How to fix squeaky floor tiles in bathroom?
Question:My husband converted a large closet into a bathroom about 10 years ago. He tiled the floor himself (looks beautiful). Recently a section of the tiles started to squeak when walked on.
Is there any way to fix this without ripping up the floor? He's not up to doing that kind of thing anymore, and I never was!
Why does this happen? the wood floor outside the bathroom squeaks too. Is the house settling, or something?
Answers:
If you can get at the floor from below, you can fix it by running a bead of industrial adhesive (go to Home Depot and get PL400 or something similar to it) along each joist against the plywood above it.
If you can't access from below, the only fix is to tear up the tile - no thanks!
The reason it happens is because the nails or screws holding the plywood floor onto the joists are not holding properly. The plywood lifts up when there is no weight on it, pulling up the nail with it. When you step on it, you push the plywood back down and the nail makes a squeaking sound as it goes in and back out of the joist below it. Very annoying sound.
I assume it's ceramic tiles, not vinyl?
It's probably the wood subfloor or wood tile underlayment, you can use some wood screws underneath the floor to tighten the plywood to the floor joists.
Of course, that might mean opening up the ceiling below, but that's probably easier to patch than the tile floor.
Or, you remove some of the tile grout, and screw into the joist from above, then re-grout. That could be tricky- you need to know exactly where the floor joists are.
When the house was built nails were most likely used. Nails have the nasty habit of working their way out of whatever they were pounded into.
If you can get to the other side of the floor, i.e. the ceiling of the basement, you can force shims between the joists & the floor boards where the floor squeeks. One of you in the basement & the other walking on the floor above works well.
Or there are screws meant for this type of problem (go to a hardware store with knowledgeable employees) that can be screwed in from below or above, that will pull the floor boards down to the joists.
Good luck!
as a house ages things shift in part due to the water permeability of wood, as water enters wood it expands and contracts as it dries
The tiles or subfloor are loose. you can try to secure the subfloor from below by putting weight on the sqeaky area and then puting screws in the subfloor from below and adding screws from subfloor to nearest joists or putting shims between joist and subfloor.
If you can't stand the sqeaks and the above doesn't or can't help, consider paying for retiling including securing the underflooring and adding cement board just below tiles.
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