While you live in your home, you might be considering changing your flooring. Buyers always point out squeaking floors while touring a home and many will ask me if it is a structural issue.

Even though most often there are no serious problems causing the squeaks, buyers will be concerned – especially if the seller has just replaced the carpet in order to get the house ready to go on the market. Some reasons for squeaking floorboards include houses settling, floorboards expanding and contracting due to the loss of their moisture from heat/cooling/lack of humidity, and nails becoming loose over time.

Here is my helpful tip: while the old flooring is being removed and the subflooring is exposed, have your contractor screw down the subflooring (do not nail it as many contractors do). If you have carpet in your home and are not planning on replacing it and have squeaky floorboards, you have a few options.

1. You can have a carpet installation company pull up the carpets from sides, screw the floorboards and then replace the carpet.

2. You can use a tool that allows you to screw down the subflooring directly through the carpet. Here are 2 tools that clients of mine have used and highly recommend:

Squeak-ender - http://www.squeakender.com