I have another question about home repair. I bought my house [new construction] about a year ago March. I have a creaky floorboard upstairs in the hallway. I believe that it is only one board which creaks when you step on it. My question is: how can I fix this without tearing up the wall to wall carpet? Is this something that I can live with until I have the money to pullup the carpet and replace it with that new fake wood floor stuff?
Cut a small hole in the carpet just above the creaky floorboard, and at a point where you are above a floor joist.
Take a drywall screw and screw it into the floorboard (and into the floor joist) until the head is just below the surface of the wood.
No more squeaky floor.
Okay, but now she needs to know how to find where a floor joist is. You’re supposed to be able to measure out from the wall, depending on how far apart the joists are, but it’s a lot like trying to find a wall stud. And how to tell which way do the joists run in her house, east-west or north-south?
I like in an old (1922) house in which virtually every floor board creaks. You just get used to it after a while, learning how to sneak downstairs without stepping on the creaky board.
I tried to find whether the boards run east-west or north-south by walking on the squeaky part. I figured that the squeak would continue longer the more I walked in one or the other direction. I also thought that the squeak would be less noisy as I came across a support. What I got was about a two foot square noise box. I think I might just pass this problem to my husband to figure it out.
The major reason why I want this fixed is that the squeak is near the kids’ bathroom door. BTW, it’s not a water problem. Anyone going to the bathroom or to the loft to play on the computer will announce their presence. The two dachshunds must find the squeak really irritating because it will wake them up - not the easiest thing to do to these velcro, somnolent canines. They grumble and bark “shut the fuck up”. This is not exactly something I want to hear at 2am in the morning.
You find a floor joist the same way you find a wall stud–with a stud finder. They are about $5-10 at the hardware store, and you should really have one in your tool box.
If you’re cheap, get a hammer and tap on the floor. The floor over the joist will sound different (less resonant) than the floor not over the joist.
Another way to fix the squeak–powdered floor wax. You have to be able to pull back the carpet and get to the floorboard in question. If you can, sprinkle powdered floor wax on the floorboard, then use a push broom to work it into the cracks. Put the carpet back down. This should at least reduce the noise.
I forgot to ask if you have access to the floor from underneath (like from a basement or the ceiling below). If you do, then all you have to do is stick a wood shim between the floorboard and the joist until it can’t move no more. Problem solved.
OK, if every floor board creaks, and you’ve learned to sneak downstairs without stepping on them, does this mean you have perfected levitation? Please post instructions and/or a visual aperçu for proof.
Take a large finish nail and drive it into the floor joist. It doesn’t hold as well as a regular nail but you won’t have to cut your carpet. You can use several if you have to.
Use a nail set to drive the nail below the carpet and pad.
I like justwannano’s suggestion better than mine. It’s easier.
Creaky floors is a good thing. Don’t you watch movies? 
They warn you of the bad guys, so’s you got time to grab the old 12 guage.
Pece,
mangeorge
I believe The Home Depot has a kit that you use to drive a screw thru the carpet into the floorborads and or joists.It snaps the screw head off just below the carpet.
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<< explaining with great patience >>
Yes, Arnold, every floorboard squeaks, but only at one end. You just have to know, for example, which side of the stair to step on.
I use this technique to sneak downstairs for a bedtime snack without having to EXPLAIN to everyone why I’m eating chocolate chips straight out of the bag (a thing forbidden to subordinate pack members). I suppose that as the alpha animal, I ought to be able to indulge myself in public, but the discussions are just so tedious.
So, during the day: “The chocolate chips are to MAKE COOKIES with, people, not to eat. If you eat up all the chocolate chips, then we won’t have any to make cookies with.”
After the sun goes down: << tiptoe tiptoe creak – pause – tiptoe tiptoe >> )
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Those squeaky floorboards are also helpful in determining what time your teenager really got home.
you can (although I don’t know myself how to do it) adjust the degree and pitch of squeak of individual boards so that you can tell EXACTLY where either bad guys or teenagers or both are on the floor from second to second. This makes it possible to drop the pointy spiky thing from the ceiling or time the opening of the bedroom door to maximum effect.
According to Terry Pratchett, they are called “nightingale floors”. I don’t mind what they’re called, but they sound useful.
Guy Propski and Rich G7subs are both on target with good fixes for squeaking floorboards. Sounds like you may not have the luxury of exposed floor joists underneath the offending floorboard, so the snap-off anchoring system may be the way to fly.
A quick note if you can do the wood shim repair. Do like Guy P. says: stick the shim in until you can’t move it anymore. Do not hammer it into place–you could make the problem worse. Also, put a little bit of carpenter’s glue on the shim before placing it into the gap.