Squeaky Floors and Sticking Doors: What Causes Them and What Actually Fixes Them

Two of the most common items on any punch list around here are a floor that squeaks and a door that sticks or will not latch. They share a cause more often than not: wood moving with the seasons. Georgia humidity swells wood in summer and the winter heating season dries it out, and every joint in the house moves a little with it. Most of these are quick fixes. A few are signs of something else, and the difference is worth knowing.

Why floors squeak

A squeak is wood rubbing on wood or on a nail. The subfloor has lifted off a joist, or a hardwood board has loosened from the subfloor, and it moves under your weight.

• Subfloor nails that have worked loose. The most common cause in houses from the era when subfloors were nailed rather than screwed and glued.
• A gap between the subfloor and the joist. From a joist that has shrunk or a subfloor that was not pulled tight.
• Hardwood boards rubbing each other as they expand and contract.
• Ductwork or pipes touching a joist. Not a floor squeak at all, but it sounds like one.

Fixing a squeak

• From below, if there is a crawlspace or an unfinished basement: find the squeak with someone walking above, then drive a screw up through the joist into the subfloor, or a shim with glue into the gap. This is the best fix because it is invisible.
• From above on carpet: a squeak repair kit drives a screw through the carpet into the joist and snaps the head off below the surface.
• From above on hardwood: trim-head screws through the board into the subfloor at a joist, countersunk and filled. Or, for board-on-board squeaks, powdered graphite or talc worked into the joint.
• On a floor about to be replaced: screw the whole subfloor down before the new floor goes in. This is the moment to end every squeak at once, and our flooring post covers what goes on top.

Why doors stick

• Humidity. The door swells in summer and rubs at the top or the latch side, then shrinks in winter and rattles. Very common on wood doors that were never sealed on the top and bottom edges.
• Loose hinges. Screws pull out of the jamb over years and the door sags toward the latch side. The classic symptom is rubbing at the top corner on the latch side and a gap at the top on the hinge side.
• A strike plate that no longer lines up. The house has settled a little, the door has sagged a little, and the latch hits above or below the hole.
• Paint build-up on the edges and the stop.
• Settling. A door frame that has gone out of square with the house, which shows as a diagonal gap around the door.

Fixing a door

1. 1Tighten the hinge screws. If they spin, replace the top hinge's jamb screws with three-inch screws into the framing. This alone fixes most sagging doors.
2. 2If the latch misses the strike, move or file the strike plate. It is a five-minute job that people replace whole locksets over.
3. 3If the door still rubs, mark the rub and plane or sand it, then seal the raw edge so it stops absorbing moisture. Prime and paint the top and bottom edges of every wood door in the house; it is why the same doors stick every August.
4. 4If the frame is out of square, shim the hinges to swing the door back into alignment. Beyond that, the jamb gets reset.

When it is something else

Several doors in the same part of the house suddenly sticking, new cracks above door frames, or a floor that has developed a slope point at foundation movement or a moisture problem in the crawlspace. That is not a door adjustment. Our post on sump pumps and crawlspace water covers the moisture side, and it is a conversation to have before adjusting the doors again.

Questions we get

Should I just replace the door?

Rarely. A door that sticks is a hinge, strike or edge problem, and the same fixes apply to a new door on the same frame. Replace when the door is damaged, hollow-core and you want solid, or when you are changing the style.

Will a dehumidifier stop the doors sticking?

Controlling humidity helps everything wood in the house, and sealing the door edges helps more. Do both.

Can these go on a punch list?

They are the definition of a punch list item. Squeaks, doors and a few other small things make a productive handyman visit; our punch list post explains how to prepare one.

Get the small stuff fixed

Wright Way Services fixes floors, doors and the rest of the list across Newnan, Peachtree City, Sharpsburg, Senoia, Tyrone and Fayetteville. Call (770) 301-4638 or request service.