How to fill gap in creaky wooden floorboards?

[Mackle]

The wood floorboards of my hallway move up and down over the the cross beams.  This causes creaky floor.

I can access under the house but even with full arm stretch I can't reach the gaps to put in shims.  My access stops by the wall along the hallway and there are small spaces you can put your arm through.

A pressurized polyurethane foam with a long nozzle should reach and help get in the smaller gaps.

Would this product work?  When people walk on the carpet this will put a lot of pressure on the wood underneath.  Would that break/deform the cured foam?

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Mackle. It's sensational to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about fixing a creaky floor.

The expanding foam might be dense enough to work, but I suspect it will compress significantly. It all depend whether even with this compression it still allows the boards to creak.

What type of carpet do you have? If it's a mid-long pile, then you should be able to drive nails or even small-headed screws in from above to fix the board back in position. This would only be an option if the pile were long enough not to deform and show the locations of your fixings.

How many areas are creaking? If it's only a matter of a few boards out of reach, perhaps you could fashion some tool that would hold your shims and allow you to drive them in from a distance. I'm thinking of a 90 x 19mm board with a slot cut at the end of it to accept the shim. Align the shim with the gap and hit the end of the board with a hammer to drive it in. Once the shim is in place, pull the board off the shim and move on to the next one.

What about adding an extension bit onto your drill and driving in a large screw between the boards and the beam? That should stop them moving.

Any chance of an image of the location you need to access? Let me know if you need a hand uploading images.

Let me mention one of our knowledgeable members, @Dave-1, to get their thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @Mackle 

No sneaking down the corridor I have two squeaky spots that "sometimes" squeak, yet to be fixed and I have full access, Im just being lazy.

I really like @MitchellMc's suggestions tho especially for the timber with a notch in it to push home the shim!

Depending on your carpet you could pull up part of it to gain access to the boards underneath? Pain in the neck I know but you could then put in a few more nails to stop the squeak. 

If you could supply some pics of the area of corridor, and under the house we may be able to come up with an eaier solution. 

Dave

[Mackle]

Thank Mitchell,

It's a long pile carpet, however, after reading both your posts, it sounds like my best option will be to pull up the carpet and put some new nails through the wood.

Cheers,
Mackle

[EricL]

Hi @Mackle 

It's great that you've received excellent advice from our members. I would also like to recommend having a quick look at this guide - How to fix a squeaky floor by @MitchellMc. It would be wonderful if you could post some photo updates while you carry out your repairs. This will definitely come in handy for those members who are trying to do the same type of repair to their flooring.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @Mackle 

I came across this the other day and then forgot about the idea Dont think it applies to your up and down issue but its added to the knowledge base if it works.

Its not my image But suggests to push a piece of string down the gap between the boards. I hadnt considered that idea so thought Id throw it into the hat.

Dave

[EricL]

Hi @Dave-1 

Thanks for sharing that particular technique. That's definitely another method to stop squeaking between floorboards.

Eric