Fixed a squeaky floorboard with a $3 shim last night

Two days ago I was walking through my hallway and noticed this loud squeak right near the bedroom door. It had been bugging me for months but I kept putting it off. Finally grabbed a pack of shims from Home Depot for like three bucks and slid one into the gap between the subfloor and joist. Took maybe 10 minutes total and now it's dead silent. I actually felt pretty proud of myself because I usually call my dad for stuff like this. Has anyone else fixed a small house issue with a super cheap solution?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindahunt21d ago

So about that shim thing, because I actually had a similar experience but with a ceiling fan. I bought this cheap balancing kit at Ace Hardware for like 6 bucks and spent an hour clipping little weights onto the blades. @mason_barnes is right that sometimes you get lucky with a quick fix, but watch out because that bump under the carpet might show up later. My fan was still wobbling after the kit so I just gave up and put a nickle on top of one blade and it worked perfectly. Now every time I turn it on I think about that nickle and wonder if itll fly off and hit someone. Probably not though, its been three years.

mason_barnes21d ago

Actually wait, you're not supposed to slide the shim between the subfloor and the joist like that. The squeak usually comes from the subfloor rubbing against the joist or nail, so you want to drive the shim between the floorboard and the joist to fill that gap tight. If you put it between the subfloor and the joist you might actually lift the subfloor up and create a new squeak or even a small hump in the floor. I learned that the hard way when I did the same thing in my bedroom and ended up with a little bump under the carpet. Still, a $3 fix is a win no matter what, and honestly if it's quiet now you probably got lucky.