The original construction of this house was 5/8" plywood nailed on top of the floor joists, then the 1st floor walls were constructed, then 3/8" particle board was stapled down on top of the 5/8" plywood around the walls. There were several places where the 3/8" particle board sustained damage (mostly from water), so I decided to pull up all of it and replace it with 1/2" plywood. This allows me to inspect the 5/8" plywood sub-floor and screw it down to eliminate squeaks.

I found several pieces of 5/8" plywood that were weak or damaged which required replacement. Because the 5/8" was installed before the walls were constructed, parts of many of the plywood sheets are trapped under walls. In these situations, I cut the plywood down the middle of a floor joist, after pulling the nails, then fit in a new piece and screw it down.

After the 5/8" sub-floor is screwed down, the 1/2" plywood is screwed down, cutting to fit as needed (mostly around walls).

While all of this sounds labor-intensive (and it is), the end product is well worth the effort. The completed floor sections are VERY solid and there are NO squeaks!

This section shows various before and after pictures. Most of the pictures are here for my own documentation purposes and may not be of must interest to many of you.