Squeaky floors upstairs, help me fix it.

[nnnnnate]

Our upstairs has some pretty bad squeaks. Basically the hall that leads from the stairs straight to the second bathroom is really loud. The problem is that the squeaks also happen in the bathroom and the bedroom to the right of the hallway. When we replaced the carpet two years ago I pulled it and put a ton of screws in the floor trying to resolve the noise and while it worked in other parts of the floor the main area noise just wouldn't go away. I wondered if it was being caused by the wall but after adding screws there too the noise still wouldn't go away.

I've looked for tips online on how to fix this but haven't found much. I know there are a lot of guys here with construction and remodeling experience and was hoping I could get some tips from you guys.

Thanks.

 

[jeeper]

Pull your carpet up and put screw in the floor. They are built with nails, which work themselves loose over the years of temp changes and expansions. The screws will hold it tight.

 

[TRD270]

Flame thrower, then start over. Especially if you've ever seen a spider

 

[rambrush]

It will be interesting to see what advice others will offer.
As we know to have a squeak you have to have movement, you gave it a shot by tightening up with screws but it still continues. I suspect floor joists that don't have enough support or have been compromised in some way. Or builder just used to small truss to span the distance.
I always use tongue and groove screwed and glued to prevent this from happening.
Without tearing things up to get to the root of the problem you may have to add more noise barrier and or ear plugs.
So lets see what others suggest

 

[Brad J]

Our stairs had a bad squeaky sound that made me avoid stepping on certain ones in fear of waking up the kids. When the carpet was pulled out waiting for the new carpet to be installed I decided to fix the problem. I found that there was a little space between the stair treads & the stringers. I used some wood shims in between both & have never heard a squeak since then. This would be very hard to do with flooring unless there was no ceiling below the floor. Good Luck.

 

[crimsonride]

Sounds like you've already tried screws. I've had good results with two methods...screws and ring shank nails (Which you've already done). I've also had the issue with hardwood floors which you obviously can't pull up. I picked up a horse syringe from cal ranch or somewhere and filled it with gorilla glue. Drill a small hole where you're squeak is and inject the glue. Squeaky floors come from two places. Either the joints in the framing/floor joists/etc or on the nails themselves. (Especially if your framer used smooth shank nails). Gorilla glue expands and foams when it dries so try to get it in to the seam where the squeak is coming from.

 

[moab_cj5]

I remember seeing an episode of this old house where Tom Silva addressed this with a home owner. If I can find the episode, I'll post it up.


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[moab_cj5]

Try this.
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/m/article/0,,203171,00.html


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[moab_cj5]

Here is the YouTube link to the episode.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GhbxkttJwgU


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[Tonkaman]

Wow that's a pretty cool way to fix the squeek. I wonder how hard it is to find that took and those screws. Pretty ingenious idea.

 

[nnnnnate]

Sorry for not jumping back in here before now.

Any remedy would need to be done from the top, this is my upstairs that is making the noise. We replaced the carpet summer of 2014 so its going to be a while until that is needed again.

Other than Brents suggestion of adding the mesh you guys are saying pretty much what I've read/seen online. I knew the best time to fix the issue was when the carpet was out and seriously added at least 50 2.5" screws in a 8'x8' area and the problem didn't go away.

I did a crude drawing of my floor layout.


The floor joists run north to south. Because of the amount of screws I put into the sub floor on both sides of that wall (in bed #1 and the hallway next to the laundry) I have to think that the wall has something to do with the noise. Could there be any merit to this or is it really just the sub floor that is making the noise. For non load bearing walls are they usually framed before or after the sub floor is laid down?

I'm thinking that if I popped off the baseboard on one side of the wall and zipped some real long screws into the bottom wall plate (name?) to the sub floor and hopefully floor joists that might help?

Thoughts?

The house was built in 2004 if that matters at all.

 

[UNSTUCK]

Wow that's a pretty cool way to fix the squeek. I wonder how hard it is to find that took and those screws. Pretty ingenious idea.

A quick search found them at Home Depot. I got all excited about this way as well, till I read the reviews on the HD web site. Not so sure now. But for $20 its worth a shot I guess.

 

[crimsonride]

Judging by the picture you posted I don't think it's your floor that is squeaking. I would think the floor has separated from the bottom plate of the wall and the floor is moving in correlation to the wall. That actually happens more often than not since the bottom plates of the walls are normally just nailed down with smooth shanked nails. If you have a "soft" spot in the floor it could move but the wall remains rigid and it squeaks around the nail. I would try just pulling the carpet back (Don't be afraid, it's easy to put back), try getting some glue between the bottom plate and the subfloor (Plywood). Other options are you could cut a hole in the drywall and drill through the bottom plate and stick one of these guys (http://www.amazon.com/TOGGLER-SNAPTOGGLE-Zinc-Plated-Channel-Fastener/dp/B0051IAQN2) through the hole to tighten up the gap. There may not be a joist below the wall so putting screws through it may only grab plywood and may not work very well.

 

[crimsonride]

Back in the day when I framed homes we would just walk the house and nail a thousand ring shanks in to the sub floor wherever we found a squeak. About one in ten times we would find it would be coming from between the wall and the sub floor instead of the subfloor and the joist.

 

[Rock Taco]

Sorry for not jumping back in here before now.

Any remedy would need to be done from the top, this is my upstairs that is making the noise. We replaced the carpet summer of 2014 so its going to be a while until that is needed again.

Other than Brents suggestion of adding the mesh you guys are saying pretty much what I've read/seen online. I knew the best time to fix the issue was when the carpet was out and seriously added at least 50 2.5" screws in a 8'x8' area and the problem didn't go away.

I did a crude drawing of my floor layout.

View attachment 104247
The floor joists run north to south. Because of the amount of screws I put into the sub floor on both sides of that wall (in bed #1 and the hallway next to the laundry) I have to think that the wall has something to do with the noise. Could there be any merit to this or is it really just the sub floor that is making the noise. For non load bearing walls are they usually framed before or after the sub floor is laid down?

I'm thinking that if I popped off the baseboard on one side of the wall and zipped some real long screws into the bottom wall plate (name?) to the sub floor and hopefully floor joists that might help?

Thoughts?

The house was built in 2004 if that matters at all.

If it's on both sides of the wall then it most likely is the wall. The sub floor is usually put down then the wall is framed on top of it. Pulling the base board is a great way to minimize visible damage. Not sure how tall your base board is but you can cut the drywall just below the top of it to get to the inside of the wall. If it's shorter then screw it through the the sill plate into the joist below at an angle.