GBW Squeeeeek No More 3233 Kit Eliminates Floor Squeak Through Carpet

This was a really cool, easy way to fix my floor. We had a hard time finding the joist, but that was on me and not this tool. Once we found this tool, the directions were straightforward and easy. My floor was so squeaky we used all of the screws, but now my floor isn't squeaky.

Fantastic! I am a massage therapist and had a very squeaky floor which I hated!!! But now it’s very quiet in my room, as it should be during a massage! So happy with the results! And it was very easy to use, only took a few minutes to figure it out. I have already recommended it to all the other therapists there.

Standard for all my reviews: When reviewing products, I always remain objective and honest about the product or service. I always review with information that I feel others would like to know about the product as I always assume what I'm writing will influence for or against the purchase. I always try to go above and beyond surface characteristics and input into quality, value and application. Most importantly, I will always end the review with an answer as to whether I'd purchase the product again which I believe is the most critical question pertaining to the item. To manufacturers: Want me to review your items, just let me know!I wish I had searched for this solution sooner as we have struggled with squeaks on our second story forever, especially in our daughter's room. It wasn't until she just moved out that I decided I needed to do something and that's when I found this product. So here's the skinny ....The kit works but it sure looks a lot easier on videos than when using it my first time. But after a while you'll get the hang of it. In short, you are given two joist finding bits and 50 break-away screws. The size and distance of your squeak will determine how man screws you have to use. I used about 15 on the biggest squeaks in our daughter's room, they were numerous and VERY loud.Finding the joist is the biggest issue. I tried my stud find without much luck. I tried using a hammer to detect subtle differences in sound and sometimes that seemed to work 'okay' but not usually. Starting 9-10" away from a wall is usually a joist and finding that one helped immensely as most others should be 16" on center and that usually worked out well. Use the joist-finding bit to drill down 3" or so. If you find a joist you won't be able to pull the bit up at all or if you reverse your drill it will back out since it's in wood (the joist). If you can slide the bit up and down, you're through the sub floor and into space (not a joist).After finding the joist, change your drill bit to the driver of the break-away screws, locate the squeak on that joist, put down the guide on the spot, lean into it to make sure a good deep connection is made and set the screw through the guide. Press firmly on your drill and drive the screw down until the guide stops you from drilling any more. At this point you can test to see if your squeak is gone. If so, use the side area on the guide tool to break away the screw top.As I said before, you may need to use a lot of screws depending on the size of the squeak. If you have a large squeak and need to use multiple screws, I HIGHLY recommend leaving each screw exposed (don't break off) and go down the joist 3-5" and put in another one. Use a colored threat or twine to wrap each head as you drive it in to create a 'path' of sorts to help continue down the joist. It also helps to clearly see where your unbroken screws are. Let me me tell you, do NOT lose track of them because I brought me knee down on one and thought I broke my kneecap.If you need to find a new joist, use your previous location +16" as a guide for where the next joist should be. I had problems finding consistent joists in the hallway and resorted to drilling hole after hole until I found the joists. The holes don't ruin your carpet as long as it's not berber. They have a special screw/procedure for berber.One of my joist finding bits broke nearly the end, but they give you two thankfully. You might consider getting an extra 50 pack of screws. I went through more than expected but still have 15 left over from my 6 or so squeak areas.It's not as easy as some make it look but you will get the hang of it and it's rewarding when done. It was more work than I expected and with one of the bits breaking I'm giving this four stars. I am going to purchase more screws for the future and would purchase this product again.

The snap-off screws and the depth tool are a great piece of engineering and seem to work just fine, but the joist-finding tool is a joke. We have typical 1970's plywood floors underneath our carpet and the joist finding tool would even dig into the floor more than a 64th of an inch, much less penetrate it. I put my full 200 lbs of pressure on my drill and it would just spin and spin. I was under a bit of a time crunch so I was just guessing where the joists were in the end. So, while I have reduced the annoying (maddening, actually) squeaks, they are by no means eliminated. I will have to reorder another kit and try another method to find the joists. My house has a basement but the floor joists are not exposed as there is a ceiling that cannot be easily removed. I supposed I'll have to move some furniture and peel back the carpet to find where the screws are to locate the joists. Good idea for a product but only partially designed correctly.

TLDR: These work and are a life saver. As long as you follow directions and are careful where you drill.My family moved recently into our first two story home. The only drawback to our dream home, was the extremely noisy second story floors. Upstairs we have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a long hallway. No matter where you put your foot down the floors would squeak, yell, pop, groan and moan.I didn’t want to to rip up carpet, and I didn’t want to have to deal with the subfloors. So after watching videos and reading reviews on this product, I decided to give it a try. After well over 500 screws later all I can say is this product WORKS!Doing the bedrooms and hallway I felt was “safe”. Many other reviewers and “professionals” caution that you shouldn’t drill into your floors without being sure what’s underneath. This is why I decided to stay away from my bathrooms. The floors in the bedrooms and hallway I knew didn’t have any plumbing or wiring underneath.Tips:Read the directions!Use the drill bits to find your studs.Realize that you may have 2 subfloor boards meeting at the stud. So you might have to put a screw a little to the left and another a little to the right of the “center” of the stud.Wear gloves!Wear knee pads!Get a magnetic bit holder for your drill! This will save you from constantly changing from drill bit to driver.Cons:More screws! More screws! More screws!I found more of this screws at my local Home Depot, Menards and Lowes. (Yes I bought out everyone in my area)Also both my stud finder drill bits broke. I think this was due to over heating going in and out of studs. They seemed to have “melted”. Luckily I found another of these kits at Lowes. However, I found the two bits in the pack from Lowes to not be exactly the same as the one I purchased from Amazon. One of the bits from Lowes was snagging and grabbing my carpet. Both of the Amazon bits did not do that.Summary:We lived 2 months with floors that drove us crazy. I spent 3 days of work putting well over 500 of these screws in my floor. I had no issue with the screws, either driving them into the floor or snapping the heads off. I have no holes or markings in my carpet. And now my floors are so quiet it makes me want to cry. Good luck and thanks for reading!