Squeaky Wood Floor Repair Services

Live in an old house with squeaky floorboards? Stairs or floors creak every time you walk through your home? Wish you use the staircase without waking everyone up?

If so, you’re not alone.

With the huge number of homes built around the turn of the 20^th century, there are millions of creaking floorboards out there waking us up, alerting us to movement and generally irritating homeowners.

They may add a nice dramatic effect in movies, but the reality of creaking floorboards can be intensely annoying, especially if you live in a busy household.

But the good news is that you can fix squeaky floors.

While there are repair techniques you can do yourself to address those noisy floorboards, sometimes it’s easier to hire the professionals who can get to the root cause of the problem and ensure suitable prevention and preservation of your wood floors. 

Mr Sander don’t just sand floors. We repair, replace and quieten them too!

If you want your creaking floorboards to fall silent for good, we’re the people to call.

With decades of experience working with wooden floors across the south of England, we have the skills and expertise to quieten your floors once and for all.

Mr Sander offers a wide range of services for your floors, including sanding, repairs, maintenance and more. You can contact our team to arrange your free site survey.

Why do wooden floors squeak?

Wooden floors squeak for a variety of reasons. Wood is a natural material that responds to its environment and moves over time.

This problem is usually caused by floorboards rubbing against each other for one reason or another. 

These are the main reasons why wooden floorboards squeak:

Moisture – Wood expands and contracts depending on the amount of moisture in the wood and in the air. As wood expands, it pushes against the other floorboards and the nails or screws holding it into place. This can create tiny gaps or cause boards to rub against each other, which often results in creaking.

Heat and cold – Wood can also bow and change shape and density depending on the temperature of the surrounding environment. This change works similarly to moisture, allowing the wood to deform slightly around skirting, other floorboards and nails or screws.

Everyday use – Even the hardest of hardwoods will wear with constant use. That wear will compress the wood fibres, cause volume loss in the plank and allow movement around the nails or screws, which can cause creaking.

How to stop floorboards creaking

While we don’t want to give away all our secrets, we’re going to walk you through how to stop floorboards creaking.

No two floors, or fixes, are the same. We approach each squeaky floorboard on its own merits and will apply the best fix for the floor, the room and the construction.

When our team visits your property to fix squeaky floorboards, the process will likely look a little something like this:

Locate the source of the creak

Our first job is to find out exactly where the creaking is coming from. It may be one place, it may be many. We will meticulously check the condition of your wooden floor to try to identify all areas of movement.

We’ll mark everywhere we find a creak so we can go back and fix every single one.

Squeaky wood floor repair

How we fix creaking floorboards depends on what’s causing the noise and how the floor has been laid.

There are a few techniques that can be used, depending on the situation:

Floorboard shims

If there is play between the floorboard and the joist below, we can place a thin shim between the two to stop the movement. This may mean going into the basement or floor below or taking up the floorboard.

We’ll ‘dry place’ a shim under the board, reattach it and test. If the board stays in place and the squeaky floorboards are quietened, we’ll glue the shim into place and move on.

Shims can also be used if the creaking is caused by floorboards rubbing together. We can place a shim between the boards to keep them apart and stop the creaking.

Squeak ender

There are specialist products on the market, such as the Squeak-Ender, that are designed to work in the opposite way of a shim and instead pull the wooden floorboards together to stop friction and return any warped or bent floorboards back to their original shape.

Once back into shape, they should fit perfectly into place without rubbing up against other floorboards or the joist, quietening them down.

Sistering

If squeaking floors are caused by a warped or twisted joist rather than a wooden floorboard itself, sistering will normally fix it. We attach a piece of strong, healthy timber next to the damaged joist to help straighten it up, hold it securely into place and provide a stable platform for the floorboards.

It’s a more in-depth fix for squeaky floorboards but it’s very effective. It gives joists a longer life and helps keep floors level as well as quiet, without the risk of damaging the overall structure.

Structural fixes

If those techniques don’t quieten your floorboards, we can provide more lateral rigidity to your floor joists. This prevents any movement within the joist which can allow floorboards to move, and therefore, creak.

This can be as simple as small pieces of timber between joists to fix them into place.

Other fixes for creaking floorboards

Those fixes above will address the most common causes of squeaky floorboards. They aren’t our only options though.

Squeaky wood floor repair can also include:

Powdered graphite – Use powdered graphite where boards move to reduce friction. This allows natural movement of the wood without the noise.

Replace nails or screws – If nails have bent, rusted or deformed, simply replacing them with new ones can secure the floorboard into place.

Wood glue – We don’t usually just glue floorboards to stop them squeaking as it doesn’t always address the root cause, but there may be times when a liberal dose of the right glue in the right place is just what it needs.

Repair or replace floorboards – Sometimes, if the wood itself has split, cracked or been broken, we may have to repair or replace the floorboard as required. This is a last resort though.

Mr Sander

Mr Sander have been saving homes and businesses from creaking floorboards for over 20 years.

We’re a family-run business that has refined floor repair to a whole new level. So much so that we have repaired and restored floors in some of the best known stores and landmarks in the south of England!

We work with anyone who has wood floors. Whatever the size or scope of the project, we’re the people to call!

Contact Mr Sander today for a free site survey and quotation.

Squeaky wood floor repair FAQs

How much does it cost to fix squeaky floors in the UK?

It doesn’t cost as much as you might think to fix squeaky floors here in the UK. Mr Sander tends to charge by the square metre as we think it’s fairer and helps you assess how much work is required and what costs a project will involve. Contact one of our team to arrange a free no-obligation quote.

Who to hire to fix squeaky floors?

It’s important to hire a qualified floor specialist who has all the skills and experience to do the job properly – and be sure to check for all the positive reviews to back up their claims. 

Mr Sander is a prime example. We have over 20 years of experience in the field and our team has exceptional skills to fix squeaky floors.

What tools do I need to fix creaking floorboards?

You should only need basic tools to fix creaking floorboards. 

The hardest part of squeaky wood floor repair is sometimes locating the source of the creaks in the first place. You’ll need screwdrivers, a drill, hammer, good quality wood glue, wood shims and timber. A torch and kneepads can come in useful too!