Creaky floor 😣

benson1980

Just be careful you don't screw through a service pipe (speaking from bitter experience of putting a screw through a 3/4 inch CH pipe), if you do try and secure the existing floor down further. Ours were literally just under the floorboards and ran through notches on the top of the joists so following the joist line and securing them down could still lead to trouble. 

tanker

benson1980 said:

Just be careful you don't screw through a service pipe (speaking from bitter experience of putting a screw through a 3/4 inch CH pipe), if you do try and secure the existing floor down further. Ours were literally just under the floorboards and ran through notches on the top of the joists so following the joist line and securing them down could still lead to trouble. 

Hi all!

Just following on from benson1980's comment, I thought I'd add my cautionary tale.  

Almost from the day we moved into our early 90's house we had a creaky area at the head of the stairs.  In desperation, one day I pulled back the landing carpet intending to replace (or supplement) the nails with screws.  Conscious of the fact that there were almost certainly central heating pipes running the length of the landing I felt around to find the warm spots and proceeded to put in a dozen or so screws.  Job done!  I put the carpet back and put my tools away and went into the kitchen for a celebratory cuppa...only to find water coming through the ceiling around one of the light fittings!

I'd carefully avoided the hot water pipes but had, of course, forgotten that there would also be cold water pipes close by - that I wouldn't have been able to detect by feeling the floorboards.

Fixing the problem was a nightmare.  To gain access to the leak I had to cut some of the floorboards but I didn't have a suitable saw, so off I went to our local B&Q for a floorboard saw.  When I eventually made a hole in the floor big enough to give me access to the leak - and, of course, until the boards came up I wasn't exactly sure which screw had caused to damage - it was still dribbling.  This was despite the fact that I had turned the cold water feed off at the rising main in the kitchen, so I guess the water was draining out of all the water pipework above the level of the leak; the bath, the showers, two toilet cisterns, two sinks etc.  So my wife had to sit on the landing catching the running water for about 15 minutes while I dashed up to B&Q again (only about a quarter mile form us - thankfully) for the plumbing bits and pieces I needed to replace the damaged section of pipe.

I hate plumbing!

And the landing floor still creaks...and moves when you walk on it even though I've put additional timber supports under the boards. I've given up on it now.

BE CAREFUL WITH THOSE SCREWS

Postik

Had creaking in an older 1980's house.  Learnt to live with it.  Now have creaking in a virtually new house.  Eventually I just figure out where not to stand.  I hate the thought of keep pulling the carpets back and eventually fraying them or they don't go back down tight so it's not something I ever intend to remedy!

Apjs87

stuart45 said:

You might have a Nightingale floor, which was designed as a warning from a Ninja attack.

  . ive nothing to add, this was funny

kipsterno1

Postik said:

Had creaking in an older 1980's house.  Learnt to live with it.  Now have creaking in a virtually new house.  Eventually I just figure out where not to stand.  I hate the thought of keep pulling the carpets back and eventually fraying them or they don't go back down tight so it's not something I ever intend to remedy!

Our last house built in the late 80's suffered from very creaky floors in one of the bedrooms. Adding extra screws all over the place did nothing to help.  In the end it turned out the creaking was from where the stud wall timber was joined to the floor. Removing the skirting board and adding a few screws through the stud wall base sorted the issue.

DINK670

I did hear of another possible remedy - slightly watered down pva glue with the ratio of 50-50 but may be worth checking out to ensure this is correct.

Carpetto

So, for completeness, in case anyone searches old posts for a solution. 
Talc tried and failed, watered down pva tried and failed, all nails removed and replaced with special screws tried and failed, a further 200 screws added tried and failed. 
Chipboard floor completely taken up and replaced with new glued and screwed.... SUCCESS! And perfect peace

FreeBear

Carpetto said:

So, for completeness, in case anyone searches old posts for a solution. 
Talc tried and failed, watered down pva tried and failed, all nails removed and replaced with special screws tried and failed, a further 200 screws added tried and failed. 
Chipboard floor completely taken up and replaced with new glued and screwed.... SUCCESS! And perfect peace

if you just drive a screw in to chipboard, it often raises a lump of the chipboard before the screw bites in to the joist. The way to avoid this is to drill a hole through the chipboard (and only through the chipboard) before driving the screw in.

Current practice in new builds is (I believe) to glue and screw - Great as long as you never need to lift a board for access to wiring or plumbing.

Chickereeeee

FreeBear said:

Carpetto said:

So, for completeness, in case anyone searches old posts for a solution. 
Talc tried and failed, watered down pva tried and failed, all nails removed and replaced with special screws tried and failed, a further 200 screws added tried and failed. 
Chipboard floor completely taken up and replaced with new glued and screwed.... SUCCESS! And perfect peace

if you just drive a screw in to chipboard, it often raises a lump of the chipboard before the screw bites in to the joist. The way to avoid this is to drill a hole through the chipboard (and only through the chipboard) before driving the screw in.

Current practice in new builds is (I believe) to glue and screw - Great as long as you never need to lift a board for access to wiring or plumbing.

As the chipboard usually has tongue and groove edging, and you do not usually want to lift the whole floor, you are going to be cutting anyway.