Locating Floor Joists Under Carpet

Some stud finders have a deep penetrating settings that might find a joist through carpet.

Locating floor joists under carpet.

For example if you need to repair a squeaky floor you will need to be able to find the locations of joists in order to correct the problem. I want to know where the floor joists are inside a small closet because i may need to make an additional trap door to access the crawl space nearby under our kitchen. Just the way you need to find a wall stud before you can attach anything to a wall you need. Instead of locating the floor joists by sound you can use a stud joist finder designed for floors.

Locating floor joists under carpet. The joists should be at the squeak you just need to determine the direction of the joists. Typically this is the shorter distance between exterior walls unless there are interior load bearing walls used to break up the span. How to find joists for laying hardwood floor.

5 once you find a floor joist measure over 16 inches and locate the next joist. Or if separating floor from subfloor is causing the creak drive two nails at opposite 45 degree angles into joists which you can locate with a stud finder. I purchased the squeak no more and i was using the joist finder bit in numerous spots in the upstairs bedroom their instructions were that if you reverse the bit it should bring the drill back up automatically if you were on a joist. The wooden beams that support a subfloor are called joists.

We have had a frozen waterpipe there and i want to check for damage to the pipe a. Floor joists are the mainstay of any flooring that is in your home. 8 drive screws into all the joists within the. After all joists are essentially just large studs in the floor.

Do not use a standard wall stud finder on floors since the readings will not be accurate. 7 use the drill driver to drive a scored screw down through center of fixture until the screw bottoms out. Fortunately if your stud finder has a deep scanning option you can use it to find the joists under the carpet. If you can feel a soft spot in the floor under the carpet the subfloor has likely been weakened or damaged.

6 press the tripod shaped alignment and depth control fixture firmly into the carpet directly over the joist. They are put in specifically to hold up a subfloor that is then used as the. How to find a floor joist under the carpet. Hi i was wondering if anyone has a good way to find joists under the carpet.

This isn t the same as having a floor squeak when you step on it which simply indicates that the subfloor isn t tightly fastened to the floor joist in one area.