creaky floor boards

We have floor boards upstairs in our house and as nice as they are to look at , they are very creaky and tend to wake up our young son if any of us get up in the middle of the night to use the loo. I don't want to go to the trouble of ripping them up or putting down carpet to muffle it. Please please help?

Hi,

Welcome to AAM.

Know where you are coming from as we used to have the same problem with our darlings many moons ago.

Have you tried screwing the floor boards down? Have a read thru these previous AAM threads on the same subject.

Hi Sueellen
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunitly I cannot take the floor boards up as they are tongue and groove and if I did I would ruin them. My fear is that if I hit a nail or cable, I'm in BIG trouble

Hi Ncpryan
Tools required; stud finder, floor nails, pin punch, hammer, patience.
Use the stud finder to locate the floor joists. I presume your floors are hidden nail. The floor nails are tapered with an offset head. Align the head with the grain of the floor; easier to hide, hammer in and neater. Carefully nail the floor nail at a slight angle whilst applyng pressure to the area of floor board. Keep the top of the hail head parallel to the surface. Use the pin punch to drive the final bit of nail in. This serves to prevent marking of the floor. Drive the nail a bit under the surface, try not to slip off the head and mark the floor. Use a bit of wood filler to hide the head the seal with a dab of varnish. Don't rush the job as a bit of care is worth the effort compared to a marked floor.I don't know if one can hire out stud finders and a good one retails for about 150 euro. If you dont have one ask around and see if someone will lend you one. If you live in Shannon or there abouts I can lend you one as long as it is promptly returned. Hope this helps.

Thank you Ingwe, i will try that.

I've heard before that dousing talcum powder on the affected floorboards can alleviate the creaking. Don't actually know if this is true but it certainly sounds plausable.