Squeaking flooboards

[Wastenot]

The main reason for squeeky wooden floorboards, no matter whether they are plywood, chipboard or tongue and grooved softwood is because they have been nailed down.
The only way to prevent such problems is to screw the material down. Difficult and time consuming in the old days but now with drill/drivers the job is much quicker and easier.
One further recommendation is to drill a clearance hole first then use a pilot drill with countersink before installing the screw. Use a good length of screw at least two and a half times the thickness of the materials. Builders would not go to the trouble of doing it this way as they just want to do a quick job with minimum fixings and will employ an impact drill/driver that will force the screw through both the boards and joists but will fall to clamp the boards to the joists resulting in nothing better than a nail, and squeeky boards!
There is nothing wrong with using tongue and groove chipboard flooring if the room is to be carpeted, as long as it is fixed in the method outlined above. The more fixings the better but ideally not spaced at more than 250mm.

 

[blup]

My favourite screw for this purpose was the spax floorboard screw which was part threaded so the problem encountered with the smooth shank of a nail remained an issue. I have found pine floorboards squeak if they sit on a slightly raised joist, the see saw effect can be countered by sawing the board in two over the joist.

Blup

 

[ktuludays]

The only problem with this approach is you don't know what's below, a pipe or cable could be there so it becomes time consuming as you have to lift some boards to check prior to screwing down. Usually this means cutting the tongue off

 

[robinbanks]

@Wastenot did you hit "Post New Thread" instead of "Post Reply"? What you wrote seems like an answer, rather than a question?

One further recommendation is to drill a clearance hole first then use a pilot drill with countersink before installing the screw

Personally I prefer fully threaded screws and to stand on the board being screwed

 

[Justin Passing]

The only problem with this approach is you don't know what's below, a pipe or cable could be there so it becomes time consuming as you have to lift some boards to check prior to screwing down. Usually this means cutting the tongue off

Use your studfinder. They easily find pipes and wires. Look around for any sign of plastic pipes first, though!

 

[ktuludays]

Use your studfinder. They easily find pipes and wires. Look around for any sign of plastic pipes first, though!

That's part of the problem, copper pipes at rads could be plastic under the boards

Personally I'd never screw in blind, too much of a risk of hitting something. Having lifted many floors over the years it never ceases to amaze me some of the shocking cable and pipe runs I've seen.