If you’ve ever had a squeaky floor, you know how irritating it can be – especially if you have a light sleeper or baby in the household. Over time, it can literally drive you bonkers. Eventually, it simply has to be fixed.
Fixing a Noisy Floor That’s Under Carpet
While it may seem like removing the carpet that is over the squeaky floor is a must, that’s not true. Typically, you can solve the issue without removing it which saves a ton of time.
4 Simple Steps to a Quiet Floor
Here are the steps you’ll need to follow to eliminate the squeak coming through your carpet from the floor below:
- Locate the joist. First, you’ll need to locate the joist and to do so, it helps to know what one is. A joist is a structural member that sits horizontal and is used to span an open space between beams that transfer loads to vertical members, providing stability and stiffness to the subfloor so it functions as a horizontal piece. To locate the joist, some use a hammer to smack the floor until a loud thud can be heard. Or, you can attach a wire to your drill and drill through the floor and carpet until you feel it hit a joist.
- Drill into the joist. Drill a hole through the carpet by hand with a screw. Then drill into the subfloor and on into the joist. If you miss the joist the first time, move over a tad and try again. Continue until you hit the joist then stretch the carpet as tightly as possible so you can access the subfloor with ease. Go through the subfloor and into the joist that’s below.
- Drill again. All joists sit 16 inches apart. Once you have drilled into the first one, measure 16 inches and locate the next joist. If you don’t find it, you are going in the wrong direction so try again, going 16 inches a different way. Once you do find it, drill again in the same manner you did before.
- Alignment and depth control. Using an alignment and depth control device, push it into the space created by the screw in the carpet. Make sure the subfloor is as tight as it can be. Insert a screw through the device by using a screwdriver. You should be able to feel the screw as it tightens. Once it is tightly in, your squeaky floor problem should be remedied.
These four steps are not difficult whatsoever. The hardest part is usually locating the joist and past that, it’s smooth sailing.
If this solution didn’t do the trick, you may need to call a professional, but chances are good that if you did it correctly, your squeaky floor is a thing of the past and you and your family can rest easy…in peace and quiet.
