Re: Squeaky Floors

[Sussexhomebuyer]

Hello,

I have recently joined and have a query over squeaky floors and would like some advice if possible...

We have recently bought a lovely brand new house and are generally delighted with it, both the quality of the build, finish and our overall experience with the developer.....however, we have got some squeaky floors upstairs and it's a little irritating. It's not over the whole room, just localised and in the centre of some rooms.

I've been told that metal web joists were used and these are deemed to be the best but when I press the ceiling downstairs I can see it moving, albeit only slightly. I've read a bit about the allowable deflection and it seems that this could be quite a lot as some of the rooms are 5.5m wide.

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Thanks 

[New Home Expert]

I would agree, I believe that the Posi-Joist is the best you can get for a timber upper floor.
There is far less that the housebuilder can do wrong than with TJI joists.
That said, they should not drill, notch or cut the top and bottom timber chords or remove any part of the metal webbing.

Assuming none of this has been done it must be either a span issue or the joists are at the incorrect centres for the design.
It may be that some joists were put in upside down!
Lastly, the 'Strongbacks'  - normally a 38x75mm (min) blocks of timber twice nailed to top and bottom members and twice nailed to brace using 3.1x75mm long galvanised wire nails across the joists at centre of the span - may have been missed out. These are designed to limit the deflection of the floor.