Creaky floorboards

[CoolKitkat]

Have any of you managed to cure this issue? House is only around 20 years old, but oh! The noise!

Not sure who could help with this, I'm not a DIYer, so would need to get a trade in to help ... is it possible, and is it very costly?

I have read that sprinkling cornflour or talcum powder over squeaky floorboards helps to stop them from squeaking. I imagine that's more of a short term fix though... I keep meaning to try it as we have the same problem.

Are they floorboards or chipboard flooring? We have chipboard flooring that squeaks and creaks and it is a right pain. We have screwed them down more, put talcum powder down and they are still terrible. I have googled and people say to rip them up and start again but they go under the partition walls so it is a massive job. We just live with it currently.

I have chipboard flooring upstairs and it has never creaked as it’s “screwed and glued”. Have exact same flooring downstairs and because it’s only screwed it creaks (different builders). As we’d have to take carpets up we just live with it but it’s so annoying.

We’ve got exactly this problem with our chipboard floors upstairs and you can hear every footstep.

As @ItsSnowJokes says it’s a massive job to replace them because they go under the partition walls. However we’re doing some work and replacing the carpet in our bedroom so we’re going to have a go with rescrewing them down and then putting (diluted I think) pva glue into the joints. We’re starting on it in the next week so will let you know if we have any success.

We had this with chipboard in our last house. It drove me mad. We tried everything we could think of, then sold the house....

Thanks all ... how depressing. We just bought, so it's a bit soon to sell up. Will have to investigate further as to what is under the carpet

20 years old, it's probably chipboard.

in the skip with it.

ply is better, but if you're going to the trouble and expense of replacing it, add extra struts (noggins) so that all unsupported edges and joins are now supported. Put the whole boards in the middle of the room and in traffic lanes and at doorways, and put the cut pieces round the edges of the room where no-one walks. Screw it down, not nails. Mark on the surface where all the cables and pipes are to reduce the risk of somebody drilling into them.

Schedule any wiring or plumbing work to be done before the new floor is laid. You can do one room at a time, it might take around 2 days. It will be dusty so take everything out, including curtains, and hoover well, including under the floor.

This is a good time to replace skirting.

If you want, you can add mineral wool insulation which will somewhat muffle noise, and will block draughts and add insulation, e.g. if there is an unheated room or garage below, or a bay window or verandah roof.

Ours squeaks like a bugger. Try and learn the best places to tread rather than the painful process of trying to fix it. We tried that and now the carpet is not as taut after lifting and relaying. We did not even get the floor to stop squeaking.

replace, don't repair.

We followed this and have had not too bad results. A lot better than it was.

@PigletJohn

replace, don't repair.

We couldn’t unfortunately. Family of 4 with no spare rooms made it utterly impractical, hence doing the above.

Thanks for the advice. I assume it's the work of a carpenter?

Yes.

Or a competent DIY woman.

I'm not competent nor have the time unfortunately!

@JellyBabiesFan May I ask what you tried? Did you get a trade in do help or did you try it yourself?

That's one of my main worries - that we go through the pain of the disruption and expense, only to find that the issue isn't fixed.