|
No building noise is more annoying than a squeaky door or floorboard. Fortunately, fixing these little problems is usually simple. Here are some guidelines.
Squeaky door
The old lubricant has probably worn off and/or there may be paint or dirt trapped in the hinge. Remove the door pins from their hinges, remove any paint, rust or dirt, and spray lightly with a lubricating spray such as WD-40. Replace the pins then open and close the door several times to work in the lubricant.
Sticking door
Wood swells and contracts with changes in humidity. Rainy or humid days can cause doors to stick. Paint build-up along the door;s edge is another cause. In older buildings, settling can cause door frames to be out of plumb, which means the straight door edge no longer matches up with the slightly angled door frame. First check for paint build-up. Use paint remover along the edge to remove excess paint, sand lightly, then repaint carefully. If the door frame is no longer plumb, try reseating the hinges. For example, if a door sticks near the top of the latch edge, unscrew the hinge from the jamb and deepen the hinge recess a bit with a wood chisel. Doors swollen from high humidity will usually unstick when the weather changes. If all else fails, plane or sand the door's sticking edge until you've removed enough wood for the door to open and close freely. Be certain to either paint or stain and seal any freshly exposed wood.
Squeaky floor
Wood floors squeak when boards pull away slightly from the subfloor. Try inserting glazier's points, which are those little angular metal pieces used to keep windows in their sashes. (They're available at any glass retailer or hardware store.) Insert a few glazier's points into the joint along each side of a squeaky floorboard then gently tap them in with a hammer until they're just below the surface of the wood. If this doesn't work, use 2-inch finishing nails to secure the squeaky board together with the adjacent board. Drive one nail in at a 45-degree angle on the right side of the joint and a second nail in at a 45-degree angle on the left side of the joint, forming a V with the nails. Repeat the procedure on the other joint of the squeaky board. Countersink the nail heads with a nail set, then cover them with a putty stick as you would repair any wood surface. If your floors are accessible from below, you can also screw the squeaky floorboard into the subfloor.
|
Gapping floorboard
As we've said, wood swells and contracts with changes in humidity. If your floor gaps only during dry, cold weather (when your heating system is running a lot), try increasing the humidity level in the home with a whole-house humidifier. This may encourage shrunken boards to expand. For gaps that persist throughout the year, try filling them with a flexible paste or fiber filler than can adapt to the shrink/swell pattern of the floor. Homemade remedies include mixing sawdust with a binder such as varnish, shellac or white glue, or hemp rope soaked in linseed oil or glue. The sawdust mixture is simply pressed into the gap; pack the soaked hemp rope into the crack with a large flathead screwdriver or small putty knife. (Apply two layers if the crack is deep.) Or you can try filling the gaps with a transparent elastic caulk that cures to rubber. A flexible marine or silicone caulk should only be applied when the cracks are halfway through their shrink/swell cycle (usually spring or fall). Carefully mask the edges of the crack to keep the caulk off the floorboards. You may need to partially fill very wide cracks with a pliable backing material, such as cloth or weather stripping.
|
