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Squeaky floors in your home driving you crazy?
Well stay tuned to this episode of Around The House and I’ll show you how to silence the problem.
[Music]
Whether your house is new or old it probably has squeaks, but Patrick is here from O’Berry Enterprises
and he has a product that can put and end to the noise and you can find it at your local Menards.
Hi Patrick. Patrick: Hi
Host: So tell me a little bit about what we’re going to use today.
Patrick: The tool we are going to use is called squeeeeek no more.
What it’s going to allow us to do is stop floor squeaks in carpeted, hardwood and vinyl floors,
from the top of the floor going down to the joist.
Host: Alright let’s get started. So the first room we have here is carpeted…
and you can hear that there is some squeaking going on in certain areas. What do we do to fix it?
Patrick: Well the first we need to find the floor joist.
Because the screw has such a small amount of thread when it is driven down into the floor
and doesn’t go into the joist the screw will not be able to reverse out on its own.
To get the screw out you just need to lift up on the drill as you reverse the drill.
Host: And if you hit a joist?
Patrick: The drill will labor as it drives the screw down into the joist.
The screw will also reverse itself out without you having to assist it up.
A simple way to find a joist is to use a floor vent. It’s a good starting point because they’re always between joists.
If we take our joist finder and start next to the vent we’ll probably find the joist on the first or second try.
When we find the joist, uncouple the joist finder from the drill and measure across to find all the joists in the room.
Host: Now they’re typically 16 inches apart so I guess when we find one we’ve found them all.
Patrick: That’s right. And if there’s not a vent, measure nine inches out from your wall and drive your screw down.
If you don’t hit a joist, move along your floor in inch increments until you find one.
You do need to know the direction of the joists, they generally run front to back.
Once you’ve found a joist measure across the floor to the spot of the squeaks
and use the second joist finder to make sure the joist is where it should be.
Host: This is where we fasten the squeek no more screw and tooling, but how is it different from a normal screw.
Patrick: The squeek no more screw has two different pitches. At the tip the screw starts with 8 threads per inch.
Then one inch up the screw the thread changes to 9 threads per inch.
When the screw is driven down the changing pitch pulls the flooring to the joist.
Above the thread the screw has a score or weak spot.
The tripod fixture and custom driver bit safely drives the screw down through the carpet without causing any damage
while the tooling stops the screw so the score is slightly below the wood of the floor.
So you take the tripod fixture, place the gripper over the head of the screw and rock it back and forth.
The screw will snap at the score leaving nothing sticking up that you can see or feel.
Host: The squeak is gone! And you can’t even see where the screw was put in the floor. That’s amazing!
Let’s go see what it can do for the hardwood floors in the hallway.
Patrick: Alright let’s do it. If your home is over 30 years old your squeaks will likely be at the joist.
If it’s less than 30 years old they’ll likely be between the joists.
Host: And for an older home you can use a stud sensor to find joists?
Patrick: Right. Once you find the joist pre-drill a hole through the hardwood
then drive the squeeeeek no more screw through the hardwood and linoleum adapter.
The screw will hit the top of the fixture forcing the screw to snap at the score 3/8 of an inch below the surface.
Host: Then all you do is fill the small hole with wood filler to conceal it.
Patrick: Yes. Host: And you use the same kit to fix a vinyl floor?
Patrick: Absolutely! And since vinyl is flexible it allows the screw to push the material to the side as the screw goes down.
Then when the screw snaps off, 3/8 inch below the surface, the material expands back over to conceal the hole.
Host: Well that’s it for today. Stop into your local Menards and pick up a squeeeeek no more kit for your squeaky floors.
It was easy to use, it works great!
For other do it yourself projects check out Around The House at Menards.com.