That time a neighbor showed me a $5 fix for my squeaky floor and I was stunned

Last spring I was complaining to my neighbor Dave about these LOUD squeaks in my hallway that woke up the kids every time. He just laughed and said I'd been overthinking it with my fancy floor jacks and screws. Dave pulled out a simple bottle of powdered graphite from his shed and told me to sprinkle it between the floorboards where they rub. I was skeptical because I'd already tried WD-40 and it didn't work. He showed me exactly where to tap the floor to find the squeak spot and then just puffed the graphite in. Three months later and that hall is SILENT. Has anyone else had luck with this trick or do you have a different cheap fix for squeaky wood floors?

2 comments

2 Comments

kellygarcia5d ago

25 years in my house and I've been dealing with a symphony of creaks every time my cat walks down the hall at 3AM. Tried baby powder once and just ended up with a white dust cloud that looked like a crime scene. Dave sounds like the kind of guy who also knows how to fix a lawnmower with a paperclip and some duct tape (seriously, those guys are national treasures). I'm definitely trying this graphite trick this weekend, maybe I can finally sleep through the nightly "cat parade" without waking up in a cold sweat thinking someone broke in.

abby_singh5d ago

Ngl, this reminded me of my buddy Marcus who had the same issue in his old apartment. He tried the graphite trick after his cat would sneak out at 3AM and sound like a tiny herd of elephants on the wood floors. Worked for about a week until his cat figured out how to stomp louder on the spots he missed. @kellygarcia you should totally try it, just make sure you hit every single board or youll still get that one random creak that makes you think a ghost is rearranging your furniture. Marcus eventually gave up and just started wearing earplugs, so maybe that's the real long term solution if the graphite fails.