How to Fix Creaky Floors Upstairs

Whether you live in a basement apartment or spend a lot of time in a basement rec room, a creaky floor upstairs can be a source of great frustration. Creaking floors can disrupt daily life and wake children at night if the noise is loud enough, especially if you have a newborn in the house. Fixing a creaky floor upstairs doesn’t need to be a complex project, and you can usually do the job in the basement from under the floor.

Helper
Tape or marker
Wooden shims
Carpenter’s glue
Hammer
Drill
1¼-inch drywall screws

Instructions

- 1
  Stand under the floor in the basement and have a helper walk across the floor upstairs.
- 2
  Ask the person upstairs to knock on the floor when the floor creaks, so you can mark the position in the floor accurately. Mark the position with tape or a marker and continue until the entire floor has been done.
- 3
  Coat a thin wooden shim with carpenter’s glue. Tap the shim softly into the space between the subfloor and the floor joist at one of the creaking points that you've marked on the floor. Repeat as needed for each place where the floor creaks.
- 4
  Drill a 1¼-inch drywall screw up through each floor joist and shim and into the subfloor at an angle, for added support.

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