squeaking chip board floor , driving me mad !!

[icewinder]

The whole of my upstairs floor is squeaking like a good un. We have laminate all through the upstairs rooms bar the landing.
the property is only 15 yr old and we've been in it 3 but recently it's driving us mad. I sorted the stairs squeak problem from underneath them and the upstairs landing with decking crews and thought it would be the same for the kids rooms (worse around the door entrance). So were ever there was a nail I put a screw at the side and a few extra but , the squeak is still there !!.

is it worth me cutting out some of the floor to see if its noggins between the joist ? any tips would be greatly accepted as I've got the laminate floor up now .

 

[pinenot]

Try this first...don't laugh, it really works. Lift carpets etc. as required, cover the area with talcum powder and brush this round and round, the idea is to get the talc down the joints thus removing the squeaking. Bang the floor with the back of the brush to help get the talc in further. If all the talc goes, spread some more, relay the floor covering, you should have a silent floor...pinenot

 

[icewinder]

Well over 12 month on the squeak is still there and probably worse than ever.
I tried talc and graphite powder but it's still the same. The flooring to joist is chipboard flooring T&G nailed down so I just used screws at the side of every nail and added a gfew more but it's the same. I think the screws aren't dragging the boards back down.

Whats a good nail puller ? as I intend to remove the nails and replace with screws.
I noticed that under the chipboard there are no timber bracing between the joist that run the length of the 14ft room (10ft wide.
Sould I had some and just timber or metal etc ...?

 

[pinenot]

Pity about the talk, sounds from your description that things are beyond that trick.
For chipboard flooring (salvageable) you really want an impact type puller which only leave a pair of small dents either side of the nail head. Bacho used to be the trade choise (bit pricy) but Faithful brand do a cheaper version, about £24 or thereabouts.
Re the joists, assuming they are timer? Blocking or Dwanging with cross timbers of the same dimensions would be best in my opinion, lifting or pushing individual joists to the same level as their neighbour before nailing. This creates a creates a torsion effect, binding the joist platform into a single movement unit (sort of) ...pinenot

 

[icewinder]

Thanks for the quick reply pinenot, I think I will have to take up a few boards and weigh it up and see if the joist are out of level or something and add some timber bracings to strengthen and tie the whole floor in. The property had heating re-routed roughly 4 yrs ago and I've a feeling it's dried things out and squeaks appeared on mass.
Would this be OK for the job ?:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311073547...l?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=311073547050&_rdc=1

And I should have said, whould you use anything along the joist to before re-laying a few boards ? . I read there's all kinds of potions on the market to pre-stop boards squeaking. I was just going to give them a rub with a wax , i.e candle , beeswax etc....

 

[pinenot]

Personaly, joiner talk, I wouldn't use anything over and above what I've already stated, reason being they seldom work if at all.
Now the new bit of information i.e. the heating re-route can you further describe this, were the pipes attached to the joists, were they microbore, lagged etc. ...pinenot👷

 

[icewinder]

The boiler moved from downstairs to upstairs , the pipework was slightly rerouted but it doesn't affect the bedroom , moree the bathroom next door. I just thought the direct heat might affect the upstairs as you can feel it underfoot in the bathroom.
I'm going to take a couple of boards up next week and sort it out once and for all, only snag ?






sodding laminate flooring in the bedroom

 

[JohnD]

Chipboard is ideal for a bonfire, not much use anywhere else.

Rip it up and replace with ply, screwed down, with noggins under all short joints.

Tighten the screws down after a few weeks.

 

[footprints]

You need to drill a clearance hole in the board for each screw then it will pull down or use the flooring screws which have a break in the thread.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/spax-flooring-screws-4-5-x-60mm-pack-of-300/88716

 

[icewinder]

Chipboard is ideal for a bonfire, not much use anywhere else.

Rip it up and replace with ply, screwed down, with noggins under all short joints.

Tighten the screws down after a few weeks.

If I had the money John I would but the way things are at this moment in time I don't have the money to do that.

 

[icewinder]

**Update**
Well I decided to go in full and sort the matter as the noise was unbearable. I bought some
http://www.screwfix.com/p/spax-flooring-screws-4-5-x-60mm-pack-of-300/88716
and luckily got a good few sheets of 18mm ply wood sheeting off a friend. I bought a Bahco nail remover
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-BAH36-Nail-Puller/dp/B00DB6LCSE
Waste of time , it broke in the first hr, the spring snapped and the jaws would not line up. I used a cheap small something similar to this from a local pound store;-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201345376...l?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=201345376084&_rdc=1
it made a mess of the board some of which was not coming up but I just threw some filler in.
I removed every good dam shanked nail in the floor and replaced with the Spax screws in the exact holes so I was sure I wasn't going to hit anything.
The big problem was, the partition walls were built on top of the contiboard flooring. When I got down and took a look just under the skirts I could see that the 4x2 that's the bottom of partition wall had come apart from the contiboard and I could clearly see about 10mm of nail showing. So everytime you walked on the floor these nails (about 20 of them) would squeak between the 4x2 and the contiboard.
I didn't have access to a reciprocating saw and wasn't buying one for 20 nails so I took a heavy duty hacksaw blade out my hacksaw and wrapped cloth around the handle and proceeded to spend the next few hrs cutting everyone of theses nails all from under the partition wall.
I before I put the plyboard down I put a very light smear of grease with a brush along the joist and a very small amount of grease on every screw.
the whole job took 14hr to do , laminate flooring been time consuming rather than pulling carpet back.


Once done I can categorically say , in the one bedroom I did the floor feels 20 times more sturdier and not a squeak to be heard. I shall be tackling the next few rooms when my knees and back have recovered.

tips , go for something on the lines of this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stanley-F...293?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4d30716f95
If they are shanked nails they take some getting out and you will do slight damage to the floor.
Also try to get at the nails under the partition wall , they will def be creating some noise and cut them
I hope this helps anyone with a noisey floor