New Joists or Leveling compound

I just recently purchased a house that is 113 years old. Everything is creaky as shit. I've never done flooring of any kind, but because of other projects I've done I basically have all the tools I would need for the job already.

I've been watching youtube videos from various people about leveling floors. a lot of them are using leveling compound, but I just found one older gentleman who tore out the entire floor to instead add new joists that would be level.

Originally, I was going to just nail down the parts where the plywood creaked and then use leveling compound to bring the floor back to level, but this new guy is making me consider adding new joists instead. In your opinion, what is the best option for someone who has never done floors?

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  1. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    what is the foundation situation? are they posts in the ground? posts resting on block? if you fix the underlying cause, then you won't have to do so much other work later.

  2. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    too many unknown variables to give a good answer beginning with the fact that if its 113 years old the plywood isn't original and who knows why it was added?
    Creaks could be coming from the plywood, any original (?) subfloor it was laid over, or the floor framing itself which also may be anything from original to replaced or a combination of the two....creaks may also be from all of the above.
    Someone who knows what to look for needs to asess the joists from below to rule out anything obvious.
    If the joists are sound but deflecting it may be possible to add more supports, or there may be a need to sister some or all of them, or perhaps a little of both.
    It's very possible that in over a century someone deliberately cut or drilled holes or removed some floor joists during a remodel or addition, that's part of why there's plan reviews and permits and inspections now, people did crazy shit back in the day without knowing WTF they were doing.
    If the floor framing *does* need major work, one thing to consider is that framing of that era may be balloon framing that has different floor-to-wall connections than modern platform framing does, that can complicate repairs of this type and might need extra engineering attention to retrofit.
    The work itself isn't particularly difficult assuming there's room to access and work from underneath or your gutting it from above, but it's a major undertaking to gut and replace or reinforce an entire floor, plus there's likely plumbing and electrical that will need working around and/or could/should be re-routed, especially if it was added after the original build and is over 50 years old.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Forgot to add picrel that shows the difference between balloon and platform framed joist connections

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Addendum: that diagram shows an upper story floor/ wall connection but the point is that the joists in balloon framing go all the way to the outer edges of the studs and there's no rim joist; the joists themselves keep the studs aligned and the studs are what hold the joists from laying over.
        This picrel gives a better view of the typical ground floor layout, note that x bracing is in there too.
        One thing to also consider is that if you do need to add or replace joists to a structure like this, the existing spacing will more than likely be based on full dimension lumber so that a 2×10 is actually 2"×10"...you can't just grab something at home depot and pop it in in many cases.

  3. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Get under the floor with wood shims
    Have someone walk on floor hammer shims between joist and sub floor. Back then they didn’t have liquid nail. Your hearing the nails squeaking in the holes

  4. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    if the joists are undersized they will deflect
    if the joists are appropriate then it doesn't matter if they are warped, as long as the floor is secured and supported it won't creak.
    add supports at all edges if necessary and screw the ply down, not nails.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Pretty much this .
      Creaks can be caused by the subfloor or flooring no longer being held secure and moving under pressure. As far as leveling, you'll need to assess how much the foundation is or isn't moving. If there are major or recurring changes with the bearing or foundation then whatever you do is kind of moot. If it's pretty good and has a couple problem flooring areas then attack those.

  5. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    A house that old has settled all it’s going to.
    Ripping up old hardwood floors and what Evers over it for squeaks is bullshit. Buy a floor squeak kit and some shims and fix it. I like squeaky floors then you know someone’s in your house and where. Old houses are cool

  6. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    install blocks

  7. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Sisters

  8. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    i did the floors in my apartmen in a 1893 house, wantet autisticly level floors with no sound and good insulation.
    i found a base height that could be used in all rooms, total deviation was about 4cm.
    floor joists at that time didnt follow any standards and was between 65 and 80cm apart, standard today is 60.
    i glued and screwed new 6x1 1/2 joist to each side of the existing joists perfectly leveled with my set floor height, this also had the benefit of reducing joist spacing closer to or even less than the recomended max 60cm.
    area between joists i filled with tyvek windbreaker in the bottom and insulation before i covered it with 22mm flooring making shure no joints was unsupported.

  9. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I just did a project, a huge second empire style house the guy wanted to convert into condos. Same issues with creaking, even after laying all new subfloor. He ended up having to sister every floor joist on each level to get it to stop. Definitely a pain in the ass, but a lot more practical than replacing them outright. Looks a little sketchy but normal people won’t notice

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