Creaking Floating Floors - is there a fix?

[Bradd]

Hello all,

This is my first post on the forum and I need some help.

We recently installed floating timber floors in our apartment and they are creaking badly.

They were high quality Australian Timber floors (Unique Timber Flooring) and intstalled by a professional using regupol underlay.

While I have seen a few comments that the creaking can be expected this is extreme and I would like to ask if there is any fix out there to reduce or stop the creaking.

I saw on another site that sprinkling talc on the gaps may assist but I want to confrim before I go and make the mess!!!

Any help would be most appreciated.

Cheers

Brad

[madrat]

Hi Brad,
I understand completely what you are talking about.
We laid our floating floor on Boxing Day and it creaked massively to the point where we pulled it all up and have now called in the professionals.
We were told it was because our floor levels were out, but know that the floating floors have a 3mm tolerance to this.
I had heard about the talc solution too, but have not had first hand experience with this as yet.
We won't know the outcome of our creaky floor until it is laid in February.
They do say that you have to expect some sort of creakiness, but if you are anything like me, the slightest noise is too much.
When we experienced the creakiness, I jumped on several websites questioning this and found that quite a few people had the same problem, but had their floors installed professionally. That is where i first heard about the talc.
Is your floor 'no glue' at all? Ours was.
Hope you get the advice that works for you, as I know how much our floor situation is stressing us, especially when you consider the expense to get the stuff laid.

[Geebung]

I have tried the talcum powder trick - and it worked...but watch out for super slippery floors for a little while after.

[123]

This could be from a number of things,

uneven slab
poor joining system
no PVA used in joins when it should be (some types don't require it though)
Wrong PVA used, or not enough, the pva must be a cross linked pva so they it is flexible and does not crystallize. Many places try and save a few dollars and use ?????? normal pva!

or in some cases the floor has been laid too tight ( not enough expansion)

if it was installed by a professional, you should first go back to them and ask them!

[madrat]

If you're still out there Bradd, was wondering how you went with your creaky floor boards?
We finally got ours laid last week by a professional, who did a great job.
Still creaky though to which we were told by both the floor layer and a supplier to expect a little of this until it settles down.
We found that it creaks more when the room is cold and has not been walked on for a couple of hours???
For example if it has been a cool day and we come home from work, then the creak is quite obvious (and noisy), but seems to settle once we have walked over it.
At least we now know that the creak we first heard when we attempted laying it ourselves wasn't from our 'amateur' laying skills. Although glad we spent the money to have the professionals do it.
Much more to it than 'lay and click'. Tricks of the trade I guess!!
One query I do have, if anyone can help, is that there are a couple of glue spots left behind on the floor boards, but need to know what is 'safe' on the boards to remove them.
The floor boards are a high gloss bamboo laminate, so we need to be careful not to remove the shine. Any suggestions?
Cheers