How to remove the creak of the floor: the reasons for creaking, a review of effective ways, advice from the masters

A properly installed floor covering in its structure does not produce tangible sounds and does not give vibration. The presence of creaking noise indicates either improper installation, or problems that have already occurred during the operation of the coating. How to remove the creak of the floor? It is more likely that an invasion of its design will be required, but before that you need to deal with the factors that triggered this problem.

What could be the cause of a creak?

Unpleasant noise mainly occurs in wood structures, so logs and boards with the appropriate decorative flooring will become key factors in sound discomfort. Among the most common causes of squeaking, experts distinguish the following:

• Violation of floor mounting technology. The correct arrangement of the logs and floorboards both between themselves and at the joints with the outer cover must be maintained. Also, the base must be level. Correct installation of load-bearing beams is the key to the successful operation of the entire structure. But it happens that the concrete screed itself has defects on the surface. How to remove the creak of the floor in this case? It will require leveling the rough base with a self-leveling polymer compound, an ordinary cement screed or a light primer, depending on the severity of the defect.
• The design uses low-grade wood. Typically, such lumber, in principle, is not allowed for installation in critical installation systems, but there may be exceptions. Already at the first time of operation, the high porosity, the presence of voids and knots, which will contribute to the loosening of nails and the lag of adjacent floorboards, will let you know about the inappropriate quality of the material.
• Depreciation of construction. Even high-quality and properly installed wood will become worthless over time. The same lags can sag, wear out, weaken at the attachment points and become loose.
• Negative microclimatic and biological background. Normal waterlogging inside the floor contributes to the development of mold and fungus. Further, the wood rots, collapses and causes the same characteristic noise.

As you can see, it is possible to remove the creak of the wooden floor in some cases by elementary replacement of individual structural elements - sagging, rotten, lagging, etc. But massive capital structures with a multi-level log system are not so easy to reconstruct. Moreover, the reason does not always involve replacing the material. In such situations, you can use auxiliary means to get rid of unpleasant noise.

Foam filling

Perhaps the fastest and easiest way to eliminate squeaking. The principle of its action lies in the properties of polyurethane foam sealant (foam), which expands and hardens after depressurization. Actually, the user only needs to localize the problem area and process it with this composition. For convenience, use a mounting spray gun. It will allow you to apply the foam pointly and in a hard to reach place.

But too much hope is not worth placing on this method. The fact is that the creak from the floors with assembly foam can only be removed temporarily until the composition begins to sit down. Especially under the action of constant loads, the hardened foam deforms and eventually completely loses the function of rigid support for flimsy areas of the floor structure.

Floor stretching

Also a relatively simple way, but at the same time reliable and durable. It should be applied only to solid and durable boards, if there are structural deviations like a loose fit, but there is no way to fix them. How to remove the creak of floors in the apartment in this way?

For work, hardware and a standard set of carpentry tools with a drill will be required. As fasteners, it is better to use self-tapping screws with a corrosion-resistant surface. The size is selected individually, but the length should be 2 cm less than the total thickness of the board and log.

The following operations are performed:

1. A coating area that is not adjacent to the subfloor is localized. The hats should determine the lines of passage of the lag.
2. Near the detected attachment points, 2-3 holes are drilled so that the drill passes the board and penetrates the lag by about 70% of its thickness. Moreover, drilling should not be strictly vertical, but at an angle, which will increase the coupling area and avoid the formation of cracks in the wood. As for the diameter of the hole, it should be 0.2-2 mm less than the diameter of the screw.
3. Hardware is screwed into the created holes. At the end of the operation, it is important to prevent the presence of heads on the surface. They should be drowned in an array of 1-2 mm.
4. The assembled design is tested for sound.

If this method still does not help, you can experiment with other clamp configurations with self-tapping screws. For example, how to remove the creak of the floor, if the noise is generated not by horizontal floorboards, but by side boards? In this case, a comprehensive review of the cladding of the underground duct will be required. It is best to carry out a preliminary troubleshooting and to carry out the pulling not pointwise, but in a wider range with nearby boards.

Floor contraction

In this case, a thorough analysis of the floor will be required up to the base. If we are talking about the old coating, then this option is optimal. How to remove the creak of the floor by pulling? The essence of the process is the complete replacement of fasteners with self-tapping screws, and if necessary, the updating of individual flooring elements can also be performed. Therefore, it should be armed with a new timber format corresponding to the stacked boards.

The workflow step by step looks like this:

• Skirtings and flooring are dismantled. For such operations, you should immediately arm yourself with a nail clipper and pliers. It will also be useful to take chalk for marking floorboards in the order in which they are removed.
• Each board and logs are checked one by one. At the slightest sign of decay, fungus or cracks, the element is discarded and changes to a new one.
• Special attention is paid to the basis on which the lags lie. It is important that the beams themselves are located horizontally relative to each other, and that the base is smooth - whether it be screed, brick lining or even soil. For example, how to remove the creak of a wooden floor in an apartment, if lags can only be laid on an uneven concrete surface? It remains only to compensate for the blemishes of the rough coating with the same concrete mortar. Perhaps the structure will have to be lifted, but in other versions it will have to do without the wooden structure, replacing its damping plastics, in particular.
• In the reverse order, already on new self-tapping screws and with integral structural elements, a floor base is formed.

Using wedges to eliminate squeaking

Boards under dynamic influences can rub against each other, making the same unpleasant creak. Screws will not help in this matter, since even a slight sway of the floorboard, tightly fixed at one point, will lead to the fact that it simply breaks out of a self-tapping screw or nail. How to remove the creak of the floor from the boards?

The problem of their precariousness should be solved. For this, wedges are used. The wedges can either be bought or cut out from an ordinary wooden block according to the size of the cracks, because of which the boards swing. For a small gap, you should use a small triangular wedge, and for large slots, wide elements may be required, suitable in depth.

Before hammering a wedge, it must be lubricated with building glue or sealant. Hammering is carried out, after which the problem area is primed and left to dry.

How to eliminate creaking dowel?

To use the dowel, you will need a special hole that will pierce the sides of the two boards at the same time. As with pulling, you need to drill at an angle for greater reliability. The diameter can be 8-10 mm. The dowel is also coated with adhesive and clogged into the prepared hole to a sufficient depth.

According to the masters, how durable this method of eliminating noise will be depends on the reliability of the floor itself and on the quality of the dowel installation. But if there is a question about how to remove the creak of floorboards without removing the floor, then this option should be considered one of the first. It will not require disassembling the coating, but at the same time it will significantly strengthen the structure, giving it mechanical rigidity. Another thing is that the presence of foreign elements, as in the case of wedges, still reduces the durability of the wooden floor and over time will require its complete dismantling due to wear.

Rallying boards

There is another technology to eliminate squeaking in obsolete boards. And this time we are talking about floorboards, which still retain the optimal strength potential, but have significantly dried out and shrunk in size. Between them, cracks have formed that cannot be covered with wedges or compensated with a dowel. In this case, removing the creak of the floor from the boards will help a tight fit of the elements to each other. But it will be necessary to prepare new boards for integration into deserted places.

The work is performed as follows:

1. Skirting boards are dismantled, fasteners are removed.
2. The first board is applied to the wall with a small gap of 10 mm. It must immediately be screwed to the lags with screws.
3. If possible, further joining of the boards should be done in the “tongue-and-groove” technique, not forgetting to fix the floorboards and the hardware.
4. After 5-6 boards, a reinforcing metal bracket is attached at the edges. Its ends must be driven directly into the logs.
5. All remaining gaps, joints and technological gaps must be repaired with a high-quality sealant or primer with a water-repellent effect.

How to remove floor creaking from chipboard?

Chipboards in different variations are often used as a transitional link between logs and decorative coatings - linoleum, laminate, carpet, etc. Squeaking can be heard behind several layers of such flooring, if installation errors were made.

First of all, as experts advise, the design is checked for stability of the position of the plate. If she "walks", then additional fastening is necessary. Effectively remove the creak of the wooden floor in this case only self-tapping screw will help. You can duplicate the fixation points near existing attachment points, but in no case can you use nails - over time they will lead to the same result.

Also, as an option, under the chipboard, you can install a damping substrate from the cork. But this will be possible only if the panel is not located on the lags, but on a solid base like a screed.

How to remove the creak of a parquet board on the floor?

Parquet is one of the most complex floor structures. And problems in the form of a creak in its structure appear quite often. Especially without long service. Master-SUVs offer the following ways to combat noise in this coating:

• Often the flaw is visible to the naked eye, and if the creak is systematically manifested at a specific point where a slightly offset board is installed, then the problem is solved locally. It is enough to replace the element with a new bar.
• It may be that the noise is not due to the board, but because of the outdated substrate. The fact is that parquet can be laid both on a special base (on logs or continuous cover), and on a cement base. If the supporting structure is destroyed, then it must be updated, completely removing the parquet.
• Another way to strengthen the position of the floorboard is with glue. But this method is possible only if the coating was laid on a plywood sheet. For fixing it is advisable to use professional wood glue.
• But what if intrusion into the design of the coating and its dismantling is not possible? The floor creak can be removed using a non-destructive method indiscriminately using WD-40 type aqueous lubricant. Also, special compositions with a solvent and wax are used, which are introduced by douching under problem areas through microholes. They dot the cavities, due to which the boards move and creak.
• Often the cause of noise in the flooring becomes a miscalculation in measurements during installation. For example, if the master left an insufficient gap between the boards and the wall, covering it with a baseboard. In this case, you will have to check the entire contour of the joint along the length and, if necessary, make small cuts of the parquet.

Conclusion

Approaches to eliminate squeaking in the design of flooring can be different. And in each case, the cause and method will be determined individually. In this case, attention should be paid not only to the cause of the noise itself, but also to the conditions in which it has become possible.

Of course, wood is, in principle, short-lived material. And even in favorable conditions, sooner or later it will let you know about its obsolescence precisely through sound. But do not ignore the operating conditions with factors that can bring this moment closer. For example, how to remove the creaking of floors in a panel house, where the concrete screed performs the function of the foundation? This is a rigid base that directly relieves stress on loads to a sensitive wooden coating, and the inclusion of additional damping layers makes lower ceilings, which are already not high enough in such houses. The solution may be to use a combination of thin laminate and cork substrate. Conversely, on a soil basis in a private house, the installation of traditional lags with thick boards will be more justified.