How I Tamed That Annoying Volleyball Floor Squeak
So my basement floor sounded like popcorn popping every damn time someone walked on it. This volleyball space doubles as guest quarters, and let’s be honest, nobody wants to hear creaky wood sounds at 3AM when they’re trying to sleep. Here’s exactly how I shut that noise up for good.
Stuff I Grabbed From My Garage
- Half-used box of 2-inch screws from last summer’s deck project
- My rusty but trusty cordless drill (battery barely holding charge)
- Tube of construction adhesive that expired last month (figured it’d still work)
- Knee pads because my joints aren’t what they used to be
- Flashlight for peeking under the floorboards
Started by jumping on the floor like a maniac to find the worst spots. Marked them with blue painter’s tape – looked like a crime scene when I finished. Crawled under the floor through that crappy access panel, cobwebs everywhere. Shoved the flashlight between joists and wow, could see daylight through some gaps. No wonder it groaned like an old pirate ship!
Drilled pilot holes straight through the flooring into the joists. First board splintered because I went full Hulk mode with the drill – lesson learned. Went slower after that, using my body weight to push down while drilling. The adhesive got messy – that crap oozed everywhere and glued my glove to the drill handle. Had to pry it off with a screwdriver like an idiot.
Hit major snag when I found pipes blocking the worst spot. Couldn’t drill there without risking disaster. Ended up cutting short screws at 45-degree angles beside the pipes, then drowned that area in adhesive. Not textbook but hey, improvise right? Spent two hours vacuuming up sawdust and wiping glue goop off everything. Finished by tossing area rugs over the repair zones – out of sight, out of mind.
Next morning did the stomp test again. Dead quiet except for one faint squeak near the window. Probably should fix that too… but screw it, I’m calling this victory. Five hours of struggle for silent floors – totally worth it when my nephew visited and didn’t wake the whole house playing indoor volleyball at midnight. Just don’t look too close at my janky screw placements!
