How to eliminate creaking wooden floors without disassembling

Wooden floors begin to creak over time, which is annoying for household members. Hearing unpleasant sounds every day after each step on the floor becomes simply unbearable.

Many people decide to independently carry out work to eliminate squeaks without dismantling wooden floors. The task is not easy, but if you act correctly, it is quite feasible. They start by finding out the causes of the sounds and what kind of wood floor repair work needs to be done to eliminate them.

Creak and places that cause it

Creaking is a physical phenomenon caused by friction resulting from movement that is accompanied by sound. The “music” of the floor occurs as a result of deformations in wooden floor structures that occur in different places and for different reasons.

Probable places for friction to occur.

Discrepancy in the connection of floor boards to each other.
Loosening of boards.
Places for installation and fastening of floor joists.
Fastening skirting boards to the floor.

Creaking usually occurs due to friction between the boards, which occurs due to loosening of their fastenings.

Reasons why wooden floors creak

There are several likely reasons why wood floors make squeaking noises. When examining the floor surface, pay attention to such points.

On the condition of the base on which the floor joists are installed. These are lintels with boards fixed across them, forming the floor surface. The joists are made of wood and as they age and from daily loads, the base of the floor underneath them becomes deformed, becomes uneven, the level acquires a slope, which can cause vibrations and creaking sounds.
When initially leveling the floor, special pads are used that are installed on the joists. They consist of wooden blocks, which age over time, dry out, and the floor boards in these places collapse and begin to wobble, making a creaking sound.
Correct spacing between joists is of great importance. If the 50 cm parameter is not observed and thin boards are installed on them, the coating will fluctuate.

If the distance between the joists has not been maintained, there is a high probability that the wooden floor laid on top will creak.

Also, a lot depends on the quality of the wood used when choosing boards and joists:

poorly dried material will dry out when laid on the floor, it will warp at the fastening points, which will disrupt the evenness of the coating;
The fastening of the boards depends on the density of the wood. If this indicator is low, the connection of boards with lags and nails quickly becomes loose.

The accumulation of moisture on the base of the floor under the joists leads to the proliferation of fungi in the wood and its rotting. The quality of the connection between boards and joists is deteriorating, and the floor is sagging in some places. In this regard, all wooden components of the floor must be treated with an antiseptic for prevention.

If the wood has not been properly dried, the floor will sooner or later sag, which will also cause squeaks.

Small wood-boring beetles are a real disaster for wood. In a short time they can eat through the wood and damage the joists to such an extent that the floor boards will fail.

Important! Biocidal solutions, which are used to impregnate all wooden structures, prevent damage and protect the wood from harmful insects.

When installing the floor, be sure to pay attention to the following points:

there must be reliable fastening between the logs and boards;
there must be a technological gap between the floor surface and the walls;
it is important to ensure reliable fixation of the plinth to the floor;
It is impossible to allow the floor to be attached to the joists through a board, which was practiced in the old days in order to save money. This is an unsuccessful method, resulting in squeaking on unnailed boards.

Long-term use of the floor leads to its natural aging. All parts of the floor structure are subject to wear and tear. The gap between the boards grows due to weakening of the fastening - it becomes clogged with debris and dirt.

Remember that wooden boards and joists must be securely fastened

Not all of the listed reasons can be eliminated independently without opening the floor. For reliable and long-term service of the floor, it is necessary to initially provide for the installation of joists in a concrete base, a reliable structure with good ventilation with fastening of tongue-and-groove boards.

To eliminate the causes of the squeak, they first begin to find the source of the sound and study the condition and degree of wear of the floor. When a problem area is detected, press firmly on the boards. In case of deflection due to a loose fastening, use a long self-tapping screw to strengthen the fastening of the boards to the joists. If the cause is not eliminated, the floor will continue to creak. To clarify the circumstances, you will have to partially open the floor and examine it from the inside, for the presence of reasons for the creaking according to the above points.

Possible ways to restore the floor

For proper floor repair in order to get rid of squeaks, there are the following recommendations.

In order to prevent changes in the condition of wooden floor structures during drying, deformation from high humidity, all parts are treated with an antiseptic before installation. Periodic repetition of impregnation is also required during the operation of the floor.

How to treat wooden floor structures with an antiseptic
Rigid fixation of the logs to the base is ensured with the most complete fastening of the boards using self-tapping screws or nails with a screw notch.
The use of wooden wedges is a thing of the past. Now a set is used that has two wedges with a corrugated surface made of polymer materials.
The distance between the lags (laying step) is strictly calculated depending on the loads and the thickness of the boards used, which will protect the floor from deflections.
To securely fix each board to the joists, two self-tapping screws are used, which will create a reliable fastening in the transverse direction.

Advice! To avoid the labor-intensive complete opening of the floor, to inspect its condition from the inside, it is enough to cut a hole in the form of a hatch to see the degree of damage to the joists and the base.

The boards are attached to the joists using two self-tapping screws

Methods for eliminating squeaking are as follows.

Strengthening the fixation of wooden boards to the joists with self-tapping screws.
Increasing the adhesion of wooden structures using pins and wedges.
As a last resort, use polyurethane foam for fastening and increasing the support area.
Laying a new sheet of plywood or chipboard over the existing floor, which will distribute the load over a larger surface.

Why does a wooden floor start to creak?

Understanding the cause of the squeak will allow you to determine how to fix the problem. That is why it is so important to determine it at the stage of inspecting the parquet and listening for squeaks. So, why does parquet or parquet board squeak? As a rule, squeaking is caused by the following reasons:

the tree dries out and decreases in size;
the floor receives maximum load, which leads to weakening of the fastenings;
during the installation of the floor, the conditions regarding the gap between the walls and boards were not met;
large step between lags;
thin wooden boards;
air vibrations;
violations of operating rules.

In all cases not related to a violation of the functionality of the lag, you can try to use one of the methods below to eliminate the squeak.

Parquet can squeak both in a certain place and throughout the entire surface area.

How to determine the location of the squeak?

Wood is a popular floor covering, especially in private homes. The main disadvantage of this type of floor is that it creaks very often. Any owner can fix this on his own, having the simplest set of tools without opening the coating, but it is important to accurately determine the location and cause of the unpleasant sounds. Household members, attention and hearing are involved in the search.

The owner goes down to the basement, if there is one, and from above someone is walking heavily on all the floorboards. The creaking area will be clearly audible from below.
They walk along each floorboard, listening to the source of the creaking, paying attention to the movement of the boards under their feet. Examine the boards for cracks and large gaps. If the sagging of the boards is clearly visible, you can check them with a level.
Remove the plinth and examine the condition of the beam and base in the gap between the wall and the joists.

When the floor is thoroughly examined and problem areas are marked, repairs begin. Many methods for solving problems have been developed, the main thing is to follow the work technology.

Other ways to eliminate cracks

How to eliminate squeaking floorboards? If the cause of the unpleasant sound is the gradual drying of the floor covering, do not rush to carry out repairs. There is a simple but effective method that allows you to eliminate squeaking when cracks appear.

Over time, the boards may become deformed and dry out. This situation occurs due to too low humidity in the room.

Sometimes the boards are first saturated with moisture and then dry. This also causes gaps to appear between them. The quality of flooring made from natural wood or chipboard is also affected by temperature changes.

Gaps appear between the boards. In this case, you can hammer the wedges or use a special sealant. Experts say that the second option is more reliable.

You can prepare the sealant yourself. To do this you will need wood shavings and paint and varnish. To prepare the sealant, you will need to mix 4 parts sawdust with one part paint and one part varnish.

All cracks in the floor are carefully coated with this mixture. The paint color should be selected in accordance with the shade of the floor covering. This is also true for sawdust.

When considering how to eliminate squeaking wood flooring, you should consider another method of sealing cracks. To do this, you will need to prepare PVA glue and thick rope made of synthetic fibers. It needs to be soaked with glue. Instead of PVA, you can also use regular wood glue. Next, the rope is laid in the cracks, driving it deep between the boards.

When this work is completed, you will need to prepare putty. To do this, you need to mix 4 parts of small sawdust with 1 part of PVA glue. This compound is used to treat the cracks in which the rope was laid. A lump of glue will form on top of the floor surface. It must dry.

When this happens, you need to very carefully cut off the excess material. The floor must be level. For 2 days after this procedure, you should not walk on the wooden floor. This is one of the most effective methods for cracks.

PVA is elastic. If the boards become deformed, they will not creak. The gaps will be eliminated. At the same time, the boards stick well to each other.

Methods for eliminating floor squeaks without removing the coating

Wooden floors age and begin to creak, but it is not always possible to make major repairs and completely open the floor. In some cases, proven methods for eliminating squeaking are used without such drastic interventions.

Eliminating the creaking of a wooden floor without disassembling is quite possible - there are many ways to do this

Sagging floorboards

To solve this problem, rigid fastening of the boards to the joists is not enough. Take long self-tapping screws with large threads. If the nails in the floor are firmly driven in, do not stick out, and are not bent, then they cannot be pulled out. Prepared screws are screwed in next to them, the length of which is selected according to the thickness of the log along with the board, about 2 cm shorter. For an accurate measurement, remove one board from the floor.

To accurately determine the number of screws needed and where to screw them in, it is enough to remove the plinth from the transverse wall. In the gap between the wall and the floor, all laid joists are clearly visible without the need to disassemble the entire covering. To make it easier to screw in long screws, small holes in the boards are prepared in advance. This ensures a stronger adhesion of the covering to the joists by screwing in self-tapping screws with their heads recessed deep into the board to prevent clinging to them when walking.

Important! If the creaking has disappeared and the floor has acquired some unevenness, cover the surface with sheets of plywood. It is screwed to the floor with self-tapping screws in increments of 15-20 cm, the heads of which are also recessed.

If the floorboards begin to sag, they are additionally fixed using long self-tapping screws

Reinforcement with wedges

Gaps formed between the boards and they began to rub against each other, making sounds? This can be eliminated by securing the floorboards using spacer wedges. They are driven into the resulting gaps. For work you will need a mallet and a hammer.

To make wedges, take thin slats of wood up to 15 cm long. They are first coated with wood glue and PVA to securely fasten them so that they do not get squeezed out by the floorboards when walking. The spacers are hammered in at a distance of 20 cm from each other. To prevent the wedges from protruding above the floor surface, they are cut off with a plane, and the remaining cracks are filled with a mixture of glue and fine sawdust. After drying, the areas where the cracks are sealed are sanded and covered with a water-repellent solution.

You can use wedges made from thin slats that drive into the gaps

Sealing cracks with a tourniquet

Sealing cracks can be done quickly and efficiently using a tourniquet. To do this, you can use a material made from flax, hemp, or a synthetic composition, which is pre-lubricated with glue. Using any sharp object, the tourniquet is inserted with force into the gap along its entire length so that the material does not stick out above the surface. When the glue dries, the gap is securely plugged, it is puttied and covered with paints and varnishes to match the main floor.

You can seal the cracks with a tourniquet

Sealing cracks with graphite and sawdust

If the gaps are small, and the creaking comes from the friction of the boards against each other, then it will be quite enough to fill the gaps with graphite or talc powder. Small gaps into which it is impossible to drive wedges are sealed with a prepared mixture of wood glue and fine sawdust. They are applied tightly into the gap using a spatula.

Small cracks can be repaired using graphite powder or a mixture made from sawdust and glue.

Sealing cracks with foam

To seal cracks, you can use polyurethane foam, which, when filling the space, reliably grabs and fixes the boards, and the floor acquires additional rigidity. But foam is used locally when it is necessary to eliminate the creaking of several boards. The disadvantage of foam is that it will compress under load, and over time the squeaking will return.

Gaps in the floor can be sealed with foam

Reducing the distance between joists

If boards of small thickness are initially laid on the floor or the distance between the joists is incorrectly calculated, then the floor covering sag over time and the floorboards begin to creak. This reason can be eliminated without opening the floor, using self-tapping screws with threads along the entire length.

Their size is chosen so that they reach from the beginning of the coating to the base of the concrete floor.

A hole is drilled near the joist, without touching it, and self-tapping screws or self-tapping screws are screwed into it all the way to the base, which will serve as additional support for the covering. The heads of the screws are broken off so that they do not stick out above the floor, and the sharp tip of the screws is removed so as not to damage the concrete.

If the joists were laid too sparsely, you won’t have to disassemble the floor: just screw in the screws near the joists all the way to the base

Ancient method

The ancient method of eliminating squeaks is time-tested and gives noticeable results for several years, provided that the floors remain level. To do this, take long strips of dense thick fabric, reminiscent of an overcoat. Pieces with a width of about 30 cm are laid out on the floor at a distance of 40 cm between them. Fiberboard sheets are placed on top and connected to the floor using self-tapping screws.

Important! This is a fairly simple and inexpensive method.

Elimination of board deflection with polyurethane foam

When a couple of boards sag, you can also use polyurethane foam as a temporary measure to eliminate squeaking. At the bend point between the board and the joists, a hole is made into which the tube from the cylinder is inserted. Before pumping the foam, the boards are secured with a block so that when it expands, it does not squeeze out the boards. After the foam dries, the filled space between the floorboard and the joists is sealed and the deflection is eliminated. The securing beam is removed and the holes in the floorboard are filled.

If some boards are bent, this problem can also be eliminated using polyurethane foam.

Loosening the tie

If the creaking occurs due to a weakening of the screed between the board and the joists, then they are strengthened using self-tapping screws. To accurately determine the location of the logs, remove the plinth from both sides. In the gap formed between the boards and the wall, the places where the logs are located are clearly visible.

Take two metal rods and drive them into the base of the floor to mark the center of the joists on both sides of each wall. A cord is pulled between the rods to indicate the timber along its entire length. To select the length of the screw, measure the total thickness of the board and joist and reduce it by 2 cm. Screw at least 3 screws into each board, strictly in the center of the joist, marked with a stretched cord. The screw caps are sunk so that they do not stick out above the floor surface. If there are protruding nails on the board, remove them. All holes are filled with putty to match the color of the floor.

To strengthen the tie between the boards and joists, screw in additional screws

Cementing subsidence of boards

Using cementation, subsidence of boards, which is caused by voids between the floor covering and the concrete base, is eliminated. To do this, in the place where the creaking occurs, make a small hole in the board with a drill, and using a syringe, gradually pour in cement mortar, making time intervals for the mass to harden. Fill until cement appears outside the hole. After the cement hardens, the floorboard straightens and the floor stops creaking for a while.

If the boards have sagged, you can fix this problem with a cement mortar, which is injected into the hole in the board using a syringe.

Additional anchoring

If using different methods still fails to eliminate the squeak, then a method of additionally securing the floorboards to the concrete base is used. To do this, fix the boards with metal anchors. These are special fasteners designed to secure the entire wooden structure to the load-bearing base. The height of the anchor is measured from the floor surface to the concrete floor with an increase for immersion in concrete.

To install them, a powerful drill is used to drill through holes a meter apart from each other through boards and joists all the way to the concrete. The anchor shell is inserted into it, and a metal pin is screwed into it. The wooden surface receives additional fastening and support.

Important! All holes in the floor are puttied, sanded, and painted to match the color of the floor.

Boards, if they creak, can be additionally secured with metal anchors

Installation of dowels

If simple edged non-groove boards are not connected to each other without a special joint using a tongue-and-groove system, they will dry out or diverge over time depending on humidity. To eliminate this drawback, install dowels. This is a cylindrical wooden product that is coated on all sides with wood glue or PVA. The dowel with glue is driven into specially prepared holes using a mallet or a special hammer for woodworking. Two adjacent boards are drilled at once in two directions towards each other, at an angle of 45 degrees, forming a symbolic cross. The ends of the unfinished dowel are cut flush with the floor surface, sanded, puttied and tinted to match the color of the floor. After such repairs, the boards will be fastened for a long time and will not come apart.

If the boards begin to diverge and creak over time, you can use dowels

Plywood covering

When the wooden floor is smooth, but very cracked and creaks in many places, a simple but expensive method of laying sheets of plywood with a thickness of at least 12 mm or chipboard on top of it helps. The load on the floor will be evenly distributed over the entire surface, which will eliminate the creaking emanating from some boards. The sheets are laid at an angle to the direction of the boards and glued with wood glue. When laying, take into account that the joint of the sheet does not fall on a problem area that produces a squeak - otherwise it will intensify. After installation, the floor is decorated.

It may be possible to eliminate the squeak by simply laying a thick layer of plywood or chipboard on top

Drying out

Floors dry out in excessively dry rooms

The most common reason that forces an owner to eliminate creaking wooden floors is uneven or excessive drying of the material.

Even in an ordinary room, the air loses moisture without quality circulation if it remains closed for a long time.

The technology for assembling natural materials must initially take into account their response to changing environmental characteristics. Different types of wood have their own coefficients, proven by practice and taken into account during manufacturing and installation:

Related article: Sewing up a door using drywall

Changes in moisture content in wood can be caused not only by periodic fluctuations in this indicator of the external environment, but also by the natural aging of fibers without the possibility of recovery.

Natural processes are slowed down by the use of special impregnations, periodic application of mastics, and maintaining a favorable microclimate in the house.

Reinforcement with additional bars

What to do if none of the methods helped? It may be impossible to do without at least partial opening of the upper surface of the floor. In this case, you can repair the sheathing, as well as strengthen it with additional bars, which are simply inserted between the joists. This will create additional support.

Important! If the boards are too thin, the distance between the lags is too large, then they will sag under the weight of the weight when walking. When repairing the sheathing, it is strengthened by inserting additional bars.

When calculating the distance between the logs, the thickness of the board is taken into account.

Board thickness (mm)	Distance between joists (cm)
20	30
24	40
30	50
35	60
40	70

To further preserve the reinforced sheathing and prevent the appearance of squeaks, all parts are treated with waterproof solutions, and fabric linings such as geotextiles are laid between the parts and on top of the timber.

Sometimes it is necessary to partially open the upper surface of the floor and reinforce the subfloor with additional bars

Spot repair of parquet

Parquet board is an elite option for wooden flooring. Like all wood floors, parquet can squeak when rubbed. In general, it consists of wooden elements assembled into one common flooring. Elimination of damage that causes sounds when walking is carried out pointwise, locally. Parquet repairs take place in several stages.

They carefully inspect each board, identifying and noting defective and creaking parts.
Prepare the necessary tools and materials: drill, volumetric syringe, cement or polyurethane glue.
Find the middle of the plank with a creak, drill a hole with a drill with a thin drill bit.

Parquet boards can also creak over time.
Dilute the cement mortar to a liquid state.
Draw up a solution of cement or polyurethane glue with a syringe.
Insert the syringe into the prepared hole and slowly inject the composition, allowing air to escape.
Portions are introduced gradually, allowing the composition to gain a foothold and harden.
Check the work for no squeaks.
If the repair of one tile is positive, they begin to eliminate the squeak on the rest.
The last stage is to seal the hole with mastic and sand the parquet.

To get rid of the squeak that parquet makes, you need to fill the space under the plank with cement from a syringe

Major repairs of flooring

What to do if the floor creaks? In most cases, this phenomenon is a consequence of constant exposure to waterlogged air. Do I need to completely disassemble and reassemble the decking to prevent it from squeaking? Sometimes such an operation may be required.

It’s a pity, but if the base was not properly prepared before finishing the floor, then no procedures such as screwing additional screws into the flooring elements, etc. will help. It will have to be dismantled.

Often the coating is laid on a concrete base. Perhaps its plane was not level enough. The surface must be checked with a rule and a level for gaps. You may even need to fill in a leveling screed. Sometimes, on a generally flat base, there remains a protrusion that is invisible at first glance. After removing it, the base will approach the ideal plane. Surface leveling can be done with various insulating materials.

How to get rid of floor squeaking if it occurs due to lag conditions? The reasons for the problem can be listed:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wa9vV1LZplc

the beams lie on a curved base;
they are poorly tied together;
the beam is not attached to the base;
there is no compensation gap between it and the walls;
the upper plane of the sheathing is uneven;
the distance between the frame elements does not correspond to the thickness of the flooring;
the joists are deformed.

How to repair the sheathing?

Curvature of the joists may be a consequence of insufficient drying of the wood before laying or high humidity in the underground. Dealing with dampness is not difficult. It is necessary to strengthen the waterproofing of the ceiling. After this, the timber must be properly dried. You can try to level the upper edges of dry deformed beams using a level, a plane, fiberboard overlays or similar material. In any case, before re-coating, the timber must be treated with a protective compound.

The sheathing does not need to be removed from uneven floors. In the gaps between the base and the joists you need to insert pieces of plywood, chipboard, OSB, etc. of suitable thickness. The work should be carried out while controlling the horizontalness of the sheathing with a level. The beams and linings must be tightened with self-tapping screws. They are used to strengthen the adhesion between sheathing elements.

How to prevent the flooring from sagging when walking? It is this factor that often causes the floor to creak. The board bends if the distance between the supports under it is too large. The friction of floor fragments against each other causes characteristic sounds. There are two ways to remove squeaking:

Make the sheathing more frequent. For a board covering with a thickness of 20 mm, a distance of no more than 30 cm should be maintained between the logs. A beam pitch of 40 cm can withstand a flooring with a thickness of 24 mm. The beams are placed 0.5 m apart from each other if a 30 mm covering is installed on it. For floorboards 35 mm thick, a sheathing is built with a lag pitch of 60 cm. For boards 40 mm thick, a frame with a pitch of 70 cm is suitable. Creaking can be prevented by laying a fabric lining such as geotextile on the sheathing.
You can make the coating thicker by laying sheets of plywood or OSB on it in 1 or several layers. This method is also suitable when gaps form between dry, but still usable floorboards. First you need to properly attach the first layer of coating to the joists. Then the finishing floor sheets are screwed onto it.

How to cover a floor with plywood?

When installing plywood, inexperienced craftsmen often make the mistake of sewing entire sheets to the base. The larger their area, the higher the likelihood of squeaking. It is better to divide each slab into 4 parts. The fasteners are screwed into the plywood as often as possible, in increments of 15-20 cm.

To prevent the flooring from squeaking, when laying it between the sheets, you need to maintain a compensation gap of 2 mm. A small gap should be left between the plywood and the wall. Among other things, it will provide ventilation to the underground space. The gaps near the partitions are covered with plinths, and the gaps between the fragments of the coating are sealed with elastic sealant.

Eliminating squeaky laminate flooring

Laminate is becoming the most popular floor covering. It has many advantages: it is inexpensive, if you follow the technology, it is not difficult to install the coating correctly, it looks beautiful, and there are practically no difficulties with caring for it.

But it can also begin to creak during operation. There are several reasons.

Incorrectly selected substrate. The synthetic gasket ages over time and becomes compacted in areas most exposed to pressure. The plates bend in these places and make a squeaking sound when walking. Cork backing is the most expensive, but stable material - it cannot be deformed.
Inexpensive laminated boards usually have locks of poor design. Eliminate squeaking using silicone-based lubricants. When lubricating the locks of the creaking laminate plates, apply the lubricant carefully to the seam and wait 15 minutes until it flows inside the lock. Excess grease is removed with a microfiber cloth, without leaving stains on the laminated surface.

Laminate flooring can squeak if it has poor-quality locks - then silicone-based lubricants are used
Creaking occurs when laminate laying technology is not followed, when the gap around the perimeter between the coating and the wall is less than 5 cm. The plates rest against the wall, creating friction, which gives rise to sounds. To remove, part of the coating near the wall is cut off using a grinder.
Laminate flooring begins to creak due to an uneven subfloor, incorrectly selected underlayment, and unaccounted for class of laminate flooring at the time of purchase. This can only be corrected after dismantling the entire coating.

Problematic parquet base - how to improve?

If the previous method did not have any effect on eliminating parquet squeaks due to a problem not with the coating, but with the base underneath it, then you need to work in this direction.

To understand that the problem is with the base, it is enough to examine the surface of the floor. When it is perfectly smooth with gaps near the wall, as required by the installation rules, then it is worth moving on to finishing the base. The thickness of the plywood sheets should be no more than 1.2 cm, only in this case the floor will withstand the loads during operation. The tools you will need to prepare are a drill, saw, screwdriver or screwdriver.

Plywood sheets are laid on top of the boards on the base, secured with self-tapping screws with a distance between them of 15-20 cm. The laying is carried out at an angle in relation to the mounted boards.

Study all the nuances well, watch videos before starting work

It is worth noting that to correct the squeaking problem in this way, it is not necessary to disassemble the entire floor. It will be enough to identify the problem area and work exclusively with it. This area is marked out with chalk in the form of a square and then cut out for the next stages of work.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with How to wash superglue from the skin of your hands, plastic and furniture at home? How to remove superglue from the skin of your hands, wood, plastic, glass?

The method can be considered radical, however, of all those listed, it is considered the most correct and practical.

Creaking of boards damaged by fungus

Humidity under the floor covering and poor ventilation lead to the formation and proliferation of fungus, which, damaging the wooden floor sheathing, leads to its deformation and can cause the boards to creak. The coating can be affected by several types of fungus:

the cellar mushroom forms large yellow myceliums covered with white spots. Over time they turn black;
house sponge appears as a white fluffy mass, turning into gray mold. It has the ability to grow quickly under the floor;
white house fungus in the form of mycelium, forming a cotton mass, is concentrated in one place in the form of a white pillow.

How to treat floors against fungus

These fungi not only affect the floor covering, but are also harmful to humans.

If you don't start fighting, the joists and boards will corrode, lose their strength, and the floor may rot and collapse. The most correct thing is to dismantle the affected structures and replace them with new ones. But with minor damage, mold and fungal plaque are scraped off to a clean place. The entire structure is treated with a solution of iron or copper sulfate, which is diluted in a proportion of 50 grams per liter of water. Lubricating the floor structure with a mixture of clay and vitriol gives a good effect. To prevent damage by fungal growths, wood is salted and impregnated with oil according to the Chinese method.

Important! There are many effective antifungal agents on the market for treating wood products.

If the fungus has affected a large amount of wooden flooring, it is better to get rid of it completely and re-lay it