Two surfaces rubbing against each other because one of them is free to move when it should not be. In most houses that is a subfloor panel or plank flexing against the shank of a nail where it has separated slightly from the joist beneath. On a staircase it is a tread moving against a riser or a stringer where the glue blocks and wedges have loosened.
Usually not. A floor squeak needs weight on the floor, so a noise that happens on its own, especially as the furnace starts or shuts off, more often comes from metal heating ducts. They expand as warm air reaches them and contract as they cool, and they pop where a duct touches wood framing. That is a job for a heating contractor rather than a floor repair. If the noise only happens when someone steps on one spot, it is the floor.
Usually because the gap that caused it was never closed. A screw driven down through the floor holds only if it lands in a joist, and one that misses holds nothing. Where the joist sits slightly low, the panel can still flex beside a new screw unless the gap is filled with a shim and construction adhesive, or a block is fastened to the joist under the panel. Sometimes the returning noise is a second loose spot a few inches away that the first one masked. Powder or spray in a seam only reduces friction, so that noise returns once it wears off.
Most single-spot repairs are a same-visit job, often under an hour of work once the cause is located. Larger jobs across multiple rooms, or work that needs subfloor access through a finished floor, take longer. Your written quote will include a time estimate for your specific situation.
Someone should be, and ideally the person who noticed the noise. Locating a squeak is a two-person job in most houses, and testing the repair properly means having somebody in the room where the noise was audible. It is easier with you there than without.
On carpet, almost never, because the pile closes over completely. On hardwood, a from-above repair leaves a very small point of entry that is filled and blended, and in most cases you have to know where to look. Where we can work from below, there is nothing to see at all because the finished floor is never touched.
Three things keep a squeak repair toward the low end of its range: an open basement ceiling below the noise, knowing where the squeak is (a piece of painter's tape on each spot helps), and grouping several spots into one visit. Working from below saves the most, because the finished floor never has to be entered.
Usually because they are not quoting the same work. A quote that assumes powder in a seam and a quote that assumes refastening the subfloor to the joist are different jobs with different lifespans, and only one of them stops the movement. Ask specifically what is being done to stop the movement, not just what the total is.
Any coverage is set out in the written quote for each job, because it varies with the repair. You see exactly what is included before anything starts.
In most cases, no, and usually by a wide margin. A squeak repair addresses a handful of connections; replacing a floor means removing something largely sound, buying new material for the whole area, and reinstalling. It also does not necessarily solve the problem, because if the subfloor connection is the cause it is still there under the new floor.
Between roughly November and April, for a practical reason: that is when the squeak is loudest and easiest to find. Dry indoor heating air shrinks the wood and opens up the movement, so a noise that is intermittent in July is usually reliably reproducible in February. A squeak we can hear is a squeak we can locate.
If it went quiet in spring and you first noticed it in winter, it has not gone away. Seasonal squeaks disappear as humidity comes back and the wood expands, and they return with the next heating season, often a little louder, because each season works the fastener looser. It is worth booking while you can still remember where it was.
When it does more than make noise. A squeak on its own can carry on for years without anything else happening. A floor that feels soft or springy, a stair tread that moves underfoot, or flooring that has lifted or cupped after water points at something other than a loose fastener, and is worth having looked at soon.
We hired them to fix squeaking and movement in our hardwood floor. They identified the underlying problem quickly and completed the repair without needing to replace the entire floor. Everything now feels solid and quiet.
We needed an urgent flooring repair after several boards became loose and uneven. The team responded quickly, secured the boards, and corrected the uneven sections. Professional service and a high-quality repair from start to finish.
They repaired several damaged hardwood boards in our living room and blended the replacements beautifully with the existing floor. The team was punctual, tidy, and careful throughout the job. You can barely tell where the damage was.