Are you currently living in a Toronto home with creaky wood flooring? Then you know how annoying it can be – especially when you are trying to be quiet.
While creaking is common in older homes, newer ones aren’t exempt, thanks to loose hardwood floors. You can either learn to live with your home’s unique ‘character’ and ‘charm’ or fix the problem before it becomes worse.
Regardless of whether your hardwood is carpeted or exposed, there are ways to address and fix the problem. First, it’s important to understand the root cause. Creaking wood flooring is generally caused by floorboards that become loose and rub together. These should be repaired as soon as possible.
Here is a guide to fixing common causes of creaking hardwood flooring in Toronto.
Let’s get started.
How to Fix Creaking Hardwood Flooring in Toronto
There are simple ways to repair creaking floors that are easier and cheaper than tearing up your hardwood flooring in Toronto.
1. Stabilize Noisy or Warped Joists
A common reason that hardwood flooring creaks is warped or twisted joists. This creates an uneven frame for the subfloor and leads to gaps that cause unwanted noise when someone walks on the floor.
Fortunately, there are ways to stabilize uneven joists.
When dealing with warped boards, you can secure them using planks nailed along the joists. The plank should be attached to the subfloor and joist to anchor them together. Alternatively, you can install blocks of wood between the joists. These will go a long way towards stabilizing the subfloor and joists to prevent the movement that causes creaky floors.
2. Add Lubrication
A quick fix for creaking and squeaking hardwood flooring in Toronto that puts off a permanent fix is to apply a lubricant between the floorboards and subfloor. Both talcum powder and powdered graphite are great options when looking to lubricate noisy wood flooring.
You simply need to sprinkle the powder over the creaking floorboards and walk over the affected areas to help the lubricant seep into the wood. Depending on the severity of the issue, you may have to repeat the process a few times. But remember that this is not a permanent fix, and you may need to continue reapplying the lubricant to keep the creaking at bay.
3. Drive Short Screws from the Bottom
There’s a good chance that the creaking sound originates from floorboards rubbing against the underlying plywood subfloor. Or it may be chafing against the nails used to hold the floorboards down.
Regardless, you can prevent this movement and eliminate the noise by driving short screws up through the underside of the subfloor into the bottom of your hardwood flooring.
Just be sure to use short screws, as long ones will penetrate the top of your finished flooring and create issues worse than creaking floorboards. A great way to go ahead with this is to put the first screw into an inconspicuous area to see if it pokes through the surface or not.
4. Secure the Floorboards
Another solution is to hammer nails into your hardwood flooring in Toronto to secure them. However, be careful as too much force can damage the floorboards. You also need to use the exact number of nails, as too many or too few do more harm than good.
5. Call a Professional
If you notice that significant damage is causing the creaking, it might be worth calling in a professional flooring contractor. Creaky floors are sometimes indicative of more serious issues that need to be addressed promptly and properly.
For instance, the creaking may be caused by a foundational failure or structural damage. In such instances, a professional is your best bet to finding the issue and will ensure you find a suitable solution.
There are many ways to fix creaking hardwood flooring in Toronto. Depending on the issue, some solutions will be more effective than others. However, if you face trouble fixing the flooring yourself, consider contacting professionals. Just know that some creaks are unavoidable, thanks to wood drying out over the years and the floor’s age.
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