Squeaky Floors and Stairs in Phoenix

Why floors squeak

Tile on a concrete slab doesn't squeak, and most Valley homes are on slab. Squeaks come from floors with wood underneath: second stories, stairs, and wood or engineered floors over a plywood subfloor.

A squeak is two pieces rubbing. Usually the subfloor is moving against a joist or a loose nail, or floorboards are rubbing each other. Houses in Phoenix dry out, the framing shrinks, and nails that were tight loosen. That's why squeaks show up a few years after a house is built.

Fixing a squeak

The fix is to pull the subfloor tight to the framing so it stops moving. From below, if there's access, that means shims and screws. From above, it means screws driven through the floor into the joist. On a wood floor, the screw heads get set below the surface and filled to match. Under carpet, special screws go through the carpet into the joist and snap off below the surface, so the carpet doesn't have to come up.

Floorboards that squeak against each other get a dry lubricant worked into the joint, or a screw to stop the movement.

Stairs

Stairs squeak where the tread meets the riser or the stringer. Loose treads get glued and screwed down from above, with the screws set and filled, or from behind if the underside is open. Loose balusters, newel posts and handrails get refastened at the same time.

Floating floors

Vinyl plank and laminate also creak, but for a different reason: the planks are bridging a low spot in the slab.

Problems we fix on this page

• Squeaky floor upstairs
• Squeaky stairs
• Squeak under the carpet
• Slab crack showing through the floor
• Low spot in the slab
• Soft spot in the subfloor upstairs
• Floor creaks in the hallway
• Stairs creak at night
• Is it worth fixing a squeaky floor
• Door creaks every time it opens

How it starts

For a squeak, tell us where it is, whether it's upstairs or on stairs, and whether there's access from below. We send back a fixed price, you say go, and Levi shows up to do it.