Question:

The floor in the bathroom squeaks. There is two layers of tile on the floor but there is easy access from the basement. The squeak is near a newly installed tub/shower unit. Any suggestions on how I might repair this?

Answer:

BrianWood:

I am not sure what preparation the floor had before the first layer of tile was installed. If the floor had a second layer of plywood installed before the tile, it should have been screwed every 4" to eliminate squeaking. In this case it may be that the plywood was not screwed down properly and one layer of plywood could be squeaking on the other. Using screws just long enough to go through the first layer of plywood and penetrate the second layer to its thickness and no more (i.e. not penetrate through the second layer and into the tile base), screw from under the affected floor in a 4" pattern.

In many cases the first layer of tile was applied over a thick masonary base with an imbedded wire mesh. In this case, driving screws through the floor will have no affect at all on the squeak and in fact will damage the tile base. Here you might try to wedge cedar shims between the bottom of the plywood floor and the top of the joists in the area where the squeak occurs. Be careful not to drive these shims too deep; the idea here is to eliminate any gap that may currently exist between the plywood and the joists to stop the floor from flexing and thus squeaking. Driving the shims too deep could have the affect of creating other gaps and more squeaks in other areas.

Bob

Answered By: Bob Steele

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