How do I stop floorboards creaking?

Finding what is actually creaking and fixing it from above or below, without hitting pipes or cables.

Difficulty: intermediate
Time: 1 hr 30 min
Read: 2 min
Safety: caution

Short answer

Creaking is usually a board moving against a joist or against a neighbouring board. Fix it by screwing the board down into the joist with countersunk screws — but check for pipes and cables first, because floors are full of both.

A creak is friction. Either a board rubs on a joist because the original nail has loosened, or two boards rub against each other. Locating which joist is involved and screwing rather than nailing gives a permanent fix, where nailing tends to work loose again.

Safety

Water pipes and electrical cables run under floors, usually along or through joists. Use a detector before driving anything, and keep fixings close to the centre line of the joist where cables are less likely to be notched. Screwing into a pipe or cable is expensive at best and dangerous at worst.

What you'll need

Cable and pipe detector
Drill and countersink bit
Countersunk screws
Talcum powder or graphite (optional)
Wooden wedges and PVA (optional)

Step by step

Walk the floor slowly and mark exactly where it creaks.Have someone else walk while you listen from below if you have access.
Locate the joists — usually visible as lines of nail heads across the boards.They are typically at 400mm centres. Screwing anywhere else achieves nothing.
Scan for pipes and cables along the joist line before drilling.Not optional. Services run under floors as a matter of course.
Drill a pilot hole and countersink, then drive a screw through the board into the joist.Screws, not nails — nails work loose again. Countersink so the head sits below the surface.
Add a screw either side of the creak point if one does not fix it.The board may be lifting over a length rather than at one point.
For boards rubbing against each other, work talcum powder or graphite into the joint.It lubricates the contact. A simple, non-destructive fix worth trying first.
If you have access from below, drive a wedge coated in PVA between the joist and the board.This is the tidiest fix because nothing shows from above.
Fill and touch up screw heads if the floor is exposed rather than carpeted.Coloured wax filler matched to the timber is close to invisible.

Tips

Try talc or graphite before drilling anything — it is free, reversible, and fixes board-against-board creaks entirely.
On a chipboard floor, screws hold far better than nails, which is why so many chipboard floors creak.
If a whole area is springy rather than creaking in one spot, that may be a joist problem rather than a board problem, and is worth a structural opinion.

Common mistakes

Driving fixings without checking for services — Pipes and cables run under floors as standard. A detector takes a minute.
Using nails — They loosen again over time. Screws hold permanently.
Screwing between joists — There is nothing underneath to fix into, and you may hit a pipe.

Questions people ask

Why do floorboards creak?

Friction — either a board moving against a joist because the original nail has loosened, or two boards rubbing against each other. The fix differs slightly for each, so identify which before drilling.

Can I fix creaking floorboards under carpet?

Yes, and it is the easiest case, because the screw heads never show. Fold the carpet back, fix the boards, and put it back.