Sprinkle Baby Powder on Your Hardwood to Shush a Squeaky Floor

Despite its sturdy appearance, traditional hardwood can be a bit of a hassle to maintain. Everyday wear and tear (combined with constant foot traffic) can cause the wood to chafe, leading to squeaky floorboards. The good news? It’ll only take you a few minutes to silence those annoying squeaks for good, no tools required.

How to Fix a Squeaky Floor With Baby Powder

Baby powder is a household staple that can be used to detangle knotted jewelry, reduce chafing, and treat sweat stains. It can even be used as a substitute for dry shampoo on those mornings when you’re in a time crunch. And, would you believe it — it’s also used  to fix squeaky floors.

Once you’ve located the problem slat, aka the noisy floorboard, sprinkle a generous amount of baby powder directly onto the wood. Using a soft cloth or paper towel, force the powder down into the seams. After you’ve powdered the floor, walk on the floorboards to ensure the powder has fully entered the seams. This will lubricate the wood and keep the floorboards from rubbing together.

Having trouble getting the powder to go through? Use a thin plastic card (like a credit card or driver’s license) to push the powder into the seams. If the squeaking continues, just add more powder and continue to step on and off the floorboard until the noise stops.

While this quick trick comes in handy, it’s not a permanent fix. After a while, your new noise-free areas will need another coat of baby powder, especially if you have little ones running through the house. Watch the video below to see how the pros at Lumber Liquidators handle squeaky floors.

How to Fix Squeaky Floors From Below

If the noise persists, locate the squeaky floorboard from below. Go to your basement or crawl space; you should be able to see your subfloor from there. Ask a friend or family member to walk on the floorboards above. Your problem board should wiggle a little when it’s stepped on. Once you’ve found the faulty board, add a few pieces of wood shim in the gap between the joist (joists support everything above) and the subfloor (the bottom-most layer of your floor). If visualizing this fix is a bit difficult, check out the video below to see a step-by-step tutorial to fix your squeaky floors in just two minutes.

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