I have a client who wants me to deal with some misc. floor squeaking on the main level of house. Main floor is all carpeted with the exception of vinyl in kitchen and 2 baths. This is a 35 yr. old and the 3/4″ ply subfloor is nailed down. I suggested that we roll back the carpet to screw off the subfloor, but he is not willing to do that because the existing carpet is pieced and seamed from some stuff he picked up for nothing and restretching will be difficult if not impossible. He is unlikely to budge on this, so I’d like to find an alternative, esp. since I can’t do it in the vinyl areas anyway.
Presently, the floor is accessible from the full basement below. The original acous. tile has been removed in the basement, so I have access to most of the joists and subfloor.
Does anyone know an accepted method of doing this from below?
Thanks to all, Ken Hill
Replies
If the guy is too cheap to even buy enough carpet for a full room, my guess is he won't want to pay you diddly-squat, either. There are lots of gadgets and gizmos for fixing squeaks. But they're expensive if you're trying to do more than one or 2 squeaks. And I don't think they work all that well.
I'd pass on that one if I were you. There aren't any quick, cheap fixes, and that sounds like exactly what he wants.
Redneck Extraordinaire
From below, sure. The tried and true method is to put little shims in where-ever there's daylight and get a partner to walk around upstairs until you've located all the squeeks. I don't have the parience for that, so I get one of theose epoxy mixing dispensers from loctite, cut it into a wedge, use a wondrbar to lift the floor a little, squirt the expoxy on every joist, and make sure no-one walks on it for a couple of hours.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Get real, have him call you back when he is ready to pull the carpet. A house is built from the frame up, not carpet down.
On the second floor you can do a couple of squeeks with those screws that break off, or pull the carpet; but, on the first floor, if you can get at the joists from below, why bother getting access from the top ?.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Phil, won't the epoxy cost some pennies if you are doing a lot of joists? I agree with Boss, some jobs are never meant to be taken up.
Tom
Well, if the carpet was one-piece (or with only a couple of seems) and there was a LOT of squeeks, then you have to do a cost/benefit analysis; but, you can pay for a big dispenser of epoxy and shims, and, still get a lot of change back from the cost of a new carpet.
Like everything else, "it depends", and there are some options. .
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Gulllp I cant believe Im writing this but I agree with Phill on this one( April 24th 2002 and you are there) I'd go with the shims and if the squeeks are where the joist arent maybe some blocking then shimming. Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"