I had a new home built last Spring. It is a 1500 square foot bungalow with a large island in the kitchen/great room. Over the last several weeks, a rather noticeable creak seems to be coming from the island as one walks on the floor in front of it. We called the subcontractor who put in the island and he came over. He looked at it and said that the island is solid (not causing the problem. I tried playing with the teleposts in the basement yesterday, and seem to be able to affect the creak somewhat. I don't know how much I should be playing with the teleposts, however. I am somewhat reluctant to bring in the general contractor until I see if I can resolve it myself and thought that I'd ask you if you have encountered something like this before, and what you did to correct it.
Answer:
Never, ever monkey with the jack posts if you don't want creaks in the floot. Your problem is probably more with the sub-flooring or kitchen flooring underlayment than anything else. Whichever it is, if the kitchen flooring is sheet vinyl the creaks are there to stay until you decide to replace the vinyl. At that time you'll have to replace the underlayment too. Before you fasten it into place you can make sure the sub-flooring is screwed down to the joists with 1.25" plywood screw every 6 to 8 inches in the field and every 3 to 4 inches along the butted edges. When you lay in the underlayment, make sure none of the fasteners go into joists as this is usually what creaks are made of. Chalk marking the joist locations on the walls will help you accomplish this.
Remember, even if you don’t do your own work around the house have to hire someone, you put yourself at a great advantage when you can intelligently discuss a project with the various trades people.
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