In Florida, squeaky second-floor bedrooms have become a recurring service issue for builders of two-story homes in the region. Eliminating this problem in an existing home is considerably more difficult and expensive than preventing it in the first place, so after hearing from builders about floor squeaks, NHQ Certified trade contractor SelectBuild Integrated Construction Services incorporated hot spot training to reduce warranty calls on squeaking floors.

As part of their corporate-wide quality assurance program, SelectBuild sought to modify any field installation processes that may have contributed to post-closing floor squeak concerns raised by the builders' customers. Movement of a wood framing member against a metal structural hanger is a common cause of a noticeable floor squeak. In this case, floor trusses set in buckets with glue was identified as the cause for the additional noise. Over time, and in the hot Florida weather, the glue would crack and separate and eventually cause the floor to creak.

To resolve the issue, SelectBuild found that wrapping the end of the wood trusses with paper instead of glue will significantly reduce floor creaking after occupancy of the homeowner. The correction process was described for work crews with the use of hot spot training. Hot spot training incorporates a graphic tool that depicts the right and the wrong way of performing certain routing field construction tasks. While typically presented in both English and Spanish, the visual cues of hot spot training are most helpful to overcome language barriers on the jobsite.

The graphically oriented “hot spot” training sheet used for implementing this simple process change is shown here. For more information, contact Jeff Taggart of the NHQ Certified Trade Contractors program at jtaggart@nahbrc.org.

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