The problem was a squeaking floor.

When I went to take a look at this job I noticed that there had been some leaking around the radiator pipes and some spillage in the middle of the room identified by staining. There was no schematic information either so working out where the pipe run and electrics were was an additional  headache.

It’s always a good idea to draw onto the floor where everything is underneath so that the next person who needs to do any work knows.

The easiest way forward with this was to rip the whole lot out and start again rather than second guess where to put the fastenings to stop the squeak.

 Drilling into a live wire or pipe is a heart stopping event especially if you puncture a pipe on the 1st floor and it only becomes apparent what’s happened when a drip drip drip is noticed coming through the ceiling below.

The skirting board originally was a 4″ board so using a 6″ board covered all the scuffing and the footprint of the original board. The flooring itself was 18mm graded chipboard secured by screws with a deep thread and narrow shank which enabled a good grip and resistance to thrust. It’s the resistance to thrust that makes a floor silent for all time. The original floor being nailed meant that the nails eventually lost their grip with the movement of timber and flooring through foot traffic and seasonal influences.  

A schematic diagram was then drawn onto the floor clearly outlining where the pipe and electrics lay.