It’s midnight. You wake up a little thirsty and a lot hungry. Debating your options, you decide to sneak downstairs for some water and a snack. Trying not to disturb your family, you creep towards the stairs one careful step at a time until ... SQUEAK! The hardwood floors are like a clash of thunder in the quiet, dark house and loudly announce your every step.
I’m sure that’s a familiar situation for you, I know it used to be for me. Maybe it’s faint, perhaps it’s loud, but it is always annoying. These squeaks can destroy your sleep, your family’s rest and the enjoyment of your own home. That was the situation I found myself in before starting Squeak Knights. My hardwood floor was no longer silent and had developed a noisy patch in one high traffic section (shown in this picture!). After months of interrupted sleep, I decided to fix the problem (and floors!) once and for all.
But how to stop my floors from squeaking?
I reached out to friends, colleagues, neighbours and sought their advice. I was surprised to learn how widespread this issue was: almost everyone I talked to was dealing with some unwanted noisy floors. Some accepted the problem and came to terms with the noise. I knew that wasn’t going to work for my light-sleeping spouse or her shift-working schedule. The friends who did try to fix the problem either used temporary screws and nails (that started squeaking again after a couple of months!) or even full renovations. Professionals didn’t help either. Googling how to stop hardwood floors from squeaking led nowhere. It was looking like the only way to silence my squeaky hardwood floor was to disrupt my life for weeks on end with an expensive (thousands of dollars!) floor renovation. There would be dust and allergens released into the house, trees cut contributing to environmental waste; all that for one squeaky patch!
That just wouldn’t do! I wasn’t going to pay for such an expensive and disruptive renovation. I knew I’d have to temporarily move out, change my family and kids’ routines, and make other sacrifices for weeks on end. So maybe I’d get lucky, and the break-off-the-head screws would do the trick. The problem was that it was an upper hardwood floor and a finished ceiling below it, so I had no access to the joists and floorboards from below.
I wanted a quick, clean, affordable and (most importantly!) practical solution to this problem. It was at this juncture that I had the “AHA” moment! I am a mechanical engineer, I told myself; If there is no ideal solution to this problem, then I can invent one! Utilizing all of my knowledge and experience I began experimenting with this patch of squeaky floor. After testing several methods, one worked amazingly well, and the squeak was finally gone! When I asked my son if he noticed what I had done to fix the squeak, he replied by asking “what do you mean, there was a squeak there?” Aha! There was nothing, not even a sign of the work what had been done to fix my noisy problem floor.
That was in 2009 and hundreds of homes ago. Thanks to our ongoing pursuit for fine-tuning our processes and commitment to inventing and reinventing our technology, there is a now a readily available service for fixing your squeaky floors and stairs in a clean, affordable and most importantly, effective way. Precisely what I wished was available to me, all of those years ago. Our goal is simple: to keep sharing the joy of a peaceful, quiet home, with those of you living with the squeaky floor problem.
Squeaky floors are not just a small nuisance. They can impact everything: house maintenance and renovation, property value, relationships, sleep, and even health. This blog will feature topics on all of the above as well as stories, experiences, tips, tricks and answers to your questions!
Written by Lev, co-founder of Squeak Knights
Our passion is to help you feel more comfortable in your own home, so don’t be shy to contact us with any questions you may have:
info@squeakknights.com (647) 427-4260 www.SqueakKnights.com or tweet at us @SqueakKnights