Q: What can I do to stop the creaking sound my wooden floor makes when you step on it? I heard that you should wax the floor.
A: You shouldn’t wax a floor if it is finished with
a polyurethane or similar top coat. Waxing won’t stop the creaking in any case.
The movement in the floor is very likely also related to a loose and moving sub floor. The only sure way to remedy this is to replace the floor. Nail down the old subfloor with spiral nails and if need be, screw at least 3/8 spruce sheeting over top, then a new hardwood floor.
Related Q: We installed hardwood floors in our house 2 years ago. We used all short boards. It looks great, but the whole floor pops as we walk across it. I thought that maybe it was because we have so many joints, having used the short boards, but we have no idea how to fix it.
We put a new layer of OSB down since taking out the old floor left the original subfloor weak. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix the popping?
A: If the problem is the OSB no holding the nails, there isn’t much you can do short of removing the floor, installing plywood and then installing the floor again. Perhaps you can fire the occasional 2″ nail from a trim gun and putty the hole, but I’m not very hopeful that will work.
Related Questions
Glued down floor is popping and creakingQ: Doing a remodel about 18 months ago, we installed bamboo flooring over concrete. Going with the advice of our contractor, we painted the floor with Kilz Primer then glued the bamboo directly to the concrete. We placed weight on the floor and let it dry overnight. Now it is…
Creaking wood floorMy hardwood floor creaks and pops when I walk in certain spots. But it also does it when I am not walking on it. How can that be?
Landing of the stairs is making a creaking soundQ: I moved into a resale house and noticed that the landing of the stairs (leading to the upper level) is making a creaking sound every time we step on it. I tried pushing talcum powder through the wood strips, but that did not help. How can this be corrected?…
Floor over a crawlspace is poppingQ: We had our house built about 7 years ago. There are certain areas in the house where, when you walk across the floor, it pops very badly. This is under carpet and has a crawlspace. How do I fix this? A: Probably by ventilating the crawl space and having…
Popping and footstep noisesQ: My house makes noises. It's coming from the upstairs area between the kitchen and the first room. The entire upstairs is wood floors. It makes 2 distinct noises, a stomp and a pop. Is it possible the noise is coming from the wooden floor? Because sometimes after the stomp…