Dilema from a newbie, Popping, vibrating floor

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yakatyak

New Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2012
Messages
2
Location
Sioux Falls SD,
Bought our house from young couple, built 2007, duing a real growth blitz here. By the way things look it was built in a hurry, finish work is subpar. The problem: I walk into den and the floor starts popping loudly, does so about half way to outside wall, go out popping sound left behind in room, enter other side of wall hich is my bedroom popping sound returns also about half way to other side of room away from middle wall. This is driving me nuts. Had original contractor here, he put some screws at different places thru carpet, looked terrible, and did not do anything to stop popping. Husband says there are little squares of wood under the floor seen from baement, which last owner happen to finish with a sheet rock ceiling so no openings. No supporting wall directly under these rooms or wall. Ceiling fan from downstairs bathroom vibrates the bedroom floor when running, also driving me nuts. How can we fix this? Any ideas what is going on is my desk and bed going to fall thru to basement? Any suggestions would be appreciated
 
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Hard to tell, but probably not enough fasteners in the floor. Homes built in the winter and spring can often have a lot of rain on the sub-floor prior to the roof being put on. As time gos on and the sub floor drys out and the heating system is installed, the sub floor material will shrink in thickness and the fasteners are not holding as tightly as when they were after their initial installation.
You aren't going to fall through the floor.

If my theory is correct, about the only way to quiet down the floor is to have the carpet pulled back and the floor renailed.
The noise could be the fastener connection from the sub floor to the joist itself, of the underlayment to the sub floor.
They may not used the correct fasteners, they may not used enough fasteners, and I have seen where the fasteners (staples) just barely missed going into the floor joist.

Some fans are just not balanced very well............. might just have to replace it with a better one.
 
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Many times when they use an air nailer to fasten the subfloor, they miss the joists. Some don't hear the different sound that it makes. Like HighUp says, you would need to pull the carpet back and renail.
 
You say the sound continues on the other side of the wall, right? I have found this to be the case many times over the years that it is the floor moving at the wall on a nail. I would suggest removing the base board on one side and put in screws at an angle into the plate at the bottom of the wall and see if that stops it. It sounds like the floor is squeeking but it actually the wall.
Another thing I ran into once was a floor was squeeking at the back door really bad in a new build. Found out the framers hadn't anchored the floor joist to the joist hanger.
Remember movement and noises travel so it may not be where you think it is.

Daris
 
We just installed new carpet last week in a home that was only 6 or 7 years old, a very high-end home. The customers had squeaks everywhere and they asked that we screw the floors after tear-up of the old carpet to stop that before installing the new. And so, we tried. Every time the installers screwed down a noise, it moved. For an hour they did this, and finally determined that the issue could only be completely solved by a contractor working from under the floor. Although the customer finds our efforts a huge improvement, there are still issues which need to be addressed.

As highup said: The noise could be the fastener connection from the sub floor to the joist itself, of the underlayment to the sub floor.
They may not used the correct fasteners, they may not used enough fasteners, and I have seen where the fasteners (staples) just barely missed going into the floor joist.


Sometimes it just has to do with base problems, rather than something on the surface. Screwing through the carpet in your situation wasn't a good idea at all, shame on them.

Tia
 
to all that reply'd thanks. My husband said it looks like from below they stuck a bunch of pieces of wood to try to fix this??? I guess the best thing to do is call in a "real" fixit guy as the original contractordoesn't have a clue and is into "shady type fixes". Now to find someone realiable.
 
to all that reply'd thanks. My husband said it looks like from below they stuck a bunch of pieces of wood to try to fix this??? I guess the best thing to do is call in a "real" fixit guy as the original contractordoesn't have a clue and is into "shady type fixes". Now to find someone realiable.

I thought is was sheet rocked below and you had no access. So, they tried to shim it up from below?
 
I thought is was sheet rocked below and you had no access. So, they tried to shim it up from below?
Made noise at some point as home was under construction? (pre/sheetrock)

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But that don't explain how those pieces of wood shim were seen.......... :confused:
 
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Floor vibration affects not only the comfort of the occupants but also sensitive equipment that might be on the floor, especially in industrial and laboratory settings. Excessive floor vibration can even cause some equipment to malfunction.
 
I'd avoid nails altogether and use black framing or deck screws on the subfloor instead. Nails will get loose again overtime and vibe/squeek. If on the other hand, floorboards vibrating is your problem, you can run some talcom powder across the joints, and then move up and down along the joints til the squeek stops.
 
Talcum powder? What a concept! Hmmmmm. Will that really help the squeeks (squeaks)? It does absorb the moisture from a baby's bottom. I'd avoid nails, too. Why would anyone consider using them? Countersink the attached.

Tia

imagesCA3EBKBU.jpg
 
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Talcum powder? What a concept! Hmmmmm. Will that really help the squeeks (squeaks)? It does absorb the moisture from a baby's bottom. I'd avoid nails, too. Why would anyone consider using them? Countersink the attached.

Tia
Them is good fasteners. The ones a local True Value store sells are torx head screws and Gold in color. Love em.
 
for squeaks i almost always use screw nails--the holding strength is fantastic--talcum also works--on occasion you can apply underneath the floor --if you have access--wedges also can help--and the results of talcum on sticky glue is magical--yes i always tote some baby powder on the van
 
Talcum powder? What a concept! Hmmmmm. Will that really help the squeeks (squeaks)? It does absorb the moisture from a baby's bottom. I'd avoid nails, too. Why would anyone consider using them? Countersink the attached.

Tia

Have ya ever heard a babies butt squeek??? Talc works but is temporary. You'll have to dust it again at a later date.
Its an old trick from when Christ left Chicago.
Daris
 
Have ya ever heard a babies butt squeek??? Talc works but is temporary. You'll have to dust it again at a later date.
Its an old trick from when Christ left Chicago.
Daris

Well, it's just a whole new thing to me! No ... I've never heard a baby's butt squeak, just their hair ... squeaky clean, you know. However, if you sprinkled some talcum powder on it, then it probably wouldn't squeak.

Tia
 

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