Super creaky floors in my customer's Bronxville home

Bronxville is a nice area and real estate is a bit price there...houses are close together.  Very convenient for the City and a lot of people love it there. 

 

Yesterday's customer has a cute apartment and it looks really nice.  They chose it for the area and that little work needed to be done - the kitchen was nice and newly renovated and so was the one bathroom.  They recently moved in - maybe a month or two ago.  They painted and it's decorated well.

 

After they moved in, they noticed one big problem.  The floors CREAK.  A LOT!  I think this was built in the 1920's and lots of old buildings have old hardwood floors and they sometimes creak, but this is much worse than usual.  It almost seems like there is no subfloor. There is no easy way to solve this.

 

Their neighbor below complained about the creaking before they moved in.  Even though the previous owner had area rugs (as do my customers) and they are in compliance with the co-op standards, it is very loud.  Technically, they don't need to do anything to appease the person below, but it's so loud that it's driving them crazy.  And, of course, now they just got pregnant and realized that it's going to be even more trying for them, especially in the middle of the night.

 

I gave them an estimate for replacing the floors.  We need to rip up the floors, potentially the "subfloor" or whatever is unneath the hardwood - it doesn't feel like like plywood, then put in new plywood, then add hardwood, then refinish.  It's a big chunk of change and they need to figure out if this is worth it.  They will probably live there for 5 years or so. 

 

But, the really unfortunate thing is that this would have been so much easier if they did it before they moved in.  Now, all the furntiure is there and it has to be done in phases with everything moved, and they will need to stay somewhere else.  If they do it the nice looking way with sanding & staining, we have to do in 2 phases and wait for things to dry, and they only have 1 bathroom, so they would need to be away for around 25 days.  I may looking into a prefinished option for them which will save them time and be more convenient, but it will probably cost them more.

 

It's too bad...if they had really spent some more time prior to moving in, they would have realized the issue and did things in the right order.  Live & learn I guess.  I hope I can at least come up with a time saving solution for them.  Wish me luck.

Hardwood Flooring - Carpet - Tile/Natural Stone - Laminate - Refinish Hardwood - Backsplashes

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Flooring Girl"

Debbie Gartner, "The Flooring Girl" and owner of Floor Coverings International Westchester NY

You can download our free flooring guide.  Or, visit our flooring selector - 2,000 options.  We install hardwood flooring, carpet and runners, tile floors and backsplashes.  We also refinish hardwood floors.

Call us for a free estimate 914-937-2950.

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