Q: What’s Causing My New Wood Floors to Creak?

Here’s how humidity (or a lack thereof) can affect your new wooden floors.

Recently, we met up with Tom Manley from Manley Floors to talk about some great maintenance tips for the wood floors in all of our Charleston Homes. 

Once in a while, we go out to a home for a warranty check and homeowners are a bit concerned with some creaking that they’re hearing. That’s generally a big issue, especially in Nebraska. 

Why? It’s because changes in humidity is what causes floorboards to expand and contract (and squeak.) If it gets a little dry in the winter and they shrink, that can cause a squeak. If it’s too humid in the summer, that also causes a squeak. 

A humidifier or dehumidifier should do the trick.

Tom recommends having your humidity set to between 35% and 45% all year long. It’s tough in Omaha because of the extremes we see, but the extreme humidity (or lack thereof) is what causes 99% of floor squeaks.

Sometimes it might be a missing nail. Although that’s pretty rare, Tom and his team are able to identify that problem and quickly fix it.

A little squeak is not a defect, according to Tom. Any time you have a squeak, you have movement, and even though these floorboards are engineered, they are nonetheless made from living things. 

In the winter, it’s not a bad idea to run a humidifier in the home. The same goes with running a dehumidifier in the summer. They’re great tools as long as you know how to use them. If you have any questions about them, feel free to contact us.

If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach hout via phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you.