Sunken in or uneven floors can be a nuisance for homeowners, and in some cases, it can be downright dangerous. What many homeowners don’t realize is that many problems associated with hardwood floors can be traced back to the subfloor below it. Preparing the subfloor correctly is critical to a seamless installation, and poorly installed subfloors can cause problems for homeowners down the road. Here are some common problems associated with subfloors and solutions to help you restore them:

The baby is finally asleep, it only took 49 minutes of you patting his back in the crib. Time for your escape! So you gracefully begin your slow, tiptoe exit. You are three steps from the door when it happens. The cries come almost simultaneously to the squeak from the floor. Resume back pats…

Behind the world’s greatest inventions there’s always a great inventor. Behind the fastest race car, is the best performing engine. Behind the best tasting beer, is a really great recipe to make it. And here’s one you may or may not agree with: behind every great man, is an even greater woman. Ok, that one has likely stirred more than a few pots over the years, but the point is, behind just about everything great, there’s usually something else that made it so great. That’s true for every floor installation. Behind every great install, is a really great subfloor. The customer never sees it, but it’s the real reason the floor looks and sounds (or doesn’t sound) the way it does.

Squeaks, creaks and groans heard from any floors are caused by movement of the components. The trick to avoiding these noises is the use of proper fasteners and techniques to prevent movement from happening. While it may be impossible to prevent squeaky floors forever, a well built floor constructed on a well built subfloor will stay quiet through years of family life.

Here are 3 steps to ensure a squeak-less floor for your next remodeling jobs:

Whether your customer is building a new home or renovating an old one, it’s a fair guess that they may want hardwood floors. That’s no surprise because hardwood floors are known for their durability, beauty and cost effectiveness. Not to mention the re-sale value of a home with hardwood vs. one without. Buyers LOVE hardwood. It’s easy to clean, maintain, and if you have good quality hardwood, you can refinish it several times without having to replace it. This is especially attractive to those consumers concerned with sustainability. With all the benefits that hardwood has to offer, the questions begs, why wouldn’t you choose hardwood?

As any contractor knows, the underlayment and sub-floor rank as high as the actual hardwood in order of importance in a hardwood installation project. A properly prepared sub-floor with correctly installed underlayment will make all the difference in the end result. Accurately installed sub-floors and underlayment will provide the extra layer of cushion for the hardwood and prevent the floors from developing those annoying squeaks and groans you have heard them make in older homes.

Those beautiful hardwood floors you see in homes with their rich color and texture can be the main attraction in any room, and if installed properly, a durable lasting “member” of the family for many years.

Under those beautiful floors however, lies the real treasure, the sub-floor. As the key to quality hardwood floors, the sub-floor can mean the difference between a happy customer and an infuriated one. Poor sub-floor installation can result in squeaky floors that make more noise than the family dog when walked on.

Have you ever heard someone refer to their squeaky hardwood floors as charming? It’s true that there’s a certain charm to a little squeaking as you walk through the rooms in an older home. And if your customer is the longtime owner of the home having lived there long enough to have watched their children run through rooms enough to have “created” those squeaky floors, then the sound really does have a sense of charm, for them at least.