probably the edges of the chipboard rubbing up against each other. I'm not sure screwing plywood on top would cure this.

cheesesarnie

I suppose more than the squeeking, there is movement + unevenness which is annoying..

I guess I see better when I get in the house but was just wondering which material best/easiest to resolve.

thanks

foreversummer

Ask the builder to recify it before you move in.

Foreversummer

lagi

You could try screwing some more screws in so there is less movement. You can buy a few and just do one area to see if it works. Worth a try.

cheesesarnie

cheers for advice all

27col

The problem can be mostly solved by re-fixing the chipboard, using at least 50mm screws. I found that it was best to place at least three into each joist. Part of the problem on my floor was that the boards had opened up along their length. This caused an awful flexing as the T&G ends were no longer locked together. I fixed this by punching the old nails right through the boards and then literally levering the boards together such that the T&G ends locked again. On a couple of boards it was not possible to move them by levering. In those cases I screwed a substantial batten to the board and hit it with a sledge hammer. This did the trick. It was all a bit of a nause but at least the floor creaking stopped mostly. It had been annoying me for nearly 30 years, ever since I built the house. Perhaps it will teach me to do the job properly first time.