How to eliminate the creak of a wooden floor

In many old houses, wooden floors are still preserved.  The wooden floor has long been considered a sign of prosperity. A tree is a strong and durable material that will last more than a dozen years. Therefore, many owners do not dare to get rid of wooden floors, because it is considered environmentally friendly material and retains heat in the room. But there is such an unpleasant problem of the old wooden floor as a characteristic sound.

The creak of wooden floors is a common phenomenon and many are wondering how to eliminate the creak of a wooden floor.

We will figure out what are the reasons and what to do when the wooden floors creak:

According to professionals, sound may appear due to friction:

• when the parquet board lagged behind the base;
• there was a split in one or more planks;
• the boards have dried up;
• a groove or a comb has broken;
• nails or screws were ill;
• fasteners came out;
• there is no gap near the walls;
• when the ends of the boards are in contact with the lags.

Let's figure out which floor design is installed in your room:

1. The floor design consists of fiberboard sheets that are laid on a concrete base. Lags (wooden beams) are laid on the concrete at a distance of about 40 centimeters from each other. The upper layer is sewn with plywood or chipboard, and then laid the DVP layer.
2. A common design - lags are installed directly on the concrete floor, on top of which wooden boards are attached.

Wooden boards are nailed to the lags with ordinary nails, which over time during load (walking, running, rearrangement of furniture) are shaken. It is impossible to get rid of forever from a characteristic creak. The only option to eliminate the creak of a wooden floor is to remove old boards, and put new ones in their place. This work is considered complicated and costly, so we will get rid of the creak in known ways.

When it is impossible to get to the lower part of the floor, then the boards can be screwed with screws to the lags directly from above.

Ways to get rid of creak

There are several methods on how to remove the creak of a wooden floor:

• klinies kneeing;
• filling the formed holes with mounting foam;
• the use of metal anchors;
• laying plywood over the boards;
• tightening with self -tapping screws;
• the floor screed.

Let us consider in more detail the methods of getting rid of the creak.

Klinies knocking out

The main reason why the wooden floor creaks is the boards poorly attached to the lags or wooden beams. When people walk on the floor, the boards are rubbed over time, and as a result of this friction, a special creak occurs. To get rid of friction, small wooden chips or wedges are clogged between the boards.

If the cause of the creak is the friction of two or more boards with each other, then the wedges are driven into the cracks at a certain distance, but not more than 15-20 centimeters and so that they do not at the same level with the floor.

In order to eliminate the creak by knocking out wedges, the following materials and tools are needed:

• marteau;
• metal rod;
• wooden wedges.

With the help of a hammer, the wedge is clogged into the resulting gap. If necessary, a thin layer of wood puts on wood is applied to this place and left until completely dry.

If your gap is very small and there is no ability to insert a wooden sliver, such spaces are covered with graphite powder or talcum.

Filling holes with mounting foam

Despite the fact that this method is considered ineffective and costly, some beginners in construction are still trying to eliminate the creak in this way.

In order to carry out the minimum repair of boards, with mounting foam fill the formed holes. Drying, the foam expands and freezes.  Thus, it gives rigidity to the coating.

The ineffectiveness of the use of mounting foam is proved by the fact that with the load arising, the foam is affected and crumbling, which means that an unpleasant creak will return again.

The use of metal anchors

When at the base of your wooden coating lies a concrete slab, then a metal anchor can be used to eliminate the creak. They are fastened manually. The actions are as follows:

1. Small holes in the board and concrete slab are drilled with an electric drill or perforator.
2. Install a metal shell.
3. They screw the anchor.

This method allows you to quickly get rid of the creak, but it is considered quite time-consuming and costly, since the cost of one anchor is about 10-15 rubles.  To eliminate the creak in one room, it is necessary to install no less than 200 pieces!

Plywood laying

An affirmative answer to the question “why the wooden floor creaks” many masters of laying wooden floors answer in order to get rid of the creak, you can lay a plywood sheet on top of the base. The thickness of the plywood should be 12 millimeters. It is advisable to lay sheets at an angle, towards the main laying of the boards.

But with confidence, it is impossible to say that after such a repair, the creak will never return, but the fact that it will disappear for a long time is true.

Pull the floors with self -tapping screws

One of the effective ways to combat the floors of the floors is the tightening of the boards with self -tapping screws. This method will be effective if the creak occurs as a result of friction of the board with a lag.

In this case, it is considered problematic to find the place where the lag is located, and also determine whether any communications are under the defective board.

All the work to eliminate the creak is that it is necessary in several places to fasten two or three screws.

Work plan:

1. The work is performed using electric drill.

2. On one side of the damaged board, a hole is drilled through the floorboard to get to the lag.

3. A self -tapping screw or nail is inserted into this hole (by the way, nails are considered more practical).

4. It is necessary to take into account the size of the hat, because it should be completely drowned into the board.

The floor screed

Work on screeding the floor is also called “bulkhead” and attributed to the most time -consuming process to eliminate the creak. In addition, along with that, the process is laborious, it is considered low -cost. “Breeding” is nothing more than a complete revision of the state of the floorboard and lag. As soon as the defect is discovered, a decision is made how it will be eliminated.

The effectiveness of this method is that during the verification, all nails and self -tapping screws are subject to replacement, so the method is also called the floor screed.

When the nail sits in wood tightly, the creak does not occur, but as soon as the metal begins to shuffle into wood, to rust, the backlash appears and as a result - a characteristic sound.

If you replace the old nails with new ones or install self -tapping screws, the problem disappears.

About unexpressed methods

In addition to the above methods, the creak of wooden floors can be eliminated as follows:

1. In the resulting cracks between the boards, or between the wall and the board they fill with wooden chips, and they are lubricated with a special sealant for wooden bases. In the composition of such a sealant, in addition to varnish and paint, there are crushed wooden sawdust, which will fill the space of the cracks.
2. Using a rope made of synthetic materials and PVA glue, the space between the boards is filled, and the slot itself is covered directly with a thin layer of putty mixture, which can be prepared independently. To do this, part of the crushed sawdust is taken and mixed with PVA glue. In addition, small slots can be filled with wax for wood.

When one floorboat creaks, the creak is eliminated as follows:

1. Prepare the necessary accessories: sawdust made of wood, nails, sexual paint, drill, hammer and nail.
2. Identify the problem shelter and drill a small hole with a drill. Make sure that the drill enters the tree deep and reaches the concrete base.
3. Find a nail or screw the screw with a screwdriver so that the hat is drowned.
4. You can not leave the hat on the surface of the wooden floor, because it can ruin the coating, and will also become dangerous for operation.
5. Check your work - go along the floorboard. If it creaks, screw another screw or screw a nail, but only from the opposite end of the board.
6. If several floorboards creak, then it is necessary to do the same for damaged boards. But do not forget that if a large section of the coating is damaged, then this method will not be considered effective.

This video will allow you to learn more about the floor defects, as a result of which there is a creak, as well as how to get rid of unpleasant sound: