No more snap, crackle and pop!

I finally got up enough gumption to do something about my noisy floor in the hallway. About six years ago we had Foley's remove the carpet and install hardwood flooring. They did this in the kitchen and in the hall. We had them install some carpet and hardwood floors in the foyer and dining room a couple years earlier and they did a good job but they botched the flooring in the hallway. We complained and they came out twice to stare at the floor and scratch their head and wonder what the problem was. They never lifted a finger to fix it.

The floor made a popping and crackling noise when anyone stepped on it. Sometimes the noise was increased or decreased by changes in the weather. Sometimes you could actually see the flooring strips move when you stepped on them.

Over the next few years I had new carpet and vinyl flooring put down in all the other rooms upstairs and down. I used Lowe's and their installer, Eric, who is an expert at putting down floors.  I had Eric offer an opinion on what to do about the noisy floor but he was stumped. He even tried driving some extra nails into it but even that didn't work. I'd run into him occasionally and he would ask about it and was still trying to figure it out.

Finally, I had a couple come and look at the house as potential buyers. They liked the house but were unhappy with the noisy floors. That experience convinced me that it was time to pull up the flooring and reinstall it correctly. I went over to Lowe's and made the arrangements and stipulated that Eric needed to do the installation work.

When the work day arrived, Eric and his helper, Thomas, were surprised at the poor installation job. Once they got started they could pull up many of the boards by hand because there were so few nails holding it down. The vapor barrier, a sheet of tar paper, was also defective because of the way it adhered to the underlying wood. The hardwood strips were also installed wrong because the original installer didn't leave expansion space but put the wood tight against the baseboard. That's why the weather influenced the noise and the wood moved when it was stepped on...it would bow upward when it expanded.

So, anyway, my new floor is installed right and it no longer makes the annoying sounds.

I'm also trying to fix a few other places where the floor squeaks...primarily in the kitchen. Eric suggested a technique where glue was injected into small holes drilled in the surface hardwood. I went out and got some syringes and carpenter's glue and so far I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. My one extra squeaky spot in front of the kitchen sink is now quiet. I still have one other problem spot that I'm working on but I'm optimistic. I have wood filler to plug the small holes and they won't be visible unless you get within an inch of the floor.