Hardwood - Creaking Along A Few Seams

[THADC]

Hello,
I have a creaking issue along several seams of my hardwood floor. It doesn't bother me much, but my downstairs neighbor hears it much worse than I do (in fact, I went down to her place and, have to admit, that noise would drive me crazy after awhile).

Anyway, I am hoping to avoid something radical like replacing the hardwood laminate with W2W carpet, or even having the whole thing relaid. A simple solution recommended to me was to work graphite in along the seam, but that didn't work (it only served to discolor my floor). The flooring is the tongue-and-groove type.

If anyone has a minimally-invasive solution (other than graphite), I would be very grateful. Thanks for your consideration!

 

[DarisMulkin]

You could try working in talcum powder into the joints. It would be temporary but then do it again.

Daris

 

[FloorMaven]

...I am hoping to avoid something radical like replacing the hardwood laminate with W2W carpet, or even having the whole thing relaid!

What floor do you have and how was it installed?

 

[Nick]

I've done inspections where the installers actually nailed every other row .

 

[Jeff]

Is it making noise next to the wall, doorways or cabinets? If that is where the noise is, the floor got installed to tight. It will need to be cut in order to make it stop. If it is in the field (middle of floor), you might try melting a little candle wax and see if you can get it into the seam. The edges of most laminates have some sort of wax on the edges.

 

[Floorist]

Plug cutters are cheap if you have a drill press. I have cut many of them.

You would think that even a spammer from Pakistan would post a relevant amswer.

 

[20david]

First find the cause of the noise- shrinkage, lack of fasteners,subfloor flat,does it make noise in the summer, etc. Once that is found then correction can follow.
If it is no to bad and not in many areas, face nailing using a face nailer and filling works well.
Inspections of this type of concern usually show a lack of fasteners.