This Old House general contractor Tom Silva shows a homeowner how to silence squeaks in a carpeted room. (See the shopping list, tools, and steps below.)
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Shopping List for How to Quiet Squeaky Carpeted Floors:
– Floor-squeak repair kit [https://amzn.to/2Fd12UW]
Tools for How to Quiet Squeaky Carpeted Floors:
– Hammer [https://amzn.to/2KhAu95]
– Cordless drill [https://amzn.to/2F8TH8M]
– Tape measure [https://amzn.to/2F4n8ZF]
– Screws [https://amzn.to/2KR8M2g], to mark joist locations
– Nylon string [https://amzn.to/2KVd88V], used to indicate floor joists
Steps for How to Quiet Squeaky Carpeted Floors:
1. Tap the carpeted floor with a hammer and listen for a dull thud sound, which indicates the location of a floor joist.
2. Drive a long screw from the kit through the carpeting and subfloor to confirm that there’s a joist below.
3. If the screw misses a joist, back it out and try again until you hit a joist. Leave the screwhead sticking up an inch or so.
4. Once you’ve located the first joist, measure over every 16 inches to find the other floor joists along one wall.
5. Drive one screw into the floor every 16 inches across the room to mark the joist locations. Again, be sure to leave the screwheads protruding a little.
6. Transfer the location of the screws across to the other side of the room.
7. Repeat Steps 2 through 5 to pinpoint the joists along the opposite wall.
8. Tie a nylon string to the first screwhead and stretch it across the carpet and around the screwhead protruding from the floor at the opposite side of the room.
9. Loop the string around and stretch it along the next joist. Continue in this manner until you’ve stretched the string back and forth across the room, indicating the position of each joist.
10. Remove the special screw-driving bit from the floor-squeak repair kit and chuck it into a cordless drill.
11. Stand the kit’s depth-control fixture over the string and directly over a floor joist.
12. Insert a scored screw from the kit into the center hole in the fixture.
13. Push down on the fixture, then use the drill to drive in the screw until it bottoms out.
14. Slip the protruding screwhead into the slot in the fixture. Then rock the fixture side to side to snap off the screw.
15. Move down the string 12 to 16 inches and drive in another screw. Use the fixture to snap off the screw.
16. Continue in this manner along each joist, spacing the screws 12 to 16 inches apart.
17. Pick up and discard all the snapped-off screwheads.
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Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we’re ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O’Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.
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How to Quiet Squeaky Carpeted Floors | Ask This Old House
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View Comments
Looked a number of Videos about how to use this product and this is the best one I’ve seen. Very clear and concise. Thank you...
And what if the joists aren’t laid out on 16” centers, badhack Tommy?! You should address that only in dreamland is everything measured out based on your shop class mentality as opposed to old/poor construction that is prevalent in better than most non-new construction! Shame on the producers!
Take the carpet up you lazzy bugger
Wow !!! he really screws the Joist without screwing the carpet.
Unfortunately I found out the reason some of my house's flooring was squeaking, and it was some of the nails were not nailed at the center of joist, they were OFF center missing the joist entirely.
Please don’t try this at home on chipboard floors,,, the squeak from chipboard 99% of the time comes from an unglued tongue, and it is this that makes the noise. You will be wasting your time.
How does he know it’s a different joist and not the same joist just 16” down?
3:52 That's what she said...
No safety concerns here....except drilling through a pipe or wiring.
Quick way to drill thru pipes