We don't need no squeakin' boards!

I don't know how you celebrated Memorial Day, but I know how to show the girls a good time!

We temporarily moved the stove, refrigerator and one small cabinet and removed the vinyl flooring and underlayment under them and in front of several of the floor cabinets. As usual, there were a million staples imbedded in the plywood floor that had to be pulled out with pliers. As you can see, some of the staples were flattened and had to be hammered into a vertical position for pulling.

 Amanda developed a clever technique for leveraging the staples out with minimal time and effort. She claimed to be able to pull about 6 staples a minute this way.

I drilled pilot holes and installed 2" deck screws to tie down the plywood to the joists, completely eliminating all of the squeaks that we've lived with for years. The builder used nails instead of screws to secure the plywood, and over time the boards loosened up and any movement against the nails caused the squeaks. We have about 1/3 of the kitchen floor secured now.