Wood floors squeak with nearly every step. Fix/tear-out/accept?

Question

So I bought a 100 year old house that I'd like to eventually rent out, but living in there now. It has these kind of rough looking floors that I think are salvageable with a good resurfacing but they squeak almost with every step.

The squeaks drive me nuts, I can't get to the underside without taking down the ceiling in the basement. So I just don't know what to do, I'm thinking I need to tear them out but I'm concerned about what I'll find underneath in such a old house.

I've tried a few simple fixes but I'm not getting good results:

A) talc powder - didn't seem to help at all and filled in the lines between with white powder which locked ridiculous.

B) Break away squeak fix screws, I haven't been able to get them to break I think I'm hitting the joist but not 100% sure, but even if I were I don't think I could fix every squeak and if I were able

to find the joist and consistently use these screws they'd have to be nearly every everywhere.

The worst area is the living room which is only about 300 sq feet. I don't have experience replacing wood floors and I'd like to find a way to

resolve this without spending $10k+ to have professionals come in and remove the floor and install DVP. I'd consider doing the work myself

but I'm concerned that it might end up being pretty complicated with nasty surprises once I rip that floor out.

Any advice would be appreciated.

This pic isn't mine but the condition/style look essentially identical.

JD Martin · Answer

Depends on your market, the class of housing and what tenants expect for the price point you expect to set. If you're talking C class housing in marginal areas I doubt anyone will care. If you're talking A class housing then you probably need to redo the floors.

Keep in mind that the squeaking may not go away just from tearing out the wood floor. It may be the subfloor or the joists themselves that is flexing, not just the hardwood.

One thing you could try if you want to try to save the floors: take off the baseboards and check the gap from the wood floor to the walls. If it's 1/4" or less you may solve the problem by creating a bigger expansion gap. You can use a multi-tool to cut a slot all the way around the room to increase the expansion joint, just make sure the slot is smaller than the baseboard (or add shoe/1/4 round molding).

Lien Vuong · Answer

That looks quite worn, a cheap solution is to carpet over that with a low pile material that reduces cushion, that preserves it for future restoration but it might be a bit too gone from there.

Trenton Miller · Answer

I would not waste your time screwing the floor down.  You will only find yourself placing screws as if you are chasing your tail.  From the looks of this floor, it is a 2"x3/4" hardwood, maybe T&G (tongue and groove).  The problem is not with the flooring but the subfloor

Since the home is 100+/- years old the only sure way to solve the squeaking problem is to remove the flooring and replace the subfloor, ensuring it is properly attached to the floor joists with construction adhesive and nails or screws.

I would also NOT recommend putting new flooring over the top of this existing flooring as that is not correcting the original problem but adding to the original problem.

Cole Stokes · Answer

Had a local floor repair/installer check it out. He said planks I have are 3/8 thick, too worn to refinish. Best thing to do is probably leave it, squeaks are very hard fix and often come back or get worse, but if I really wanted to mess with it, don't tear it up. He suggested I go heavily screw it down, maybe try that inject glue in problem area and then floor over is using DVP at least 12mm thick.

Kevin Ivey · Answer

As everyone says it is probably subfloor.

I just redid some 115 yr old floors in Washington state.  We pulled and redid the floor in the kitchen and are having the LR/DR/ Entry refinished.

What its going to look like if you tear out the flooring there could be spacer strips (lathe) under the wood on top of the subfloor. Its just hard work to pull up ours were 7/8" thick and old big nails, we had to patch in a few places in the subfloor that was weak.  It is easy to find the old nail lines on the joists so you can just run down those with screws.  Also you could cut out the old board subfloor and replace with new just mark your joists on the wall so you can easily stay on the joists.  At 320 sq ft your looking at 10~12 sheets of subfloor.

Then build up your new floor on top.  One of the biggest challenges can be getting your floor levels to be close so you don't create odd trip hazards.  We had to add plywood, use leveling compound, then a uncoupling mat (wanted to ensure the old wiggles wouldn't bother the tile) and grout and tile to get the correct height.

Good luck feel free to DM me

Kevin

Chris Seveney · Answer

@Cole Stokes

Typically it’s because of the subfloor. As mentioned have a flooring expert come in and evaluate the situation. They will be able to provide sound advice as here on BP without seeing and experiencing the squeaking we are all just guessing.

Bill B. · Answer

I was going to suggest the break away screws. Saw them on this old home or some such.

Would a thick carpet with a very thick pad help?

Have you had any flooring experts in?

Tile/LVP/laminate with that orange separation level?

Wood floors squeak with nearly every step. Fix/tear-out/accept?

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