Silencing squeaking floor boards...

[ps02210]

The floorboards of my cabin sole squeak quite a bit as I move about the cabin and I've been pondering how best to silence them.

Hard bar soap? Beeswax? Teak oil? something else?

Advice about proven solutions very welcome!

 

[jwdorst]

The floorboards of my cabin sole squeak quite a bit as I move about the cabin and I've been pondering how best to silence them.

Hard bar soap? Beeswax? Teak oil? something else?

Advice about proven solutions very welcome!

I recently was pleasantly surprised by the results of taking a candle stick to the edges of the floor boards. 99% of squeaks removed. Cheap, easy, quick and effective. This is often mentioned as a solution, but somehow I wasn't convinced. Now I stand corrected.

The candle stick tends to disintegrate as you work, leaving a bit of a mess of bits and pieces of wax on the surrounding areas. Potentially quite slippery too. So it makes sense to work as neatly as possible. But other than that, great!

 

[Leighb]

I have used candle wax with moderate success, however I found that a smear of clear silicone grease along the edges was more effective and less messy.

Also check carefully that the squeaking is not, at least in part, due to inadequately supported floorboards. This was the cause of our worst creaking, some careful packing eliminated this one.

 

[SimbaDog]

Dusting of chalk powder also works well

 

[Spuddy]

Or talcum powder - provided boat not as damp as mine when it will turn into paste.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I have used candle wax with moderate success, however I found that a smear of clear silicone grease along the edges was more effective and less messy.

Also check carefully that the squeaking is not, at least in part, due to inadequately supported floorboards. This was the cause of our worst creaking, some careful packing eliminated this one.

That's what the problem was on my boat, so I fitted some extra bearers and stiffened up others, with a few more stainless screws(most of the original brass ones had disintegrated) and this cured the squeeky sole and made it much firmer. Job well done!

 

[Goldie]

A large HR I went on was using matchsticks between the soleboards and I think he'd waxed them.

 

[ps02210]

That's what the problem was on my boat, so I fitted some extra bearers and stiffened up others, with a few more stainless screws(most of the original brass ones had disintegrated) and this cured the squeeky sole and made it much firmer. Job well done!

The floor structure is sound and lots of reinforcement. It's just wood against wood as I walk about. I'll try the candle and see how that works. Cheers.

 

[Jim@sea]

Or talcum powder - provided boat not as damp as mine when it will turn into paste.

The old type of Talcum Powder contained lead, acting like graphite, which is why it was traditionally used for quietening floorboards or stairs.

 

[oldsaltoz]

Or, you could look at reducing the flexing.

In a boat we had years ago, when anyone in the 'A' berth got up in the middle of the night the noise from the boards would wake the dead.

I looked under the board thinking about a packer to reduce the flexing, but it's an area that may get wet and not a lot of room to work in.

The fix was a small length of ribbed hose, like on a vacuum cleaner but a smaller diameter, cleaned a small spot in the bilge and added a little resin, next filled the tube with a mix of resin and glass fibres, popped the whole thing onto the resin and dropped a bit of plastic on top to prevent it sticking to the underside of the board. Left it overnight to cure and never heard a sound after that.

Good luck.