If you are being troubled by a squeaky or a creaky floor, you won't need anybody to remind just how annoying it can be. Squeaky and laminate floors at the daytime are something, but squeaky, laminate flooring during the night may disrupt a whole family's sleep, particularly if one or more members of the family need to walk across the offending boards to get to the loo!
Normally, the reason behind a creaky floor is just two planks rubbing together. No matter whether your flooring is solid wood or engineered, in case there are just two boards rubbing together, the likelihood is they're likely to re grow and, or creak. That said, there's some evidence to indicate that thicker flooring boards are somewhat less vulnerable to squeaking and creaking than thinner boards.
Since wood is a natural material, even once it's been laid (even well laid), it is subject to motion. The overall look of the strange squeak or creak doesn't automatically indicate that there has been a problem with the setup of your flooring; it generally means your flooring has gone through the normal process of contracting and expanding. During this procedure, two boards might have moved ever so slightly more than the rest and are currently rubbing against each other when walked over to make the squeaking or creaking noise that's bothering you (and maybe even keeping your family awake at night)!
While you will never have the ability to eliminate every little squeak and creak in your floor, in case there are important squeaks and creaks you want to get rid of, these can typically be solved quickly and easily on a DIY basis.
What you have to do is ask your wood flooring provider or DIY shop for graphite powder. Graphite powder is an industrial lubricant that will help lessen the squeaking and creaking out of your floor. Once you have your graphite powder, then simply sprinkle it on the joints of the flooring boards which are squeaking or creaking and then walk down and up the boards a couple of days to encourage it to fall into the joint. Once the graphite powder has fallen into the joints, it will help lubricate the boards so they can continue to rub together but neither squeak nor creak while doing so. Once you're happy you have a fantastic sprinkling of the graphite powder in the offending joint, then vacuum up the remaining powder.
