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jholmes
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 80
Location: Eagan, MN
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 Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 5:58 pm Post subject: Wall Squeak when Walking Past |
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Got a quick question..
When I walk past an interior wall on my second floor the wall makes creaking, squeaking, and popping noises. This occurs on both sides of the wall though more predominate on one side.
Any ideas on what is causing this and how to fix it?
Thanks! |
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webmaster
Site Admin
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 117
Location: Appleton, WI
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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The squeaking is almost always caused by the sill plate of your wall or sub-flooring under your wall rubbing on the nails that secure the sill plate. When you walk on a floor with joists the joists are bowing ever so slightly. When they move the wall and flooring above them move. In time the fasteners, usually nails, will loosen and start rubbing against the surrounding wood, making a squeaking or popping noise.
The fix is pretty easy.
1. Remove the wall baseboard
2. Using 3"-3.5" sheet metal screws, screw down the sill plate by drilling the screws in through the sheetrock about 1.5" from the floor at an angle. The screw will go through the sheetrock into the sill plate and then into the sub flooring. However, it is best, I found, that you also screw it on center and into the floor joist. The reason to use sheet metal screws...they are fully threaded and better suited for this application.
3. Replace baseboard to cover up the screw heads, and holes in the sheetrock.
BTW...to find the floor joist use a deep-scan stud finder. Alternatively, find a heat vent. The vent should be between two joists. Once you find one joist the others are space from it at 16" intervals (typically) |
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blairz
Joined: 25 Jan 2011
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 2:57 pm Post subject: Do I do the same thing for this creak? |
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| We have a new noise in our first floor entry area that I suspect is the same problem as the original post -- however I would appreciate your advice! I thought maybe it was due to alignment of the joists themselves but when I went to the basement (which is unfinished) and had someone replicate the noise upstairs, I could only hear a very slight grinding-like noise from below. I've tried to isolate the noise and it seems to be coming from the walls, somewhere around the intersection of the downstairs bathroom, coat closet, and the wall they both share with my home office. While the wall office wall runs parallel to the joists the wall where I suspect the noise is coming from runs perpendicular to the floor joists (the noise is either along that back in the closet somewhere or where that wall meets the wall that runs paralle to the joists). When I walk out of either my office or out of the bathroom, I hear this now-loud creaking sound --like one of the walls in the front closet wants to lift up. This only happens when I walk "out" of either room, not in. When I walk 'in' to either of these 2 rooms there is silence. Shoud I pop off the baseboard inside the closet and screw into that sill plate that runs perpendicular, as advised for the other project? |
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jholmes
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 80
Location: Eagan, MN
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| Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:22 pm Post subject: |
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It may be...but it could just be the fasteners for the underlayment. In the latter case you can get this cool little tool to fix the squeak.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6midQu419Ck |
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