How to Fix a Squeeky Bamboo Floor

Bamboo floors are similar to hardwood floors in their look and installation. They're also similar in the age-old problem of squeaking. If your bamboo floor was installed by the nail-down method, which is common, you may find after several years that it squeaks loudly when you step on certain spots. This is because the nails or floor staples used to install it have started to loosen, just enough to allow the bamboo to move against neighboring planks and cause the creak. The repair method is the same as with hardwood, and is a matter of re-fastening the floor.

White blackboard chalk
Power drill
Pilot bit
Screwdriver bit
1-1/4 inch wood screws
Wax-based wood putty of the same tone as the bamboo floor
Old credit card

Instructions

- 1
  Walk over the bamboo floor very slowly, starting at one end of the room and walking with the direction of the floorboards. Listen carefully for a squeak each time you set down your weight. Make a mark with your blackboard chalk at each point where you hear one.
- 2
  Load your power drill with a pilot bit. At each point where you marked the floor with chalk, drill a pilot hole, straight down into the wood surface. If the mark is right on a seam between two floor planks, then drill two holes, one on either side of the mark, so you're not drilling at the seam.
- 3
  Re-load your power drill with a screwdriver bit. Sink a 1 1/2-inch wood screw into each pilot hole. Tighten each screw completely, burying the head about 1/8-inch down into the wood surface.
- 4
  Scoop a little wax-based wood putty out of the can with your fingertip and press it into the first hole. Press in enough that it mounds up over the top.
- 5
  Run the edge of an old credit cards across the surface to cut away the top of the putty and make it flat and smooth in the hold.
- 6
  Repeat for each of the other pilot holes.

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