How to Fix Floor Squeaks Without Removing Carpet

Walk across your floor to pinpoint the area that produces the squeak. When you find it, begin hitting the squeaky area of the floor with a hammer to locate a floor joist. Most of the floor will sound hollow when hit; when you hear a dull thud, you have likely found a joist.

Put the joist-finding drill bit onto your drill. This drill bit has screw threads at the tip and a long, smooth shaft. Drill into the floor through the carpet at the spot where you believe the joist to be. Turn off the drill, then tug on it; if the shaft of the drill bit moves up and down easily, you have not hit a joist and will need to try again. If the drill bit is stuck, you have drilled into a floor joist.

Set your drill to the reverse setting to remove the drill bit from the floor and then place a small piece of masking tape over the spot to mark the location of the joist. Use a measuring tape to measure 16 inches over from the joist you’ve found to locate the next one. Use the drill bit to make sure that the joist is there and then mark it with another piece of masking tape.

Place the small tripod tool that came with your floor squeak repair kit over the first joist. Push the legs of the tripod down into the carpeting as much as you can. This tool will guide the special floor screws into the joist but stop them from being drilled in all the way.

Attach the drill bit that came with the repair kit to your drill. This bit has a protrusion above the screw threads that works in conjunction with the tripod to keep the screws from being driven in too far.

Insert the pointed tip of one of the repair kit’s floor screws into the hole in the middle of the tripod. Stand over the tripod with your feet as close to it as possible to hold the floor against the joist and then drill the screw into the floor as far as the tripod will allow. The top of the screw will protrude a bit from the carpet.

Drive a screw into each floor joist in the area where the floor is squeaking. Walk to the opposite side of the room, following the squeaky floorboards, and drive screws into the joists there too.

Tie one end of a long string around one of the protruding screws. Walk back across the room, pulling the string taut, and wrap the string around the screw at the other end of the joist; the string will then act as a guide showing you exactly where the floor joist is located. Repeat this step for the rest of the joists that you have driven screws into. Once all of the joists have been marked, use the tripod and special drill bit to drive screws into the floor at eight-inch intervals along each joist.

Locate the screw gripper on one of the legs of the tripod tool. Place the gripper over the head of one of the screws and gently pull to the side until the head of the screw snaps off. Once the head is gone, you won’t be able to detect the screw through the carpet. Repeat this on all of the other screws.