Dear Gary: We have a squeaky floor in an upstairs room in our home and it has carpet over the old flooring. Is there some way we could stop it from squeaking? - Should a Squeaky Floor Get the Grease?

Dear Squeaky: If you remove the carpet and pad you could fasten the floorboards onto the floor joists with screws. You also could lay new plywood on top of the old floor, attaching it with glue and wood screws. Afterward, you could re-lay the carpet. Hopefully, this would take care of the squeaking. If you don’t want to remove the carpet you could try to locate the floor joists near the squeak and put an 8d finish nail through the carpet into the floor and fasten it to the floor joist. Set the nail below the carpet and pad with a small nail set. An electronic stud finder could help you locate the joist. (They will actually work through carpet.)

Dear Gary: My eaves trough is away from my trim board and when we have a light rain, the water runs behind it instead of into it. What can I do to direct the water into the gutter? - Gutter Snipes

Dear Gutter: If you have a K-type gutter system or galvanized half-round with strap hangers, attach stainless-steel screws to the face board (or fascia), to move the gutter closer to the fascia. You can also cut aluminum flashing into long lengths and push them under the first course of shingles and let the piece lay into the gutter. But, beforehand, get roof cement in a caulking tube and shoot some of the cement under the shingles to hold the flashing in place. The water will run down the roof, across the flashing and into the gutter. You can use this method with fascia-type hangered gutters.

TIP OF THE DAY . . .

It’s Wise to Winterize

It’s getting at cold at night, and there are a few things you should be doing to get ready for winter. Bring in that garden hose to the basement for storage. Clean your furnace and change the filters. Put away the patio furniture. Rake leaves and so on . . . See you next month, and please write with more of your questions.

Carpenter Gary Ranck is a sales representative for Brookside Homes. You can contact him or submit a question at askgary@mountainhomemag.com.