Silencing squeaky floorboards.

September 27, 2009 7:20 PM

Squeaky floorboards in hallway. Sleeping toddlers that wake at the slightest noise. What are your best tips for reducing the creaks and squeaks?

The floor is wooden (not laminate) made of lots of thin (2 inch width) wooden strips. The floor is stained and coated in polyurathene.

posted by SueDenim to home & garden (18 comments total)

You could try a carpet runner with a thick pad underneath.
posted by tresbizzare at 7:22 PM on September 27

Never done it myself, but I understand a dusting of baby powder helps. Gets in the cracks and eliminates the friction causing the noise.
posted by suasponte at 7:23 PM on September 27 [1 favorite]

You need to get under the floor (from the floor below) and tap-hammer some tightening wedges of wood into the space between floorboard and joist (or joist and beam). It's not the top layer of slatted wood that is squeaking, it's the shifting pieces of wood below rubbing together.

You can also reduce squeaking by humidifying the space below, or oiling the exposed wood.
posted by rokusan at 7:23 PM on September 27

I remember seeing an episode of Home Improvement where they recommended brushing talcum powder into the floor-boards to silence squeaks.

I don't know if that's a legitimate practice but it was hilarious when Al's face got covered in talcum powder after Tim rigged up a high-powered device!
posted by abstractdiode at 7:24 PM on September 27

Seconding baby powder or talcum. Works on squeaky leather shoes!
posted by HeyAllie at 7:24 PM on September 27

If you're being extra careful to be quiet around your toddler, you might try just doing your normal routine as if there wasn't a toddler sleeping. This might help the toddler to sleep through squeaky floors and other ambient noise. They get used to whatever's normal. If the house is as quiet as a mouse, a squeak is going to stand out.
posted by zippy at 7:40 PM on September 27 [7 favorites]

What zippy said. Run a white noise machine, or a fan, in the toddlers' room (or just oustide the door). The fan doesn't have to point at them.
posted by IndigoRain at 7:54 PM on September 27 [1 favorite]

2nd the white noise machine. I hate them myself, but my two young-uns have no problem with them. (I use earplugs when I have to sleep in the same room, though). Blocks out the dog-barking and tv-watching stuff pretty well.
posted by chookibing at 7:58 PM on September 27

If you don't have a (sometimes expensive) white noise machine, a clock radio at low volume tuned to static also does the trick. The white noise of the cosmos.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:35 PM on September 27

As for floor wedges, those are probably not going to stay in place very long (and some flooring people don't recommend them.) If you do have access to the floor from below, you can screw down offending boards or block and bridge them (see link above for instructions.)
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:39 PM on September 27 [1 favorite]

I was going to suggest talcum powder or something similar between the floor boards ( it is supposed to work, never tried it either), but I agree with Hardcore Poser about trying a radio turned on low or just static. Having the place too quiet may make the toddler sleep through the night when its quiet, but what about when it isn't and you can't fix the noise.

You could even set the radio to turn off later on with a timer, like after a few hours or so.
posted by Taurid at 8:53 PM on September 27

When my first child was born premmie and distressed, I was horrified that the cleaner came in to my room not 12 hours after the birth wielding a noisy vacuum cleaner. She must have read my expression, because she explained that it is better for the baby to get used to sleeping through noise rather than utter silence.

Fast forward 11 years: I followed that anonymous cleaners advice, and now have 2 kids who could sleep through bombs going off outside their bedroom windows, although they both insist on having music (either radio or CD) playing very quietly as they go to sleep.

I strongly agree with those suggesting you might be better off taking the white noise approach, and gradually teaching your toddlers to sleep through anything other than silence.

(I once knew parents whose toddler awoke every time the toilet flushed at night - which was fine until a gastric bug struck, and the 4 other family members had to use the same toilet all night, and HAD to leave it unflushed because it 'might wake the baby'. I kid you not.)
posted by malibustacey9999 at 10:03 PM on September 27

I'd hate to come off as a danger in every substance person, but talcum powder has often been reported as an analog to asbestos as far as lung disease. I don't have any cites, but I've seen it reported so long in reputable sources, that I doubt it's been dismissed completely. I'd not completely avoid it based on what I say, but I'd give it some thought before I'd solve squeaky floors with it.

Most of what I've seen in solving squeaky floors involves putting shims in-between the floor and its support or joist.
posted by OneOliveShort at 11:12 PM on September 27

Check out my previous question with the Squeaky Floor Filter

"SqueakNoMore" works with carpet and padding or without (you might need to fill and refinish bare wood floors)

Heck, I even pulled up two tiles in the bathroom that had a crack from a loose board underneath and used these suckers and reset the tiles to great effect.

Good luck.
posted by emjay at 2:49 AM on September 28

Whatever you do, do not combine the talcum powder suggestion with the fan suggestion. The cleanup will be legendary.
posted by 8dot3 at 7:44 AM on September 28

A friend of mine used special screws that can be screwed down into the floor from above; I can't remember the name. His house is from 1870, so he may have found the screws on an old-house site.

This Old House suggests two methods for fixing squeaky floors from above, I don't know if either of these is the method he used. (What I remember is that his method was not expensive - he only had to buy the screws, not a big expensive kit. So it might be the "Counter-Snap" method described there. I don't think it was the Squeeeek No More method.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:56 AM on September 28 [1 favorite]

Thank you to all who replied. We can't access the floor from below - there is a finished basement direct below. I think the tip about the screws sounds best. Intrigued by the talc but no way to get into the floor....
posted by SueDenim at 6:39 PM on September 28

The talc is supposed to be put down between the boards from the top of the floor. Usually the squeaking is coming from floor boards rubbing together. If they are squeaking, theres most likely a fine crack between the boards. Even if it has been polyurathened. Thats where the talc ( or baby powder) is supposed to be put. Just sprinkle it on the top of the floor where the squeak is and try to work it into the cracks. It creates less friction. Less friction= less squeaking......hopefully.

Wooden floors dry out when the humidity is lower ( winter) and tighten up when the humidity rises ( summer).

Good luck.
posted by Taurid at 11:42 PM on September 28