SQUEAKING FLOORS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30534, 1 September 1964, Page 14

SQUEAKING FLOORS

Causes Are Few And Known

However mystifying the causes of wooden floors squeaking might appear to be. they are few and are known, says Mr T. A. Foley, of the Forest Service, in an article in the Timber Development Association’s bulletin. “They can be remedied, sometimes with difficulty and at high cost, but they should be avoided in the first place,” the article said. Squeaks in wooden floors were generally caused by an inordinate amount of movement between the tongue of one board and the grove of an adjacent board- but as the fault could be manifested in various forms, the most effective remedy could not be determined until the cause had been ascertained by careful inspection. Builders, timber merchants and property owners should be aware that their appetite for heart matai and heart rimu could no longer be appeased. The resources were far too slender. There was however, a wide range of satisfactory flooring timbers available, including tawa, red beech, silver beech taraire and radiata and Corsican pines. Water was the principle source of trouble with timber the article said, which recommended that builders invest in a moisture meter, “To the enlightened builder, this is an essential “tool of trade.”

New Leader:—Mr Luigi Longo, aged 64, has been elected secretary-general of the Italian Communist Party in succession to the late Mr Palmiro Togliatti. Rome, August 28.)