What to do with dried parquet flooring. What to do if old parquet creaks - how to eliminate the unpleasant sound. Floor care

01.11.2019

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Watching old films, we often pay attention to the fact that apartments have parquet floors. Currently, few people can treat themselves to real (piece) parquet due to the high cost of both the parquet itself and its installation. Panel parquet, which consists of panels measuring 500×500 or 600×600 mm, with strips glued to the base, is somewhat cheaper, which is why it is used more often.

But, no matter what the parquet floor is, it often begins to creak - sometimes quite quickly after installation, sometimes after a more or less long time. In any case, this phenomenon is annoying and requires immediate elimination.

Parquet creaking can be a consequence of two factors:

Natural material that does not contain any additives that prevent its deformation. And since wood is a porous material, it constantly absorbs and releases moisture, reacts to changes in temperature in the room and, as a result, all this is accompanied by deformations leading to creaking.
Violation of technology and errors made during the installation of flooring, which also have a significant impact on its functionality.

All this leads to mobility of the coating, when the dies can slightly sag, rise or even bend due to deformations.

And even if it is still difficult to notice visually, the cracking and creaking of the floor becomes audible quite quickly. What to do in such a situation? Is it possible to somehow strengthen the floor and get rid of the ear-piercing sounds? It is possible, but in order to use the most effective solution, you need to conduct a thorough “investigation” into the causes of the squeak.

The most common causes of squeaking parquet floors

As already mentioned, all the many reasons for squeaking can be divided into two types - those associated with violations of installation technology and those that depend on poor-quality drying of the wood from which the parquet planks are made, or non-compliance with the operating conditions of the floor.

The most common violations of floor laying technology include the following:

A poorly made base – that is, a surface with large differences in height.
Incorrectly selected dimensions of the joists and their incorrect placement on the base surface.
A substrate made of plywood or fiberboard does not fit tightly enough to the concrete base.
Poor fastening of the logs, giving them the opportunity to “walk”.
Deformation of the joists resulting from poor quality wood or high mechanical loads on the floor.
The absence of a compensation gap between the parquet covering and the walls, as a result of which the planks cannot expand freely when the temperature and humidity conditions in the room change. In this regard, their warping occurs.
Incorrect fastening of the baseboard.

Consequences of poor drying of wood and violation of parquet operating conditions:

In the manufacture of parquet, wood of improper moisture content was used - too wet or dry.
The temperature and humidity conditions in the room are not maintained, which causes constant linear deformation of the parquet floor elements.

Constant moistening of the wood due to the entry of water vapor from the side of the ceiling. This occurs in cases where a vapor barrier membrane was not used in preparation for installing the parquet.

We can identify several of the most likely locations for the creaking localization.

Squeak localization locations:

the slats creak when rubbing against each other;
creaking occurs when the slats rub against the substrate;
the substrate itself creaks due to loose contact with the base;
the slats rub against the nails that fix their position;
logs creak.

As you can see, there are quite a lot of reasons and places where squeaking occurs. Therefore, before you begin to eliminate them, you need to determine its cause as accurately as possible, and then decide on the best way to solve the problem.

Panel parquet repair

In order to repair such a coating, you need to understand exactly how it is designed. The parquet board, as already mentioned, is a square-shaped structure consisting of two layers - base boards and parquet strips directly glued on top.

The base is almost always made of two layers, and the strips of different layers are located perpendicular to each other in it. Glue is used to secure the layers.

Such shields are convenient because they are easily attached to the joists and the process of laying the covering itself does not take much time. But at the same time, such a floor breaks down much faster than classic type-setting parquet and it is almost impossible to restore it - it’s easier to replace it with a new one.

But still, if you manage to find out the exact cause of the squeak, then you can try.

It occurs mainly for one of the following two reasons:

Loose fit of the shields to the logs, which were originally made with irregularities in geometry, or lost the correct dimensions during operation.
Drying and peeling of the board planks, cracking of the base of the board, as a result of which the board boards and parquet planks rub, making a creaking sound.

In the first case, work to eliminate the squeak is carried out as follows:

It is necessary to determine the position of the lag as accurately as possible.
In the corners of the boards it is necessary to drill holes 15-20 mm deep. The diameter of the holes must correspond to the size of the screw head for the dowel.
Next, through holes are drilled through the shield and joist and spacer dowels are inserted into them.
Next, screws are screwed into the dowels, recessing their heads into the parquet strip.
A wooden plug is driven into the remaining recess and then sealed with putty to match the parquet.

Do the same with all creaking shields.

In the second case, no measures will help - you will have to change the entire parquet.

Creaking due to poor quality concrete base

A poor-quality concrete base causes a loose fit of the parquet flooring substrate. Plywood or fiberboard laid on it, fixed with glue or screws, peels off over time and gains some mobility. This leads to the fact that the parquet also begins to “move”, deform and creak. There are several ways to fix this problem.

Using cement laitance:

To accurately determine the location of areas of intense creaking, you need to place a fairly large load on them (80-100 kg). If the creak disappears as a result, the location has been identified correctly and needs to be marked.
For repairs, you will need to remove several adjacent parquet planks. If they hold tightly, one of them will have to be carefully split and removed. After this, removing the rest will not be difficult.
Then you need to make a hole in the substrate with a diameter of approximately 20 mm.
Next, you need to mix cement laitance in a 1:1 ratio (cement: water). Then it needs to be poured into the hole until it is filled to the very top.
The solution is left to dry for a day.
The parquet strips then need to be glued into place. If among them there are damaged ones, then you need to replace them with new ones.

You can do the same job without removing the parquet strips - the hole is drilled directly through them.

At the end of the work, it is plugged with a cork and puttied.

Another option is to fasten the parquet with screws along with the backing to the base by screwing it to the concrete base.

The work is carried out as follows:

To carry out the work, you need to stock up on beams with a cross-section of 50×50 mm or 50×75 mm.
One edge of the beam needs to be sharpened so that a platform with a diameter of approximately 20 mm is formed.
In the place where the creaking is heard, the beam is placed between the floor and the ceiling with the narrow end down.
A wooden spacer is inserted between the beam and the ceiling, after which the beam must be knocked down until it is installed straight.
In this case, the floor will be pressed tightly against the base. If the creaking has disappeared, then next to the beam you need to screw in a screw of such length that it penetrates 40-50 mm into the concrete. The head of the screw must be sunk into the wood. Therefore, first drill a shallow hole with a diameter equal to the screw head. Then a hole is made through it with a depth equal to the length of the screw used and a plastic dowel is inserted into it. Then screw in the screw, placing a washer under its head so that the wood of the plank does not wrinkle.
The actions are repeated until all creaking areas are fixed.

It must be said that this method is reliable and eliminates the problem for a long time. But after this, if necessary, it will be very difficult to dismantle the floor, and not every ceiling can be used as a stop for the beam.

We use polyurethane foam:

A hole is made in the place of loose contact between the substrate and the base.
Polyurethane foam is pumped into it in two passes. The break after the first download should be no more than 1 hour.
Then the hole must be plugged with a wooden plug and a weight weighing approximately 150 kg must be placed on top. This will prevent the floor from swelling as the foam expands.

If the concrete base is made extremely poorly, then the methods described above will not give results. There is only one option - to remove the parquet and level the concrete with a cement-sand screed. After the solution has dried, the underlay is installed, and the parquet is re-laid on top.

Creak due to lack of compensation gap around the perimeter of the room

According to the parquet laying technology, the expansion joint should be at least 10-15 mm. Its absence or small width leads to the fact that the parquet planks, expanding under the influence of moisture, begin to put pressure on each other, which leads to swelling of individual elements and creaking.

This violation of technology can be eliminated quite easily - you just need to cut the wood around the perimeter of the floor.

The main thing is to do this in a timely manner, before the dies become too deformed.

Otherwise, you will have to change the entire coating.

Deformation of joists and friction of parquet on joists

Sometimes, when there is high humidity in the room located on the floor below, water vapor passing through the ceiling can cause deformation of the wood joists, and the floor will begin to creak.

Simply eliminating the creaking in this situation is useless - you will have to disassemble the floor and check the condition of its base and joists.

After dismantling the floor, you need to lay a layer of vapor barrier on the ceiling, and then put logs on top and secure them securely. If the joists are severely damaged and deformed, they will have to be replaced with new ones of proper quality, otherwise the parquet will soon creak again.

If the cause of the squeak is the friction of the parquet board on the joists, then the easiest way to secure the floor is by tightening it with self-tapping screws.

For this:

You need to find the location of the logs and find out if there are any communications in them.
The boards are attached to the joists on both sides. Holes for self-tapping screws are drilled at an angle of 45 degrees, towards each other.
For each linear meter of board, up to 6 fastenings must be installed.
The screw heads are also sunk into the wood and puttyed.

Sometimes, to eliminate squeaks, a method such as pouring talcum powder between the boards is used. This reduces friction between the board and the joists and eliminates squeaking.

Eliminating squeaking when parquet planks have peeled off from the plywood or fiberboard backing

This problem can be solved in several ways, the simplest of which is to secure the strips with pins using a pneumatic gun. This should be done in those places where creaking is detected.

Fastening with glue:

The places where the planks have moved away from the plywood are determined. Pieces of masking tape are glued onto them.
A hole with a diameter of 2 mm is drilled in the center of each pasted area. Its depth should be the distance from the floor surface to the plane of the plywood.
Then glue is injected into this hole by drawing it into a regular syringe without a needle. The glue must be introduced slowly so that it can fill the cavity between the plywood and the parquet strip.
After this, you need to let the glue dry for an hour.
Then the adhesive tape is removed, and any remaining adhesive left on the parquet is removed with a solvent.
A load weighing about 50 kg is placed at the repair site and left for a day.
Then the holes are puttied.

Fastening with cardboard backing:

Creaking strips must be carefully removed.
You need to place a suitable size piece of cardboard into the hole.
Then the bar is returned to its place and secured with self-tapping screws.

Fastening the planks with self-tapping screws:

All loose planks need to be identified and marked.
Next, holes are drilled into them at an angle of 45 degrees.
Self-tapping screws are screwed into the holes, recessing their heads into the wood.
The holes are filled with putty.

Creak of parquet glued to bitumen mastic

In earlier times, parquet was often fixed using bitumen mastic. Over time, it dries out and begins to crumble, which leads to mobility of the planks and creaking. To dismantle such a floor means to ruin it hopelessly.

Therefore, you can fix the strips:

By heating the parquet with a hair dryer. This will cause the mastic to heat up and soften it. After heating the surface of the planks, you need to press them tightly to the base, evenly placing the load on them.
By pumping glue into the holes made in the planks (which will secure the floor surface) and then tightening them with self-tapping screws.

Some more options for dealing with unpleasant sounds

There are two more common causes of squeaking parquet floors:

when the tongue-and-groove joint of adjacent boards is destroyed;
when loosening parquet secured with nails.

Fastening boards when the ridge breaks:

In the area of defective mating of adjacent boards, you need to drill two holes towards each other in each of them at an angle of 45 degrees.
The holes should be located 10mm from the edge of each board.
The length of the self-tapping screw should be such that, when screwed into the edge of the board, it enters the adjacent board by about 10 mm.

Thus, by tightening adjacent boards, all places with broken fastening elements are secured.

If the planks are “dangling” on the nails and creaking:

When the wood from which the parquet strips are made dries, under load they begin to move freely along the smooth surface of the nail, producing a creaking sound.
To eliminate the causes of the squeak, you will have to completely redo the parquet, replacing all the nails with self-tapping screws.

Of course, a lot of work must be done, and it is not a fact that the entire parquet can be removed while maintaining its integrity. Therefore, when installing a new parquet floor, you need to ensure that nails are never used as fastening elements.

Thus, there are many ways to eliminate squeaky hardwood floors. Therefore, in each specific case, the main thing is to correctly determine the cause of the squeak, and then choose an option to eliminate it.

Creaking is considered the most common defect in parquet flooring. Moreover, sounds can be produced both by local areas and by the entire coverage. How to silence flooring material? First of all, you need to figure out what causes the “singing”, and then look for ways to eliminate it.

First, let's define the terminology. Parquet floors include:

Classic piece planks made of solid wood, laid with glue or hardware;
Multi-layer parquet board, installed “floating”, less often - by adhesive method;
Solid (solid) floorboards that are attached to the base by gluing or fastening;
Panel type-setting parquet or engineered wood, fixed in all three ways: locking, adhesive, hardware.

Conventionally, the reasons can be divided into three groups:

Installation errors

Manufacturers are doing their best to convey to customers that wood products must be laid according to instructions developed on the basis of engineering solutions and many years of research. But, unfortunately, most craftsmen prefer to do the installation in the most convenient way for themselves. Result: the parquet floor in the apartment creaks annoyingly at the slightest movement and the question arises - what to do?!

The list of factors in this group:

Violation of basic requirements for the formation of a structure for floors using joists. In particular, this may be too large a distance between elements, sparse fasteners, poor-quality or deformed support, lack of waterproofing, and the like. To correct this type of error, you will have to completely disassemble the floor and look for the reasons visually, and not by ear.
Using an electric (cable) floor heating system. Too high spot heating spoils the planks and causes uneven changes in geometric dimensions. And here there is no solution to how to get rid of creaking parquet floors, other than turning off the heating or reducing it to an ineffective minimum.

Wear and tear of the structure

Parquet floors age over time and need to be restored. In particular, there is:

Deformation (drying, twisting), destruction of covering strips, support beams, plywood;
Substrate subsidence (when laid in a “floating” manner);
Peeling off elements of old parquet;
Loosening or falling out of fasteners (nails, studs, screws).

Features of wood

A separate group can be divided into a number of factors related directly to the characteristics of the flooring material. In particular, a squeaky floor may be the result of the wrong type or type of wood. Eg:

Even the level of humidity in the room affects the appearance of extraneous sounds. In winter, when the heating system is turned on, the percentage of moisture in the air decreases, the slats dry out and begin to creak at the slightest load. In this case, special humidifiers will help.

How to eliminate parquet squeaking

It’s not for nothing that we outlined the methods for installing floor coverings at the very beginning. The choice of the optimal repair method depends on this.

Correction of coating deficiencies is carried out in several directions:

Elimination of base defects

It is easiest to work with a floor that is formed using the “floating” method. It is enough to remove the baseboards, carefully disassemble the material and begin partial or complete repair of the base layer. In the first case, the tubercles need to be cut off and the holes filled with cement-sand or a quick-drying mixture. In the second, experts recommend complete leveling with thin-layer bulk mixtures.

If the parquet floor is glued or fixed with hardware, then the work becomes more complicated. You can try to remove the imperfections locally, that is, in places where the creaking is strongest, cut the slats using a cutting power tool, or split the slats with a hammer and chisel. Next, the damaged elements are removed, the base defect is corrected and new parquet is glued.

For a solid floor formed using joists, the method for eliminating defects involves:

reducing the pitch of the support bars and/or laying waterproofing material. The greater the distance between the beams or slats, the greater the degree of sagging of the board and the stronger the creaking. The optimal width is no more than 50 cm. To correct this shortcoming, complete disassembly of the covering will be required.
replacement of damaged elements. Twisted or humped logs will deform the finish coating. Therefore, the floor must be removed and the supports replaced. If the reason is due to fallen or rusted fasteners, then you need to carefully inspect the entire floor, replace the fasteners with new ones, and where necessary, “pull” the boards to the joists with additional nails or self-tapping screws. The latter gives a good effect on old coatings, since over time the lamellas move away from the supports and begin to creak heavily due to friction;

Formation of expansion joints

This method is recommended for coatings installed using the “floating” method. Along the perimeter you need to remove the plinths, cut off the edge of the lamella with a jigsaw or other cutting tool to the required width (up to 10 mm, the exact width of the seam is indicated in the instructions for the material). If there are swollen areas, then boards with damaged locks must be replaced with new ones. Or you can partially redo the floor, add fixing elements (for example, drive “studs” into the lock at an angle of 45 °), and install decorative moldings back.

Laying a new substrate or replacing the old one

The locks of parquet boards or panel parquet stretch over time. Therefore, when dismantling the material, it is necessary to number each strip with a marker, so that later you can assemble the coating in the same order.

The disassembled floor must be temporarily removed from the room, the base carefully inspected for defects, swept and primed. Next, you need to lay strips of waterproofing film with an overlap of 20 cm, install the backing and you can reassemble the finishing material.

Restoration of old parquet

Experts recommend carrying out a complete overhaul of the parquet after 1-3 years of operation, since during this time the wood will be completely acclimatized and all the shortcomings will be revealed, which can be easily eliminated. Of course, this is acceptable for coatings fixed with locking joints or fasteners.

What to do with planks that have become deformed or peeled off over time? Here are two solutions:

remove damaged elements, split them with a chisel and hammer, glue in new ones, fill the joints and restore the protective layer of the surface;
if the plank is intact, then you can drill a small hole in it, inject the adhesive composition with a syringe, remove the excess, and fix it with a weight for 12-24 hours. After the glue has polymerized, seal the gap with putty or repair wax.

The video below shows how to remove creaking parquet flooring without removing it completely.

In the end, we note that creaking parquet of any nature can be eliminated if you approach the matter thoroughly. Partial repairs, such as “pulling” the covering to the joists with additional fasteners, give a temporary effect. After a few years, the defects will appear again. You will have to either completely sort out the flooring material or replace it with a new one.

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Parquet board is an environmentally friendly and safe construction facing material that is used for laying floors. It contains wood that can be exposed to destructive factors, so over time people may notice a creaking or crunching noise under their feet when walking.

Why does the parquet board squeak? This question is asked by many who have decided to cover the floor with this material. Therefore, in order to answer it, it is necessary to understand the reasons that can cause such problems.

Since parquet board is a wood material, it can be affected by the external environment. Also, a lot depends on the accuracy of compliance with the installation rules, so creaking can often appear immediately after laying the floor.

The appearance of extraneous sounds immediately after installation can be caused by:

uneven cement screed;
violation of the location of the logs and their various defects;
incorrect placement of fiberboard materials that do not fit tightly to the floor itself;
incorrect installation;
poor and low-quality substrate;
incorrectly selected or low-quality glue or mastic.

In addition to the reasons directly related to installation, we can also highlight the drying out of the board, which occurs due to:

complete absence or insufficient drying of parquet boards;
the room in which installation is carried out, where there is high or very low humidity and frequent temperature changes;
poor waterproofing of the room.

Getting rid of squeaks

A creaking floor is always unpleasant and causes discomfort, so you need to know what to do if a parquet board creaks.

The most important thing in this case is to establish the exact cause of the squeak, then eliminating it will not be difficult at all.

The most common reasons for the appearance of extraneous sounds are errors that were made during the installation process. A poorly made floor can make itself known after a short period of time with creaks and crunches underfoot. Therefore, problems need to be solved as they arise.

A parquet board may squeak due to the above reasons that arose during its construction, the elimination of which will help get rid of the creaking floor indiscriminately.

Base

This is an important component of the entire floor. If it is uneven or has any other inaccuracies, the parquet board will not last long. A “walking” floor is formed in place and various sounds appear when moving around this area.

To avoid this, you need to plan everything exactly and set the required distance between the base itself and the parquet board. This will help prevent the floor from peeling off and squeaking in the future.

If this was not taken care of in advance, and this was the reason why the parquet board creaks, then what should be done in this case? In order not to dismantle the entire floor, you can use self-tapping screws to secure those areas where sounds are heard.

This situation can be avoided only with high-quality installation of parquet boards by craftsmen or yourself, adhering to certain installation rules.

The screed does not adhere to the fiberboard

If the screed is chosen incorrectly, or it is of poor quality, then creaks of the parquet boards appear after a short period of time after installing the floor. This situation can be corrected by taking a number of measures:

dismantle the boards at the creaking site;
it is necessary to drill a hole in the floor with a diameter of 10 mm and do so around the entire perimeter of the room at intervals of 1-1.5 m;
replace the cement mortar and pour it into the prepared holes around the perimeter of the room;
a day later, you should repeat the same steps so that the result is effective and completely eliminates the creaking of the floor.

Such actions will create support for the fiberboard, and the parquet board will adhere more tightly to the screed, which will ensure the absence of any sounds when moving around the room.

Lags

If the parquet board crunches, then the reason for this may be the incorrect location of the joists or their poor quality, what to do in this case? First of all, you need to carefully inspect the logs for deformations and various damages. If there are no visible defects, the following actions can be taken:

carry out a thorough check of the thermal insulation and waterproofing of the floor;
find out what is the distance between the lags; if it exceeds 30 cm, then creaks and crunches of the parquet board may occur.

It is better to trust floor installation to trusted specialists to avoid unpleasant consequences of installation. But, if you have good experience, you can carry out the installation yourself, taking into account all the features of the technological process. Without disassembly, in this case, you can also fix the boards using self-tapping screws.

High humidity

The creaking of parquet boards may be a consequence of high humidity in the room where the flooring was installed. In this case, the material begins to increase in size, which leads to deformation of the boards and their creaking.

To avoid such consequences, without removing the floor, it is necessary to carefully monitor the humidity in the rooms. It is believed that the normal humidity level for parquet boards is 50-60%.

You should also avoid contact of the floor with moisture; when cleaning, it is enough to use a damp cloth. These methods will help increase the use of parquet boards and avoid their squeaking and crunching.

Drying the parquet board

Just like the other listed external influences on the parquet board, drying also plays a significant role and leads to the appearance of a squeaky floor.

How to eliminate a squeak? To do this you need to do the following:

- you should find the place from which the sound comes;
- use self-tapping screws and special nails with small heads to secure the boards.

The drying of parquet boards, as in the previous case, depends on the level of humidity in the room; the lower it is, the higher the chance of squeaking.

Substrate

The underlay is a necessary item to get rid of extraneous sounds when moving on a parquet board - creaking, crunching and others. A high-quality substrate can provide the room with thermal insulation and sound insulation and, most importantly, prevent the appearance of extraneous sounds.

The substrate can be different, it can be made from any materials:

made of polyethylene requires laying an additional layer to insulate moisture;
paper or cork - it eliminates sounds well, but you must follow the operating rules, since moisture is terrible for it, due to which it can rot and deteriorate;
two-layer film - a practical backing consisting of polystyrene foam.

Peeling parquet boards: what to do?

When a parquet board comes off, it can make unpleasant sounds - skipping, crunching, popping, etc. This defect can, of course, be eliminated by replacing the entire floor. If this method does not suit you, you can resort to a simpler one, which will help save your money budget and the floor without resorting to disassembling it.

To do this, you need to note for yourself those areas of the floor where creaking is clearly visible, and mark them. A tape is placed on top of the marked areas to protect the floor from damage. Then, using an electric drill and a large self-tapping screw, holes are drilled and filled with special glue.

At the end of the hour, the glue is completely dry, and you can remove the tape from the floor surface. After this, place something heavy in the places where the holes were made and leave it for a day.

After a day, the objects are removed, and the holes must be sealed with materials correctly selected in color, designed specifically to get rid of visible defects in the parquet.

This technique allows you to get rid of the creaking of a parquet floor without completely disassembling it. And compliance with certain rules for the use and care of parquet flooring will ensure its long service life, beautiful appearance and the absence of extraneous sounds.

Floor care

Basic care tips are as follows:

you need to carefully monitor the humidity level at all times of the year;
it is necessary to carry out regular cleaning; the presence of dust and dirt leads to rapid damage to the parquet floor;
Do not allow the floor to come into contact with large amounts of liquid;
Cleaning parquet should be done with a damp cloth;
Furniture legs that have sharp protrusions (sofa, armchair, chairs, coffee tables, etc.) should be fitted with special pads.

Proper care of parquet boards is very important to increase its service life and eliminate squeaks and crunches.

You can learn about the easiest and fastest way to get rid of skips of parquet boards using a minimum amount of materials by watching the video.

The content of the article:

Parquet creaking is an annoying sound that accompanies the friction of weakened wooden floor elements against each other. Everyone has probably encountered this problem either at home or in a public place. It can accompany the use of the coating, irritating residents for many years if drastic measures are not taken. Our material today is about how to eliminate parquet creaking without resorting to the help of specialists.

The main causes of squeaking parquet floors

It should be said right away that usually only old parquet creaks. Due to the fact that natural wood is used in its manufacture, the creaking of the coating can be considered a kind of payment for the environmental cleanliness of the floor. Indeed, the natural material contains absolutely no chemicals that could prevent the parquet elements from shrinking over time.

Before eliminating the creaking of such a floor, it is advisable to find out the cause of the extraneous sound. Its sources can be parquet planks, the substrate adjacent to the base, or wooden logs. Let's look at what needs to happen with all this for the parquet to start playing music:

Parquet creaking can occur when wooden blocks peel off from the base, which can be a concrete screed, plywood sheets or bitumen mastic. For the characteristic sound of the floor, the friction of the released dies among themselves is sufficient, even with minimal movement. The cause of peeling may be uneven evaporation of moisture from the parquet wood with the formation of cavities between the floor covering and the base. It is in such places that the floor tiles begin to shift. Over time, dust and small debris accumulate underneath them, complicating the problem.

Among other reasons for the creaking of a parquet floor, the following can be identified: splitting of wooden blocks, their drying out, breakage of a ridge or groove of a single board or several, loose sockets of screws or nails of fasteners, lack of a deformation gap between the walls and the parquet covering, movement of the joists or ends of the boards relative to each other to friend. All these floor defects cause friction between the tiles, against the base, and against loose fasteners, causing the old parquet floor to creak.

Such defects are caused by floor installation errors, which can be divided into technological and operational categories.

The first include violations of the rules for installing and drying wood parquet boards:

Uneven floor base;
Poor fit of plywood or fiberboard backing;
Incorrect location, insufficient fasteners, irregular dimensions and deformation of wooden logs;
Incorrect fastening of floor tiles and baseboards, lack of temperature gaps;
Lack of vapor barrier protection for the floor, which leads to the parquet getting wet from below;
The moisture content of the original floor wood does not meet accepted standards.

Errors in the operation of parquet include unacceptable loads on it in the form of mechanical and chemical influences, as well as violations of temperature and humidity conditions.

Preparatory work before parquet repair

An impressive list of reasons why parquet floors squeak encourages you to know its design, installation method and fasteners used. In this case, it will be easier to choose a way to eliminate parquet squeaks with your own hands, saving a lot of time.

It is not difficult to identify a creaking area of the floor. To do this, just walk around the room and, if you detect any extraneous sounds under your feet, stop in time and mark suspicious areas of the parquet with chalk. After completing the “walk-through,” you need to carefully examine the marked areas of the floor, identifying any defects visible to the eye. If they are not identified, the problem may be hidden under the floor covering. In this case, it will require partial or complete replacement.

After determining the causes of the squeaking, you can begin to eliminate them by repairing the parquet floor. To work, you need to stock up on the following tools and accessories: an electric drill, drills with a diameter of 2 mm, a medical syringe, polyurethane glue, dowels, rags and masking tape.

Technology for repairing parquet when it creaks

The drastic measure to get rid of creaking parquet is to completely replace the floor covering. It is associated with the removal of all parquet tiles, proper preparation of the base, followed by laying the dismantled floor elements, scraping the finished coating, sanding it and painting it with several layers of varnish. This procedure is usually used when identifying large areas of peeling parquet, and its implementation entails significant time and financial costs. But in case of local floor creaking, you can use narrowly targeted methods to eliminate it. Let's look at them.

Repairing potholes and cracks in parquet

When parquet flooring makes not just a creaking sound when you walk, but also a loud cracking sound, this is a sign of low humidity or high temperature in the room, since floor tiles laid wet in the floor dry out and become covered with cracks under such conditions.

Small cracks can be filled with putty to match the parquet, and potholes can be filled with wood mixture, choosing the appropriate color. Instead of putty, you can use an adhesive casein composition, including sawdust. After treating problem areas, they need to be thoroughly sanded and then coated with wood varnish.

It is useless to seal wide cracks; they will not hold the binder solution. In this case, the damaged parquet block will have to be replaced. To perform this work, you need to select a board that matches the size, color and type of wood to the rest of the parquet blocks.

Its restoration in this case is performed in the following order. The dried slab must be split into pieces using a hammer and chisel, and then removed from the floor in parts, starting from the middle, along with the adhesive base. The resulting depression should be thoroughly cleaned and its base carefully leveled.

Then you need to cut off the ridge from the new board, and sand the cut area with a plane. If necessary, grooves and ridges can be cut from adjacent floor tiles. When replacing several boards located nearby at once, they should first be fastened together into a single rivet. Before doing this, it is recommended to make sure that it fits perfectly into the location of a number of old damaged dies.

Then, bitumen mastic or suitable glue heated to 160 degrees should be poured onto the cleaned and leveled base of the floor excavation remaining after removing the damaged dies. The rivet should be placed on the treated surface, and then the excess adhesive composition squeezed out by it should be carefully removed.

You need to temporarily place some kind of weight on the renewed area of the parquet floor. When the mastic or glue under the riveting has dried, it should be sanded with fine-grained sandpaper, wood dust should be removed from it and painted with varnish.

Parquet floor subfloor repair

It is performed in cases where a completely flat floor creaks. There are two possible options here. One of them involves creating an intermediate layer of parquet flooring from 12 mm thick plywood sheets. This will allow you to get rid of the squeak for a long time, but it is impossible to guarantee that it will never return, with this option for repairing parquet.

Repairing the base using another option is much simpler, but in this case you need to know what the parquet was attached to. If it was laid using bitumen mastic, then the squeaking of the parquet can be eliminated as follows. Prepare a hair dryer and use it to heat the parquet blocks until the bitumen mastic underneath melts. The main thing in this method is not to overdo it, so as not to damage the front part of the parquet. After the mastic is ready, the dies above it must be pressed with some kind of weight until the adhesive composition cools.

Installing wedges between parquet planks

If the floor tiles are poorly secured to the joists or beams, then as a result of walking on such a covering, friction of its elements against each other occurs, accompanied by creaking. To prevent such friction, wedges are driven between the beams and parquet boards. If there is no access to the bottom of the floor, dies can be attached to the joists from above.

The creaking of parquet can be eliminated by driving wooden wedges between the flooring boards, maintaining a distance of 15-20 cm between them. It is important to ensure that the wedges do not protrude above the floor level. They can be carefully hammered in using a hammer and a piece of metal rod.

Pouring glue under parquet

Before removing the creaking of parquet in this way, it is necessary to mark points in the centers of problem areas of the floor at a distance of 15 cm from each other and stick masking tape on them. Then you need to drill through holes in the dies according to the marks and pour glue under the parquet through them. The holes should be 2mm in diameter and a syringe should be used to fill through them.

After this, the parquet flooring must be pressed against the base with a heavy weight. After an hour, the glue will dry, after which the tape can be removed. If glue accidentally gets on the parquet, it can be removed with a solvent that is used for working with polyurethane foam.

Wax crayons should be selected to match the color of the parquet in advance. A day after the repair is completed, you need to use them to fill the holes through which the glue was poured. The work is completed by polishing the parquet with a rag.

Using anchors to repair parquet

If the base of the parquet floor is a concrete slab, to eliminate its squeaking, you can use metal anchors, which will have to be fastened by hand.

First, a small hole is drilled in the covering, a metal shell is inserted into it, into which a pin is then screwed, tightly tightening the parquet with the concrete base.

This method is very effective, but also extremely costly, since on average, about 200 anchors may be needed to repair parquet sections, and each of them costs 10-15 rubles.

Tightening parquet flooring with screws

If parquet flooring creaks in places where it comes into contact with joists, this problem can be eliminated by tightening the floor boards to the wooden beams. The only problem that may arise here is finding the joists under the coating.

The repair procedure consists of additionally fixing the parquet board to the beam with two or three screws. A hole for fasteners is first drilled in the joist from the side of the die. After screwing in the screws, their heads need to be recessed into the wood of the board, the resulting depression should be sealed with putty, and then sanded with sandpaper.

Parquet floor tightening

This procedure is quite labor-intensive, but at the same time cheap. Its essence is that in order to eliminate the creaking of a parquet floor, all the nails that fasten the dies will need to be replaced with screws. They are devoid of the main drawback inherent in nails - creaking in areas of contact with wood.

A nail driven into wood usually holds the layers tightly around the metal. But over time, the metal rusts, decreases in diameter and weakens the fastening. Then a backlash appears, which is accompanied by a creaking sound.

After replacing the parquet fasteners in problem areas of the floor, the recesses from the screw heads should be sealed with wood putty and then sanded.

How to eliminate parquet creaking - watch the video:

Typically, measures to eliminate parquet squeaks are combined with other related work, for example, coating the floor with varnish or wax. Taken together, all this will extend the life of the floor for many years, even taking into account its already advanced age.

The creaking of a parquet floor can infuriate many people. Usually the floor begins to creak over time due to natural aging, but it also happens that the tins are creaking even in new buildings. Why does parquet floor squeak and how to get rid of parquet floor creaks?

There are many possible reasons why parquet creaks or any other wooden floor. The first step is to find out the true cause of the squeak.

The material for manufacturing panel parquet and parquet boards is wood - certainly one of the most versatile and environmentally friendly building materials. But with all the advantages of this material, it also has a significant drawback - hygroscopicity (absorption of natural moisture from the surrounding air). When drying out or, on the contrary, absorbing moisture, the parquet flooring can become deformed. Bottom line - creaking floor.

Creaking is the most common defect in old parquet boards. This is due to the fact that previously the parquet board was laid along the joists. The logs were not secured in any way and were laid in increments of 50-70 cm, which is quite small. Over time, the old parquet board begins to creak. Today, in most cases, parquet is laid over plywood, which eliminates the very possibility of parquet creaking for this reason.

Another reason why parquet floors squeak may be that the parquet does not hold onto its base. As a rule, previously parquet was laid by gluing it to the screed using bitumen mastic. However, over time, such mastic loses its adhesive properties and creaking parquet occurs. Most often, in this case, creaking occurs in individual places, and not over the entire floor area, so it is necessary to re-cover only individual creaking areas of the parquet using correctly selected glue.

How to repair creaking parquet flooring?

One of the effective ways to eliminate parquet squeaks on your own is to pour cement mortar in a 1:1 ratio of cement and water through a hole drilled in the place of the squeak (O 15 - 20 mm). However, if the cause of the squeak is poorly laid parquet, repairs cannot be avoided.

Parquet repair is a whole range of restoration work aimed at returning parquet to its original appearance and properties. As a rule, parquet repairs are carried out for fairly old floors, the age of which can be calculated in decades from the date of construction of the house and which really need such repairs. The unsightly appearance of parquet is not yet a reason to completely replace it with a new one.

Parquet repair may include the following operations:

partial replacement of damaged areas of parquet;
restoration of missing fragments;
replacing parquet while preserving the pattern;
partial replacement of deformed parquet planks;
restoration of the base laid on joists and boards;
elimination of failures;
replacement of thinned parquet floors;
replacement of parquet planks with chips;
replacement of parquet planks with through stains;
elimination of swollen parquet, etc.

Causes of squeaking

First you need to establish the reasons for the creaking.

They may be as follows:

The most common reason is unreliable fastening of the floorboards to the joists. This happens because they were fixed with nails, which became loose over time.
Incorrect installation of joists. They must be installed freely and not rigidly fixed, but at the same time they must be in a stable position and not wobble.
Gaps between the floorboards that could have occurred when wood was laid while it was not dry.
With the change of season, it dried out, and the boards began to rub against each other.
There is no temperature gap. There should be a gap of at least 1 cm near walls, pipes, and doors. There should also be no rigid attachment to the walls or wedging.
Large distance between the joists (for more details: “What is the distance between the floor joists when installing the floor”).
Quite thin floorboards.

Creaking can occur for one or several reasons at once.

As a rule, they can be determined by a simple inspection, or you can remove one floorboard and assess the condition of the floor. Most of these problems can be solved without replacing the floor (read also: “Replacing floors in a wooden house with a concrete screed”).

Solving the problem of insufficient fixation of boards to joists

To solve the problem of how to eliminate the creaking of the floor from the boards due to insufficient fastening to the joists, it is necessary to fix them with long self-tapping screws that have large threads.

There is no need to pull out old nails; holes can be made nearby. They are removed if the caps stick out or are bent.

In order not to make a mistake with the length of the screws, you need to know the thickness of the joists and floorboards. Self-tapping screws should be taken 2-3 cm shorter than the total thickness of the floor structure.

To find out how far the concrete base is, you should drill a hole or remove one board.

This is done very simply: the number of joists is multiplied by the number of floorboards in width. Here the problem arises of how to find the logs without opening the floor to find out their number. To do this, the floor plinth is removed and the joists can be seen through the gap near the wall.

First, holes are drilled for self-tapping screws, this will ensure easy screwing and tight fit of the floorboards. Then, where the floorboards come into contact with the joists, self-tapping screws are screwed in.

The hats should be recessed a little so that they do not interfere.

In places where the creaking has not disappeared, you need to put a mark in order to solve this problem later.

After this method of eliminating squeaks, the boards may become warped. Therefore, the surface should be leveled by laying sheets of plywood, which are screwed in increments of 15-20 cm with small self-tapping screws.

Chipboard floor

If the chipboard floor creaks, then we eliminate the creaking floor in the apartment as follows:

The location of the squeak is determined.
It should be emptied and the floor covering removed.
In the place where the creaking is heard, a square measuring 15x15 cm is drawn, which is cut out using a grinder, circular saw or jigsaw.
The distance between the chipboard and the concrete floor is measured and a small block is cut out. It should be driven under the chipboard floor, in this way possible deflections will be eliminated and there will be no more creaking (read also: “How to make chipboard floors using joists with your own hands”).
The sawn part is placed in place and fixed with self-tapping screws.
The cracks should be filled with putty. Then the floor covering is laid back.

When laying any materials in sheets to level a wooden floor (for example, plywood, OSB), a temperature gap of 3-5 mm should be left between the sheets.

If necessary, these cracks can be sealed with wood putty.

Elimination of squeaking due to deflection of boards

If the cause of the creaking lies in the deflection of insufficiently thick boards or the distance between the joists is incorrect, then the creaking of the floor can be eliminated without opening it.

To do this, you need self-tapping screws that have a large thread along the entire length that can hold the floorboards. Their length should correspond to the distance from the top border of the finished flooring to the concrete floor, or a little more.

A small hole is drilled through between the joists, but without getting into them. Then the screws are screwed in until they rest against the concrete base. As a result, the screws will act as auxiliary legs and eliminate the deflection.

In this case, you can use screws whose heads break off.

This will increase the support area. If this is not done, the pointed tips will wear through the concrete after a while.

Another reason for floor sagging is the use of incorrect boards. If simple planed boards that do not have a tongue-and-groove system are laid, they will not be connected to each other. For the floor it is necessary to use exclusively tongue and groove boards.

In this case, how to eliminate the creaking of the floor? It is necessary to connect the floorboards together.

To do this, you need a long wood drill and dowels.

The procedure is as follows:

A hole is drilled at an angle so that it passes through two adjacent boards. The holes should be spaced out and in the opposite direction.
PVA glue is applied to the dowel. It is then driven into the hole. And the boards turn out to be connected.
When the glue has dried, its excess should be trimmed flush with the surface.

Gaps between floorboards

Gaps may appear between the floorboards, causing the boards to rub against each other, creating an unpleasant sound.

To solve this problem, you need to wedge the floorboards and seal the gap.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

Thin wooden wedge slats are made. Braided cord will also work.
PVA or wood glue must be applied to the wedges. Then they are driven into the crack.
After the glue has dried, the protruding part of the slats is cut off flush with the floor.
Small cracks are sealed with self-made putty.
To prepare it, mix wood dust from sanding with PVA glue. Read also: “Sealing cracks in a wooden floor - 10 options and methods.”

Conclusion

The article looked at how to eliminate the creaking of a wooden floor in an apartment, the reason for which in most cases lies in non-compliance with the installation technology.

As a rule, the causes of squeaking can be eliminated without replacing the floor.

In today's world, filled to the brim with plastic, synthetic, aromatic and processed foods, natural materials are becoming increasingly valuable. A surplus of substitutes has caused a new rise in the popularity of wood flooring, favoring many surviving parquet floors. Unfortunately, in addition to these remnants of former luxury, there is also a sound recording in the form of a pulley.

If you are close to the principle that it is better to fix old things than to throw them away, we will help you find the answer to the question: what to do if the floor is knocked out?

Why does parquet get scratched?

Errors in the original position of the floor may cause scratches in the future. Among them:

What can be done in case of a squeak?

What to do if the soil is shrinking: Answers vary depending on the “diagnosis.”

First of all, you must carefully study the soil and consider all the places that signal your movement.

Uneven base as a source of shrinkage.

The way out of this situation is categorical - it is necessary to dismantle the parquet cover and place it again with careful consideration of the technology of the intermediate layers.

If the quality of the soil gives much of what is desired, then the solution will flood the soil with a mixture of wormwood.

The molded layer can be used as a good base for parquet. The main thing is to maintain the required thickness of this layer. The layer should be no more than two millimeters in square meters.

If any particular part of the concrete floor is damaged, it should be dismantled into the basement, thoroughly cleaned and poured with cement mortar.

Level, smooth, and keep the area moist for seven to ten days (eg, cover with a damp cloth). After this, you should let the area dry for about three weeks.

Local destruction of plates;

In the middle of the “sounding” parts of the floor, it is worth mentioning several points at a distance of about 20 centimeters, after which they are glued to pieces of the colored strip.

Then, with two millimeters of drill tape and parquet boards, address the voids. The holes must be filled with glue.
This requires a syringe. Pull out the plunger, fill the glue, insert the plunger and release the air.

Remember that the syringe and, most importantly, your hands must be cleaned after this procedure.

The adhesive should be peeled off slowly and then allowed to dry for one hour. It may foam and leave marks. Remove the painted strip with adhesive residue if marks still remain, then remove them with solvent and wipe the parquet with a dry cloth. During the day, this area has been compressed by a heavy object such as a sandbag, weight, etc.

Finally, fill the holes in the floor with wax paint and polish the fabrics.

Charges: errors and instructions;

First of all, it is necessary to determine their integrity.

If the beams are not particularly damaged, you can correct your location - move 30 cm away, level the level, place it evenly and pull it towards the bottom of the floor.

If necessary, you can also change the thickness or materials of the hydro- and thermal insulation layer.

Distance between fiberboard (or plywood) and cement screed;

In this case, you must remove the floor plates that interrupt you by pulling and drilling a few centimeter holes at the bottom; fill them with a solution of cement and sand, mix in a ratio of 1: 3.

What to do if the floor is cut into the apartment and how to solve the problem without opening the floor

The next day, repeat these steps and create additional support for the base.

By the way, you can replace it with a higher quality, for example, two layers of film, with polyester in between.

Incorrect selection and installation of parquet boards;

When purchasing parquet panels, you should carefully consider the quality of your locking system and geometry.

Often the cause of sticking is the last lock.

When installing parquet flooring, noticeable movement occurs due to blocking. From this movement of the entire canvas, some types of slabs push against the wall, causing stagnation. In this case, each line must be jammed.

Laying parquet on the walls too narrow is generally bad for the quiet of the room. It is necessary that the gap between the wall and the coating be about one centimeter.

In this case, if the humidity increases and the plates expand, you do not need to cut the blade around the perimeter.

Problems with indoor humidity;

The appropriate humidity for parquet maintenance is 50-60%. For precise care, you can get a hygrometer, use a humidifier (if necessary), squeeze the fabric when washing.
If the wood is dry, you need to fasten the straps, place them under the forms underneath and nail them.

The most affected ones can be replaced with new ones.

07/21/2014 at 19:07

Despite the fact that parquet belongs to the class of elite floor coverings in apartments and private houses, it is not without its drawbacks, the most significant of which can be called squeaking when walking. You can prevent the appearance of noise at the stage of laying parquet boards and following the rules for using a wooden floor.

But sooner or later the creaking will appear and you will need to decide what to do to prevent the parquet from creaking.

How to eliminate the creaking of old parquet with your own hands

Why does parquet squeak?

There may be several reasons:

naturalness of wood. This is the main reason for the appearance of squeaking. Since the board does not contain additional additives, it will undergo the process of linear expansion that is natural to wood.
In the case of solid boards or parquet, this phenomenon is more pronounced. If it is an engineered board or three-layer parquet, the disadvantage will be less pronounced, since the linear expansion is compensated by the presence of several layers and an adhesive composition;

violation of parquet laying technology or use of low-quality materials;
deformation of the parquet board itself (typical of solid wood, due to the fact that the wood was poorly dried);

detachment of the plank from the base of the floor;
deformation of the bar ridge;
hardware became loose;
lack of wall gap (seasonal parquet creaking);
mobility of joists under parquet;
local damage to the floor by mechanical or thermal means (flooding, heavy objects, direct sunlight);
improper fastening of the plinth.

The reasons may be different, but if a creak appears, you must not aggravate the situation, because...

Moisture and sand can get into the cracks, friction between the planks will arise, and the damaged area will increase and the problem will grow. Therefore, you need to choose what to do if the parquet creaks. In this article, we will look at several practice-tested ways to eliminate parquet squeaks with your own hands.

Before you begin repairing your hardwood floor, you should mark all affected areas with chalk or masking tape.

So as not to miss a single one and complete all the work in one go.

What to do if the parquet creaks

Simple and complex options on how to remove unpleasant sound and restore silence.

1. Complete replacement of parquet

The most drastic way to eliminate squeaking.

It is worth resorting to in cases where the entire surface of the floor creaks strongly. This indicates that the parquet laying technology itself has been violated. Local repairs are not enough here, however, the planks that have retained their original appearance can be reused.

If the creaking appeared immediately after completion of the work and the planks have not yet been damaged, the following solution (technique) is possible - tightening the parquet.

To do this, you need to remove the parquet completely, check the condition of the joists, eliminate defects and reassemble the strips. At the same time, craftsmen advise replacing nails that fall out of place over time due to drying of the wood, with self-tapping screws. It was the use of self-tapping screws that gave the tightening procedure its name, because

they allow you to pull the boards together and securely fix them.

But not everyone is ready to take radical measures and are looking for how to remove squeaks without removing the parquet.

2. Partial replacement of parquet (one or more planks, board)

This is a less expensive way to eliminate squeaking. Suitable for local scale problems.

Sequence of work:

dismantle the bar (if it cannot be removed, crush it with a chisel or chisel);
remove the adhesive base;
clean the seat;
prepare replacement parquet strips;
Note.

On the planks that will be laid on the outer edges, the ridge is cut off, and the cut area is sanded.

pour glue or bitumen mastic onto the seat;
lay new parquet boards;
remove excess adhesive solution;
load the installation site of the parquet with something heavy, but so that the pressure is distributed evenly across the planks;
sand the restored area and cover it with a protective layer.

Note.

Unlike wax-oil impregnations and stains, it is difficult to varnish a specific area, so you will need to sand and varnish the entire surface of the floor.

Note that the creaking of panel parquet is more difficult to remove. The construction of parquet from panels is typical for the Soviet period, since it is much easier and faster to install. Today, owners of old apartments are trying to get rid of squeaking by installing block parquet instead of panel parquet.

3.
Eliminating squeaks without disassembling (removing) planks

In this direction, there are several effective ways to remove the creaking of parquet without disassembling the floor:

Filling voids

The essence of this procedure is to fill the voids under the parquet planks.

The following can be used as a placeholder:

laitance is a liquid solution of cement and water (1:1 ratio). Used when the base for parquet is a concrete floor;

polyurethane foam. Note that foam fills large voids, for example, between joists, giving the floor rigidity. But it is prone to shrinkage over time. Therefore, the method is only suitable as a temporary measure. Over time, the creaking will repeat;

wax with solvent. It is inserted under the parquet flooring using a medical syringe.
The method is convenient because it does not leave visible marks on the surface of the parquet;

Despite the variety of fillers, the process of performing the work is the same. The board in the problem area is drilled. The diameter of the drill is equal to the diameter of the dowel, which will subsequently be used to tighten the board to the base. The installation location of the dowel is masked with a plug or puttied. Instead of a dowel, a wooden dowel can be used.

Note.

When using liquid nails, a smaller diameter is drilled, and liquid nails serve as a replacement for dowels.

Fixing the board to the base

A more reliable way to get rid of squeaking parquet is to tighten the boards to the base, as well as to each other.

Work order:

Drill holes in the corners of the plank.
They are needed so that when hammering a nail the bar will not split;
insert hardware into the hole. It is best to use thin-headed nails or parquet studs.
When tightening the hardware, you need to be careful not to damage the parquet. A self-tapping screw that is screwed too tightly into the subfloor will cause the plank to rise. Wooden dowels can be used, but they are larger than hardware and more visible on the surface of the parquet floor;
deepen the heads of the screws (easier to cut) or grind off the protruding parts of the pins;
cover the place where the hardware is fixed with putty;
sand the work area and cover it with a decorative layer of varnish or wax.

Eliminating seasonal squeaking

This phenomenon is called seasonal, because

The creaking appears only during the heating period and in the middle of summer. We can conclude that the cause is insufficient humidity in the room.

To eliminate the squeak, you need to remove the baseboard and check for a gap near the wall. Most likely, there is no gap or its size is insufficient (the optimal distance is 10-15 mm).

In this case, you need to trim the boards. Too large a gap also leads to creaking near the baseboard; this can be eliminated by installing spacers.

If the cause of the squeak is large gaps

Sanding parquet as a way to eliminate squeaks

(Multiple gap elimination method)

This method is used when it is not possible to clearly identify the cause of the unpleasant sound.

As a rule, this happens when there are microgaps between most of the planks. To eliminate them, you need to sand the entire surface of the floor.

How to eliminate the creaking of old parquet in an apartment - causes and prevention

Sanding parquet allows you to remove only the paint and varnish coating and a thin layer of wood (up to 1.5 mm).

After the floor is cleaned, it is primed and covered with a new layer of varnish. In this case, the varnish penetrates between the planks, thus filling small cracks. After this procedure, the creaking stops.

Conclusion

As you can see, the question of what to do to prevent parquet from creaking can be solved; there are many ways and some of them are quite simple and allow you to eliminate the creaking yourself.

If proper care is provided, old parquet flooring should not creak. However, if the attempt does not bring the expected result, you will need to either call specialists or completely replace the floor covering.

Tags: FloorParquetParquet board

Source

From the beginning of the heating season to its end, air humidity in apartments and country houses drops sharply - up to 20%. Low humidity has a negative impact on parquet floors, plants and including humans.

Due to low humidity, parquet floors begin to dry out and cracks are not the only consequence of this inevitable process.

Drying causes each parquet plank to warp and move from the base, which can cause creaks and wobbles in the floor. The plywood base, which is also involved in movement, also suffers from low humidity, which is why it is so important to cut the plywood into at least 4 parts.

The negative consequences of low humidity can be minimal and even almost unnoticeable, but what does it depend on? Why do some floors dry out and others not? What is this secret?

Normal room humidity is 50%, which is almost constant in the warm season, and therefore ideal for parquet floors. Thus, it is necessary to maintain this humidity during the heating season.

For this purpose, there are air humidification devices and various stationary supply and exhaust ventilation systems. Thus, it is possible to maintain air humidity at a minimum of 40%, with a norm of 50%.

Consequently, it is completely logical to sand the floors in the summer, and by winter prepare to moisten the room, since in the summer the parquet has had time to return to its normal geometric state.

However, most often, few people are concerned about the moisture in the room, so for such cases, the advice is to sand the floors after one month of the heating season, when the parquet dries out, so that the cracks can be puttied.

In summer, the putty may be squeezed out, but this is not critical.

You can prepare for new parquet floors by choosing the right parquet and its installation technology.

Correct selection of parquet materials

The denser the wood, the less it reacts to variability in humidity. But it’s not only the density that you should pay attention to, because the cut, grade and width also matter. The color of the wood, the grain pattern, and the cutting method depend on the variety. The wider the materials, the more noticeable the shortcomings from the influence of humidity variability will be. Radial cutting is better than tangential cutting, but it is also significantly more expensive, so you can ignore this parameter.

More important is the ergonomics of the floor in design.

The width of piece parquet must be chosen up to 7 cm; from 8 cm, the parquet must be chamfered, which will hide cracks and warping during use.

The solid board should be no more than 12 cm wide and chamfered. Parquet and engineered boards are no wider than 15 cm.

Proper execution of installation work from scratch

If you approach the production of parquet work correctly, choose the right materials and timing of the work, then forced air humidification may not be necessary.

What to do if the parquet creaks?

The base must be waterproofed, because it is absolutely not difficult to lay down a film before pouring a cement-sand screed or installing logs. Make the cement-sand screed using a mixture of M300 and without using a self-leveling floor, which will peel off over time and you will get a wobbly floor.

In the summer, give the screed 3-4 months to dry; in the winter, 1-2 months is enough, the main thing is that the heating radiators are working. Before laying plywood and parquet, measure the moisture content of the screed.

Before laying plywood, it should be cut into 4 pieces or more. When laying, do not skimp on the quantity and quality of glue, which should preferably be water-free.

Parquet should be sanded and varnished before the heating season and 1-2 weeks after installation. The space between the wall and the parquet could be better foamed. Please note that the parquet needs to be protected with a varnish film, and not with oil.

Thus, the parquet will have its own microclimate, since it is protected from below and from above by a film, it is as if in a vacuum. A parquet that is protected on all sides will resist drying out, but even in this case it is still better to consider moisturizing.

The conditions for laying solid and coated parquet boards are basically the same, but if your logical reasoning is not enough, then you can always consult me.

In this article we try to explain in an accessible form why there is a parquet board when walking. This is not a lonely problem! It is very insulting when new floors are not found, and the parquet boards “go” underfoot after installation. Read and maybe find the answers yourself! Oh, by the way, the parquet and engine boards are almost the same.

If you are on this site and are interested in yourself, for parquet when you go and what to do with it, see the link!

By the way, all of these answers apply to questions about why lamination goes or bends.

Laminate meets the same installation and maintenance requirements as parquet panels. The requirements for quality, installation and maintenance are almost identical. Why Laminate Pulley? and tips for installing it can be read here!

Many people who buy hardwood flooring and have it done as recommended are surprised over time to notice that when they walk, they hear screaming. The skirting board is pulled out when it is placed on an uneven surface using the floating method.

It is possible that the parking area is not of high quality. How is this expressed? Broken geometry, locks are not tight and similar. When you walk, the smallest shifts occur, which contribute to the friction of the parts against each other, which causes the suppression of your parquet. It's a shame because they created the parquet but they are lame or they say they walk.

Why did the parquet board begin to crumble?

Let's assume that there are two ways to lay parquet boards.

The first is the “solid” method, when the parquet panel is mounted with adhesives.

Floor from top of panel

In this case, the structure is glued to the substrate, especially on plywood. Another way is to define a "floating" method. It consists in the fact that the roof lying on the ground is under its own weight.

Place underlayment between the hardwood panel and the underlayment: cork, vinyl, and others.

In our opinion, the first method creates a more durable and monolithic structure that ensures long-term performance.

There were scratches on the parquet panels - who is to blame?

If you choose to float in a parking lot, then you should ensure that the base is completely flat.

If there is irregularity in the base per minute, the panel will be uneven. When it is used, these places will start to worry. Even the smallest movement will cause some elements to rub against others, resulting in external noise. The scenario will only increase in the future. If the pallet "goes" or is "blue" underfoot, it means the pedestal is like a vegetable garden or slab up. Make sure there is a difference between the panel and the wall.

The cause of the violin is a change in temperature and humidity conditions.

A parquet panel is still wood, which tends to change size with changes in humidity. The plate may be too dry and of course it will spread in a more humid environment. If there is no expansion joint between the floor and the wall, this is usually a problem.

But if you have this, you can create tension in the joints, which will lead to cramps.

Any deformation of the parquet board, such as peeling, boat formation, waves, if the parking cover is covered and similar, also causes a change in humidity.

The expansion of the entire structure or individual elements causes such sad consequences.

Often when installing a parquet floor it is necessary to make a concrete screed.

Drying time can be up to one month or longer if you are in a hurry and apply before styling and then compress or fan. The floorboard will start to crumble, chafe and move when it goes very fast. All this is so obvious, but for some reason it’s everywhere?

If the weather is impermeable, epoxy waterproofing coatings can be used, but it is best to wait until the substrate is completely dry.

Any work involving high moisture content such as plastering, wall leveling, painting, etc. can cause warping.

Covering wood floors with film creates a greenhouse gas effect, which can also cause undesirable effects when humidity is high. In the photos you can see how the edge of the parquet was darkened by the background.

The edges of the dead have darkened

Dark spots on the ground

Warping, cracking, warping and varnishing will then begin.

The only solution is to remove, correct the cause and set aside a new cover, partially or completely.

If anyone tells you that it is normal for a patch plate to occur, then they are trying to deceive you. The floor must be dense; if the slab rises when walking, it does not lie securely. This causes inequality, thick substrate or too much, in the future it will not be resolved and will not get tired!

If we think that the parquet board is poorly installed, we need to make sure that the parquet panel is of high quality.

Improper drying or storage, broken geometry or poor quality locks will cause deformation and internal stress, which will lead to shrinkage or noise when walking. Buy trusted brands, do not follow the sincere "cheap", do not pick up damaged items, it is better to buy another package. Use special gel lubricant locks.

Some people who are trying to strengthen sound insulation or do not interfere with differences in the surface of the base give a thick layer of underlayment.

Over time, part of the substrate may condense or crack under stress, causing monolith failure and noise.

It's a secret? The only solution is to split the work or the entire floor. Repairs to scratches on the parquet board touching the seal can only be carried out for a short time, the sounds continue for a short time.

The best method is parquet glue, although the choice is yours.

If you hope, or someone convinces you, that parquet boards that are stored after installation will settle down, this is unlikely! What was done wrong will not be better!