Noisy laminate floors

[daniel3982]

Hi all,

We had laminate floors install throughout our flat 6 months ago & they have been an utter disaster.

Noisy from the start (our floorer said they would settle but they never did).

We went with the Kronotex Herringbone laminate our floorer recommended as well as the 6mm supreme gold acoustic underlay he recommended.

Since then the floors have remained noisy, with too much movement in them & some boards are starting to rise up above the next board a little.

The manufacturer said that it wasn’t their recommended underlay & that we should go back to the floorer.

After many many months he eventually came back & relaid the floor in the smallest room, using the recommended underlay.

He said he was performing an experiment where he left half the room floating & glued the other half at the edges to see which was noisier, & to get back with him with an answer.

Whilst both are quieter than the original floor, the glued side was quieter still so got back to him with this information.

Now he’s saying this proves it wasn’t the underlay & he knows it’s not his installation so we should take it up with the manufacturer, & that he’ll only come back again if we pay him.

We’re really at our wits end. We spent all our savings on this floor & just had a baby. The noise of the floor is making it impossible to get around the flat without waking the baby.

We’ve tried contacting over floorers but they’ve said they don’t get involved in others work. We’re at our wits end.

 

[DiyNutJob]

An underlay that yields too much would cause the floorboards to flex and rub. Gluing helps, but wrong underlay doesn't. If they used the wrong underlay, they should redo with the right underlay. If they refuse, that's a separate issue.

 

[daniel3982]

They’re saying the fact there is still some noise on the unglued bit they redid shows it’s not the underlay that is the issue & are refusing to redo it unless we pay them more.

 

[DiyNutJob]

They used non-recommended underlay. Whether it works is beside the point. May be contact your council fair trade enforcer. That may be scary enough for your floorer to yield.

 

[Mottie]

Noisy in what way? when you walk on them in just socks? Laminate floors are usually noisy - personally I wouldnt like them if the flat above had them!

 

[daniel3982]

If I could attach a video here I would. It’s like walking on a foot of fresh snow with every step, with the movements in the boards. We’re a ground floor flat so it’s not the neighbours it’s us, but we wouldn’t be able to sell the flat like this it’s that bad.

 

[DiyNutJob]

I used the following for up stairs (chipboard floor) or down stairs (concrete floor) for 10's of years. Never had problems with it. Regardless of the underlay, walking on laminate with hard soled shoes should be avoided.

2mm Polyethylene foam Laminate & wood Underlay roll, 20m² | DIY at B&Q

This polyethylene foam underlay suitable for use with laminate and wood flooring. It helps level uneven floors and provides sound insulation.

www.diy.com

 

[dazlight]

The product will creak unless the sub floor is completely flat.

 

[kikixxxx]

Hi. It’s the kronotex herringbone floor because we had exactly the same issue. If you actually google “kronotex herringbone laminate creaking” you will see the amount of issues people have with it cracking / creaking / popping.

We had 70sqm of it laid to our entire downstairs and it was like walking on Rice Krispies. We rang the manufacturer in Germany and they told us it was our subfloor or our underlay. I assured them our subfloor was brand new, level screed and gave them the opportunity to send someone out to take a look for themselves, surprise surprise they didn’t take me up on my offer.
I did a video showing the floor on a variety of types of underlays ( green fibre board, 3mm silver backed insulation, you name it) with every type of underfloor the floor still creaked. Proving it’s a manufacturer issue and nothing to do with external factors

The place I bought it from, I went on their tagged instagram photos and messaged people direct who had also installed the same floor, every single one came back to me confirming theirs also creaks and sent me videos. I can forward these onto you if it helps. But yeah, I actually feel sorry for your fitter because he hasn’t done anything wrong. The product should not be allowed on the market, kronotex are aware of the issues and still continue to sell this product. Utterly disgraceful.

The creaking was so bad we ended up pulling the whole floor up and chucking it in the bin. We bought a new floor and then had to pay the fitter again. We lost out by around 4500£ at least. I was in tears for weeks and hit such a low point due to the stress. It’s disgusting they can do this to people.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Might it be due to no expansion gaps having been left, around the perimeter? With no gaps, it can expand, push against the walls, and raise up in the middle. You walk on it, and down it goes, bubbling up somewhere else, making noise as it does.

 

[kikixxxx]

Not in my case as we had expansion gaps around the perimeter of the room. Wish I could upload a video here!

 

[Koolpc]

Think you will need to bite the bullet and replace the flooring if confirmed it is indeed a bad product...

 

[robinbanks]

ended up pulling the whole floor up and chucking it in the bin

Which bin? If it's still there I'll go pick it up..

Next time see if there is an appetite for selling it second hand; doesn't sound like it had a lot of use and I'd have paid for it..

 

[kikixxxx]

Did you not read the full post? There is a manufacturing fault with the floor with causes it to creak. There is reviews all over the internet with people saying the same thing. Why would I sell that on to some other poor customer?

 

[robinbanks]

Why would I sell that on to some other poor customer?

Because if you make it clear, then the choice to purchase is theirs, and their tolerance for the noise it makes may well be vastly different to yours