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Old 01-11-2009, 09:52 PM
 
546 posts, read 2,195,674 times
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I’m getting a 2 year old townhome, the floors are made out of wood, but to my surprise, as I walk over a few spots, I hear the squeaking noise. My question is, is this normal for such a young property? I heard the only way to screw these tighter is to remove the carpet, is it normal for such a young property have this wood floor issues? Thanks.
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Old 01-11-2009, 11:29 PM
 
Location: NW MT
1,436 posts, read 3,289,668 times
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I would say that squeaky sub floors are par for the course with just about any building built as quickly as possible and/or cheaply. When nailing the sub floor down no body checked for misses and dealt with them... And probably didn't use glue too which will usually take care of squeaks from missed nailing !

If the under side of the floor is exposed (first floor with basement), simply run a bead of liquid nail along the joist against the plywood where the squeaky spots are. That ought to take care of it...

For second floor squeaks, you'll have to pull up the carpet as you already figured out.
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Old 01-12-2009, 12:10 AM
 
3,020 posts, read 25,677,248 times
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Default Junk Construction......

Squeaking floors in a recent new construction is a sure sign of junk construction. Should never happen.

Typical is a type of plywood designed for the purpose is used. It has a special type tongue / groove way of joining panels. Plus it is standard that all panels are glued to the joists by a type of construction adhesive, they shoot it out of a large caulking type gun. Never should have a squeak, just doesn't happen. After they are glued, nailed down with a nail gun with lots of nails. Never should squeak.

You can get squeaks if there is another layer of wood flooring put over the top but again there are standard procedures to prevent it. Usually they put a layer of something like rosin paper in between wood layers.

Whatever it points to the typical quality control being used so much in the construction these days. Whenever the builder is building hundreds if not thousands of shacks per year and profit is the only goal, these things tend to happen. Squeaks may be lesser of the sins in most new shacks.

As long as peeps continue to buy junk and as long as they are allowed to pedal it, probably going to continue. It is tough to get good quality control when the it operates like a barber shop, who cares about what we did today, "Next" is the order of the day. One shack looks like the next.

Think I would be looking to buy something else. As in "Next".
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Old 01-12-2009, 10:42 AM
 
Location: Johns Creek, GA
17,404 posts, read 65,568,867 times
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My question is, is this normal for such a young property? In a word- yes.
is it normal for such a young property have this wood floor issues? In a word- no.

Here's a few issues to take into consideration.
1. Demensional lumber floor system, or engineered floor sytem?
Demensional lumber (solid 2X material i.e., 2X10 or 2X12) can have inherent problems
such as splits, checks, knots, and excessive crown- all can lead to squeeks in a floor.
engineered floor systems can be compremised (layout is wrong- they were put on 24"
centers and should have been 19.2" or 16". The mechanical trades over-cut an opening.
Or maybe they have a narrow top and bottom cord they didn't allow for good nail hold.

2. Conventional "plywood", or engineered "plyboard"?
Most subfloor today is either plywood or plyboard. Plywood is as the name implies-
multiple layers of a veneer (or thin sheet of wood) that are pressed and glued together.
There are multiple grades of this but, none of them stand up to the weather (mostly rain)
very long before starting to do funny things- like create squeeks. Plyboard on the other
hand is a much more stable product and withstands a longer exposure to the elements.
Most of it looks like O.S.B. (oriented strand board) and the manufacturing process is very
similar. But other ingredents are added for the reliability.
3. Fasteners(?) just nails; or maybe glue and nails; or glue, nails, and screws.
Before the advent of construction adhesives, nails were the only means of securing
subfloor to the floor system ( I use the term "secure" because a nail is pin- it's not a
mechanical "fastener" like a screw). But, heres the thing with construction adhesives, if it
is applied to soon to the floor joist before the subfloor is put into place- it's worthless.
Construction adhesive has a lot of petro-chemical in it, so it tends to haze over rather
quickly. This is where the loss of holding power comes from.

From my own book of learning experiences- I have dealt with floor squeeks that came from plumbing pipes rubbing because the hole wasn't cut big enough- to allow for the deflection in the floor. The tongue and grove rubbing because of the spacing between joists.
"Missed nails"- a nail thats at the very edge of the joist and rubs when the floor is deflected.
The edge of a piece of subfloor that was hanging on by a thread- then came off the joist.
Anyway, I hope you can see that there are several things that can cause this problem- it's not always the material, it's not allows the labor, and it's not always thoses that are aware of such problems- as other posters would lead you to believe.
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Old 01-12-2009, 09:23 PM
 
Location: NW MT
1,436 posts, read 3,289,668 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr View Post
"Missed nails"- a nail thats at the very edge of the joist and rubs when the floor is deflected.
The edge of a piece of subfloor that was hanging on by a thread- then came off the joist.
Anyway, I hope you can see that there are several things that can cause this problem- it's not always the material, it's not allows the labor, and it's not always thoses that are aware of such problems- as other posters would lead you to believe.
Ahhhh... I'll go out on a limb and say that 100% of these issues and the use of faulty materials you mention is fault of the builder due to their haste to finish the project and/or cheap price for what they bid the project and is the primary cause of floor squeaks period.

Any
quality builder will make sure these things don't happen ! This is their job last I knew. They usually order more material than what is required so faulty material can be weed out. They will also make certain that subs do their jobs properly. Most all quality builders already have a list of quality subs that don't need to be watched like a hawk and are well aware of potential issues with workmanship within their trade. This is what it takes to be a quality builder ! Problem today is that every banjo pickin fool out there seems to think they are a quality builder or sub of some degree.

And then everyone wonders why the building business has such a bad rep... and they have squeaky floors !
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Old 01-13-2009, 09:09 AM
 
3,020 posts, read 25,677,248 times
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Default O Lord, this fellow got it right......

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephan_K View Post
Ahhhh... I'll go out on a limb and say that 100% of these issues and the use of faulty materials you mention is fault of the builder due to their haste to finish the project and/or cheap price for what they bid the project and is the primary cause of floor squeaks period.

Any quality builder will make sure these things don't happen ! This is their job last I knew. They usually order more material than what is required so faulty material can be weed out. They will also make certain that subs do their jobs properly. Most all quality builders already have a list of quality subs that don't need to be watched like a hawk and are well aware of potential issues with workmanship within their trade. This is what it takes to be a quality builder ! Problem today is that every banjo pickin fool out there seems to think they are a quality builder or sub of some degree.

And then everyone wonders why the building business has such a bad rep... and they have squeaky floors !
Last week I was flipping burgers and could not even spell High Qualified Construction Guy and now I Are One.

Please buy my last junk shack. It ain't too bad, I'm proud of it.
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Old 01-13-2009, 09:50 AM
 
Location: NW MT
1,436 posts, read 3,289,668 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cosmic View Post
Last week I was flipping burgers and could not even spell High Qualified Construction Guy and now I Are One.

Please buy my last junk shack. It ain't too bad, I'm proud of it.
That spatula scraping the grill sort of resembles a chisel on wood doesn't it... I'd say that You Am a full fledged finish carpenter now .
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Old 01-13-2009, 11:50 AM
 
Location: Black Hammock Island
4,620 posts, read 14,920,246 times
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Back to the original OP :-) .....

There are special screws made that you can screw into the subfloor right through the carpet, and then with a special tool that comes with them, snap the screws off at the subfloor.
How to Repair Squeaky Floors Through Carpeting | Video | Floors | This Old House
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