flooring standard

Simba-ali34

Hello,

So i have recently purchased a new build shared ownership property, overall the snagging issues seem to be limited (so far!) but i do have one issue that i'm not sure is acceptable or not. ....The squeaks and cracking sounds coming from some of the floors. I have reported a big squeak in one of the bedrooms with the builder who is coming in a few weeks to put more screws in the floorboard (this one is really bad)

My main question is what kind of standard can i expect from new build floors? i don't want to be overly critical noticing every little creak and report them if there is minimal chance they will do anything, plus there is the issue of carpets which are fully fitted and a pain to take up. Are a couple of low squeaks to be expected and lived with? and how likely are they to get worse? also the the level of noise you hear in the rooms underneath seems to be worse than previous houses ive lived in (1980s), is this common in houses being built 2016/2017?

Kind Regards

anselld

In a newbuild house it will be chipboard flooring. They only speak if they have not been glued together as their should be. Unfortunately this error is impossible to rectify afterwards. More screws may help but it's a bodge.

Mutton_Geoff

Chipboard flooring is awful and a cheap construction method. It is very difficult to get up in the event you want to run something under later (new heating, satellite cables, alarm cables etc). Especially if the builder had put glue on the joists.

A bit disruptive but pulling carpets and relaying is not that bad but any remedy will be a bodge. The skirtings will have gone in after the chipboard so a proper job will involve removing and replacing them as well.

A friend who bought a new build in London (ie expensive so he had the budget), pulled up all the upstairs chipboard and replaced with proper seasoned floorboards to get rid of the creaking.

Simba-ali34

One area it's awful, I definitely want that sorted. Are chipboard floors common in new builds? Im Assuming creaking and squeaky floors is quite a common occurance these days then? Also I have a creak on one of the winders, I hear new build stairs are awful. Can stairs buckle?

hazyjo

I was going to mention the stairs - that's the thing I notice with newer houses. My last house wasn't too bad, but the one we viewed before it on the same estate was horrendous! Actually, that alone was enough to put me off (although there were other factors). The floors in mine were fine although I have no idea what flooring was used.


I would definitely be getting them to try and sort it. I'm sure it's the sort of thing that will get progressively worse. What are these houses all going to be like in 50 years' time?!

Simba-ali34

Yea that's what I was thinking, if I am getting creaks after 3 months it doesn't fill me with much hope for the next 40 years!

ToasterScheme

Simba-ali34 wrote: »

One area it's awful, I definitely want that sorted. Are chipboard floors common in new builds? Im Assuming creaking and squeaky floors is quite a common occurance these days then? Also I have a creak on one of the winders, I hear new build stairs are awful. Can stairs buckle?

Yep - chip floors are almost ubiquitous in new builds, and as others have said, forget about making alterations to wiring or plumbing! [Well you'll have to cut the floor out and replace it. It can be easier to hack holes in the ceiling below because that's actually easier (and better) than splitting your floor - you don't walk on the ceiling after all.]

Worst case, the floor has been nailed down, rather than screwed. The boards can slide up and down any loose nails much more readily - with horrendous scraping noise. Adding screws will help a lot if this is what you've got.

Finally, yes stairs can buckle. Watch closely as a heavy friend walks up and down. Movement is not a major problem, but it makes sealing the crack between the side of the stairs and the wall very difficult - you'll need very flexible sealing material and a very wide bead of it.

Alban17

Hi Simba ,
Nhbc allow for some noise from floors and stairs it is not measurable so comes down to what is reasonable.
Chipboard floors are not the problem ,the boards are laid on an expanding glue any screws or nails are simply to hold the boards until the glue sets.
Putting further screws in will have no effect . Most floor sqeaks are not from the floor but the wall . Have someone stand on the area of floor and rock to make the noise then place your ear to all of the internal walls. These are constructed of metal studwork .

Kind regards A

G_M

My god I'm glad I live in an old house.......!

Lots of ongoing maintenance involved but at least the quality is good & solid.

AlexMac

To answer the OP- No; creaks in floors and staircases are not acceptable in a properly constructed new-build, and
Yes, the builder should remedy this, ideally by securing whatever is moving; the timber planks or chipboard sheets which form the sub-floor or (hopefully not) the joists on which they sit.

I've just had such a new floor fitted as part of a garage conversion to a room; chipboard tongue and groove on new timber joists with an airpace below. That's a perfectly normal way to build a floor despite the comment above, and in my case, 6 months after fitting. it's rock solid despite being quite a large room, with a 6 metre span

But we don't live in a perfect world and in the end, we often put up with a certain degree of minor incompetence! In your case, it'll probably be down to how hard you push, and whether is fix is feasible or easy.

You don't say what floor covering you have over the chipboard upstairs. I suspect it's laminate(rather than carpet or vinyl) if you're getting noise transmission? In which case, short of pulling up the laminate to expose the sub-floor, it will be a tricky job to stabilise whatever's moving.

Although pulling up laminate is no big deal - you can re-floor an average room for £150-250, including fibreboard underlay which, if it's decent thiskness, should help a bit with the noise, although heavy carpet and decent underlay will help more!

And as regards you, Mr smugboots Tea and Cake man..

G_M wrote: »

My god I'm glad I live in an old house.......!
Lots of ongoing maintenance involved but at least the quality is good & solid.

Yah sucks boo! I moved from a rock-solid 175 year old property to my current 30-year old one so I know what you mean! It's a nice change to have walls which are flat and perpendicular, but the upstairs floorboards and the staircase itself moved and creaked like a ship under sail. I put up with it- you forget its a problem after a while, but then, when replacing carpets and laying laminate, discovered the reason.

As plumbers are no respectors of carpenters, whoever had fitted the central heating had lifted the neatly laid upstairs floorboards to run pipes... then relaid most of them loose; 50% of the nails were missing, so I had to repalce them, this time with screws. This was a hassle, as you had to pull virtually the whole floor up to locate pipe-runs to avoid perforating them! Took all day!

The original 20-year past carpet fitters were no better; in banging that staple gun hammery nailer-thingy to secure the underlay and grippers, they' broken the joints of every "riser" on the cheap timber staircase, so most of the treads were floating! Took me another day to bodge a repair with glue, gripfill and brackets to stop (most of) the creaks and groans

Hopefully your builder wasn't that bad?

Alban17

timber floors and staircases naturally
shrink as they dry. As this drying occurs,
it may result in squeaking components
as they move against each other. This is
natural and to be expected, and cannot
be totally eliminated.
Above is an extract from nhbc standards it is freely available on line .
I carry out remedial work on squeaky floors on a regular basis and it is nothing new . Some problems can be fixed within an hour others may take all day .
The span is less important, joist sizes are calculated and all sizes allow for a deflection. If the room is empty above and below this will less of a problem than a room with metal studwork walls above and below. These offer no structural support yet they are subject to being compressed or being pulled .
It can be many other things which cause squeaky floors but this is the most common.

Regards A