How to Fix Popping Hardwood Floors

Have you noticed some unusual popping sounds as you walk across your hardwood floors? If you are confused about why this is happening to your brand new floors, there is a simple explanation. Better yet, it’s possible to fix the problem.

To fix a hardwood floor that’s popping up, identify the problem area and weigh it down with a heavy object for a couple of days. If the popping persists, remove the molding around the edge of the room, lift the last board until you reach the affected plank, and re-lay the planks with adequate space for expansion. Replace the molding after ensuring the floor is flat.

For a more detailed approach, start by examining the extent of the popping. If it’s a localized issue, moisture might be the cause. Ensure the room has a stable humidity level, ideally between 35% to 55%. For minor popping, placing a humidifier or dehumidifier in the room can balance the moisture content in the wood and may resolve the issue. If the popping is due to the floorboards being too tight, they may need to be trimmed to provide the necessary expansion gap. This is especially important in climates with high variability in humidity. When re-laying the boards, leave about a 1/4 inch gap between the wall and the edge of the flooring to allow for natural wood expansion and contraction. If the floor is popping because of a subfloor issue, you may need to secure the subfloor to the joists below with screws before relaying the wood floor. Always ensure that the subfloor is clean, dry, and level when laying or relaying wood flooring.

In this article, you will discover what causes the popping sounds in your hardwood floors. You will also get a detailed guide on how to go about fixing your noisy floors. For more information on this and how to prevent your hardwood floors from popping, read on.

What Is Popping Hardwood Floor?

This is a snap, crackle, or pop sound that you usually notice in the morning as you walk across the length of your floor. The sound disappears in the course of the day; at times, you may hear the sound as you walk across but hear nothing when you walk back. Note that the flooring doesn’t move at all.

Can You Fix Popping Hardwood Floors?

You certainly can. It must be very frustrating for you to hear these annoying sounds even after investing in the best flooring and getting a professional to fix it for you. But before we delve into how to fix your popping floor, let’s first find out why the squeaky sounds come about in the first place.

Why Your Hardwood Floor Is Making Popping Sounds

There are several reasons that explain why your floors could be making those popping sounds. Fortunately, a defective floor may not be one of them, so you need not worry about that. It’s also comforting to realize that it is not unusual for new hardwood floors to make such noises.

First, wood is an organic material that naturally expands and contracts with the rise and fall in both temperature and humidity. Hardwood floors behave in the same manner since they come from wood, which still absorbs and retains moisture as wood flooring.

So, if your hardwood floor expands and the expansion gap around your room is insufficient, the wood will pop up. When temperature and humidity levels go down, your floor pops back down. Therefore, the floor may remain in a popped position depending on your subfloor’s condition, the humidity levels, and the extent of the expansion.

Secondly, the popping sounds could also result from installing wood planks using incorrectly-sized fasters or fewer fasteners than required. When this happens, the floor is unable to move as it continues to absorb moisture.

Your hardwood floors could also be making creaking noises because of the following additional reasons:

Your Planks Could Be Loose

Are your floors nailed down to the subfloor? If the answer is yes, then the nails could be the source of the popping noise. The sound occurs when a plank loosens, causing the nail to rub against the subfloor. Let me explain;

Hardwood floors make a popular flooring choice because they are not only elegant but very strong too. These floors are attached to the floor joists underneath using nails, which tend to loosen with time, causing popping noises when you walk across them.

Floor Planks Failed to Acclimate to the House

The creaking noises could also result from installing floor planks before allowing them to acclimate to the house. This term refers to the wood flooring reaching its equilibrium moisture content. The moisture could take up to a year or more to clear up, depending on the floor traffic and humidity conditions in the home.

The subfloor may also have been too wet when the floor was installed above it, or the planks might have been fixed without a moisture barrier.

Floor joists tend to warp, bow, or shrink if they were damp during installation. This results in a gap between the joist and the subfloor. Consequently, when you walk across the floor area, the flooring or subfloor (or both) moves up and down. As it does so, it rubs against the nails or screws, creating squeaking sounds.

Your Hardwood Floor Is Glued to an Uneven Subfloor

When gluing your hardwood floor to concrete, it’s crucial to first ensure that the subfloor is level. This is because an uneven subfloor can lead to the formation of gaps and voids. These gaps will allow the floor planks to rub against each other, thereby making creaking noises.

However, it’s hardly possible to have a perfectly level subfloor when installing your floor since the board edges need to get used to each other. The edges smoothen and become less rigid as they continue to rub against one another.

You Live in an Old House

Most of the older houses were built without attaching the subfloor to the joists with subfloor adhesive. A consequence of this is that the wood joists and subfloor eventually settle and, with time, dry out. This settling and drying make them pull away from one another. But, the nail holding them in place stays firmly fixed.

Therefore, when the subfloor moves up and down – as you walk on it- it rubs against the nail, resulting in the irritating squeaking noise.

Should You Fix Popping Hardwood Floors?

During winter, you might notice that your hardwood floors, which looked very beautiful upon installation, begin sporting some separation between the floorboards. Secondly, they begin to emit squeaky, popping noises. What action should you take, if any?

As noted before, gaps in hardwood floors are a normal occurrence that is caused by the wood losing its moisture content. Thus, if your hardwood floor shows no movement that affects its usage and functioning, you can disregard the noises and consider them as normal.

So when should you get concerned about gaps or popping sounds in your hardwood floors?

Gapping that results from installing flooring during high humidity seasons usually shows up much later during warmer seasons. Fortunately, the gaps usually close up again. Therefore, if your home has a small seasonal gap – one that can fit a dime – there’s no need to worry. It will close up when humidity levels rise, meaning repairs are not necessary.

Besides, adding filler is not a workable solution since as the wood expands due to moisture, the filler will be pushed out. However, there’s another side to the story.

According to flooring manufacturers, wooden floors perform best when installed in an environment where heat and humidity are controlled or maintained within a certain range. Therefore, even sudden indoor climate changes such as those caused by heating your home during cold weather can affect your hardwood floor.

The required range typically lies between 60-80 ℉ (16-27℃) with a humidity range of 35-55%. When the heat rises above these optimum levels, the air dries out, causing the floor to lose its moisture and shrink. As a result, your floor snaps and pops at random times.

If this situation continues, the dryness leads to the formation of gaps. Because of this, you will begin noticing these gaps appearing on the sides or towards the ends of the boards. Ultimately, the boards may end up splitting or cracking either in the middle, at the ends, or both.

This would cause irreparable damage to your hardwood floors, so you need to maintain stable heat and moisture levels. Yet this is easier said than done because if your home doesn’t come with an in-built humidifier, the humidity levels will decrease, and the air will dry up.

You see, most of the home heating systems available work to maintain humidity at 20 to 30% relative humidity during very cold weather. This works against the ideal range of 35-55% mentioned earlier.

Below are strategies you can use to silence your squeaky floors. They are easy to implement, affordable, and can be done within a short time.

Fixing Loose Wood Floor Panels

If you have a way to access your floors from underneath, for instance, through a basement, driving screws into the loose planks solves the problem. Otherwise, follow the below procedure to fix the loose panels from above:

Start by locating the specific wood floor panel that is popping by walking across it slowly, then mark the spot with masking tape.
Scan the area around the marked spot (use a deep-scanning stud finder) to identify the floor joist supporting that wood panel. You can also spot the floor joists by looking for putty-covered top nails.
Mark the midpoint of the popping wood panel lying above the floor joist and drill a tiny hole into the panel’s center – this helps you to avoid splitting the panel.
Strike a ten penny finish nail hard through the hole to attach the wooden panel to the floor joist underneath. Next, pour wood-colored filler (putty) on the nail’s head and let it dry.
Walk around the area to confirm that the popping noise has lessened.

Try and avoid installing many nails in one floor panel area. This is because clustering nails together can cause the hardwood to split. However, if the popping sounds continue, place an extra nail 2-3 rows away from the first nail.

You can also follow the instructions in this video:

Fixing a Loose Nail in Hardwood Floors

Confirm whether any nails might have missed the joist at the point where the noise is coming from. At times, a nail that misses a joist rubs against the framing below as you walk across the floor.

If this is your current situation, then the solution is easy. Get rid of the nail by removing it.

Fixing Loose Wood Floor Panels Using Glue

You can try and glue back the loose panels. If you can access underneath the boards, use a liquid nail to glue them back. If not, drill tiny holes into each panel, then squeeze mixed epoxy into the holes.

Make sure to place a heavy weight on the panels until they are completely dry. Once dry, clean up the holes and fill them in with wood putty that matches your wood color. Here’s a video that shows how to do this:

But in case your floor is already glued down, there’s still a way to put an end to the pesky noises.

Use a flashlight to check whether there’s any gap between the top floor joist and the subfloor underside. If you can locate even a tiny gap, squeeze some carpenter’s glue onto a thin wood shim and push it into the tiny space. The shim fills the void and helps keep the floor from moving up and down. This, in turn, helps to put an end to the squeaks more often than not.

Note that this might not work for large empty spaces. For such voids, you will need to get rid of the creaking boards, then work on leveling the subfloor before installing new floorboards.

Fixing Loose Subfloor Material

If your subfloor material is loose:

Squeeze out some subfloor adhesive into the space between the joist and the underside of the loose-fitting subfloor panel.
Take a 1′ (2.5 cm) long piece of 2×4 floor joist, apply glue on the topside, and position it on the underside of the affected subfloor.
Nail this piece to the side of the joist, then place a heavy weight on the floor above and wait until the glue dries.

Fixing Gapped Flooring in an Old House

If you have an old house that has gapped flooring, there’s not much you can do about the hardwood floor. The only solution would be replacing the floor, either partially or in full. Unfortunately, this calls for more investment than simply fixing loose floorboards.

Fixing Large Gaps in Hardwood Floors

You may have large gaps in your hardwood floors that refuse to close during the warmer months. Such gaps could be a result of too much moisture, incorrect nail spacing, or structural settlement challenges.

They could also occur where your hardwood floor is too close to a heating vent. If your hardwood floors develop large gaps, consult a professional flooring contractor about repairing your floors.

Finally, acclimation and improper board width selection can also contribute to seasonal gapping in your home. Unfortunately, if you buy a home with the hardwood flooring already in place, you are stuck with it, unless you decide to redo it.

Copyright protected content owner: ReadyToDIY.com and was initially posted on September 22, 2020.

Other short-term fixes for your squeaky wood floors include:

Placing talcum powder or powdered graphite between the planks
Using wood filler to fill up the cracks
Spraying a dry silicone lubricant in-between the squeaky floorboards
Placing a rug over the floor area to help muffle the popping sounds

Unfortunately, wood filler only looks good initially, but with time, it cracks as the floor widens during warmer months.

You could also install solid blocks between the noisy floor joists or nail a board alongside a warped or shrunken joist.

Ultimately, the most effective way to minimize hardwood floor noises is by using proper building techniques. Follow the below good building practices to help reduce the annoying noises:

Apply adhesive between floor joists and the floor sheathing and ensure the glue dries before setting the sheathing to avoid squeaks
Use ring shank nails or screws rather than standard smooth nails to nail the subfloor sheathing to the joists as they stay in position better
A stiff floor framing means less deflection and fewer squeaks, so your floor design ought to have a deflection of L/480

How to Prevent Popping Hardwood Floors

Now that you have fixed your popping floors, how do you ensure that the problem does not recur? It’s possible to avoid many of the causes of the crunching sounds by doing the following:

Make sure that your floor is well fitted
Allow for enough expansion gap around the perimeter of the room
Lay your flooring over a dry subfloor – there should be no signs of dampness
Ensure that your wood can acclimate before installation
Make regular checks for water leaks that could cause your floor to become humid
Avoid over-wetting the floor or leaving behind pools of water when mopping
Buy a hygrometer to help you measure humidity levels in your home as well as a humidifier

The humidifier will run alongside your heater during colder weather and help lower the humidity levels to a setting that’s safe for your wood flooring.

While some people might consider opting for engineered hardwood floors, regrettably, squeaking and popping noises are also common in these wood floors.

Final Thoughts

Hardwood floors squeak and pop most often than not, and these noises might be a challenge to eliminate. This problem is not restricted to old houses as newly-built houses suffer from it too.

The popping originates from the subfloor below your hardwood floor and is due to:

Over shrinkage of subfloor materials
Sections of the floor or subfloor rubbing together or against the nail holding them together
Incorrectly installed subfloor sheathing or joists

But once you pinpoint the root cause of the squeaks, you can fix the issue by following the guidelines outlined in this article. However, if the popping is significant, consult a flooring specialist for a professional opinion.

Copyright article owner is ReadyToDiy.com for this article. This post was first published on September 22, 2020.

Nonetheless, if your home has substantial heat and moisture fluctuations, you may want to consider changing your flooring. This would, however, be the last option, and there may be no need to resort to it unless in extreme circumstances.