TIL my dad's trick for fixing squeaky floors actually works after 15 years

I was at my parents' house in Portland last weekend and a floorboard was driving me crazy. My dad told me to just sprinkle baby powder into the gap and work it in with a cloth. I thought he was messing with me, but I tried it on a spot near the stairs and the squeak stopped instantly. Anyone else got a weird fix like this that sounds fake but works?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret_bennett322d ago

Wait hold on, baby powder is mostly talc or cornstarch right? That stuff attracts moisture like crazy over time. You're basically packing a water magnet into the gap and hoping it doesn't swell up the wood or turn into a gummy mess later. Maybe it stops the squeak today but in a year that spot could be worse or even start rotting if there's any humidity. I'd rather deal with the noise than risk wrecking the floorboards long term.

nancy27522d agoTop Commenter

Wait did this actually happen to someone you know? My buddy tried the baby powder trick on his old hardwood floors and it worked for like two months, then all of a sudden winter hit and the whole spot where he dumped it turned into this crusty white paste. He ended up having to pry up three floorboards to clean it out because the cornstarch just sat there absorbing every bit of moisture from the air like a sponge. The wood around it started looking a little warped too, nothing crazy but definitely not something you want in a house you plan to keep nice. I'll take a little squeak over having to replace boards any day.