Showerthought: my basement stairs went from creaky to dead silent after I shoved 6 tubes of caulk into every gap
Spent $22 at the hardware store in Dayton and a whole Saturday on it, and the difference is wild, no more waking the house at 5am. Anyone else fix squeaks by filling gaps instead of pulling up boards?
Growing up around old houses, my dad always said the only real fix was to pull the boards and screw everything down from underneath. I believed that for years, and I even argued with a buddy about it once. Then my own stairs started that awful 5am racket and I was not about to rip up a finished staircase. Squeezing caulk in the gaps sounded like a hack to me at first, honestly. Turns out the squeak is just wood rubbing against wood or nails, and filling those gaps stops the movement cold. Mine have been quiet for months now, so yeah, I was wrong and you were right.