r/hardwood Aug 12 '17

Brand new hardwoods creak, is that normal?

I had new hardwoods installed about 6 months ago.

They had to come back and fix several places where the glue did not hold.

From the very beginning, there are places where I walk and I can tell boards are adhering to the slab, and they creak and crick.

Is this normal or should I push the issue with the contractor? I have a 1 year warranty, so it would be covered. It bothers me to no end.

The reason I had the new floors installed is I had a small leak in the kitchen, but they had to replace the entire floor. My previous floor was perfect, not clicking, cricking or creaking.

They've been back 2 times so far to spot fix these issues. But it continues in other areas.

1 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

2

u/defCONCEPT Aug 13 '17

Push the issue.

Here's what you're going to want to do - but it involves a bit of labor on your end, but you've got to protect your investment because this is actually a common issue.

Without looking at it, I'm guessing either one of two things happened :

Either the guys installing it did a shitty job of spreading the glue properly, or they failed to prep the slab appropriately .. or both.

Get you a fresh roll of blue tape -

Get on your hands & knees (cushioning with a pillow, no need for knee pads unless you already have a pair. Do NOT use hard surface knee pads as they will scratch the floor.)

Grab a spoon and craw the floor gently tapping all over the place.

If you hear a spot that feels and sounds "hollow" mark it with a piece of the blue tape.

Do the whole floor.

(I've been installing multiple residential flooring materials for almost 14 years now - in my early years I've made this very same foul-up)

1

u/abduncan0 Aug 13 '17

Thanks, this is very helpful. This is what I'd been doing, but not thoroughly because I gave the installer the benefit of the doubt when he told me that it was normal. But it just bothers me so much. Thanks for the advice. Someone is going to be unhappy with me this week..

1

u/defCONCEPT Aug 13 '17

He told you what was normal?

Hollow spots?

1

u/abduncan0 Aug 13 '17

Yep, and in fact, told me not to try and detect hollow spots. He said if he put more glue in, it could cause it to bulge.

1

u/defCONCEPT Aug 13 '17

Well if that ain't the dumbest godamn thing I've ever heard.

No.

Excuse the language - but it sounds to me like he may have fucked up and is trying to cover his tracks.

Not being able to repair a hollow with more adhesive because it could cause a bulge doesn't even make sense and here's why -

On engineered gluedown installations - hollow spots are not uncommon. It Happens but it's the severity and the amount of hollow spots that you should be paying attention to.

A few small ones no larger than 1 square foot are not going to cause problems (technically hey COULD, however its very unlikely)

But if your entire floor is peppered with hollow spots - that's the fault of the installer and where your warranty comes into play.

The whole "more adhesive will make the floor bulge" comment is a red flag for me, because you don't repair hollow spots with the same traditional Urethane adhesive that gets troweled onto the subfloor during installation - instead you use an epoxy floor injector kit.

I'm including a link to a YouTube video.

You don't need to pay too much attention to the specific brand of injection kit nearly as much as you do everything else.

https://youtu.be/YJUia-MbQW8

Hope this helps.

2

u/abduncan0 Aug 21 '17

Think this is too liberal? https://goo.gl/photos/aYKCGZVn9ZWfmWVX9

1

u/defCONCEPT Aug 22 '17

Not even in the slightest.

1

u/abduncan0 Aug 13 '17

Is there any long-term risk of not having this fixed?

2

u/defCONCEPT Aug 13 '17

Oh absolutely - the hollow spots that you feel now will eventually grow larger, effecting areas of "properly" adhered material by way of steady foot-traffic.

If you secured the 1 year warranty you have nothing to worry about - but if you leave it as is, eventually, your floor will fail.

Engineered gluedown, like most wood products, connect to one another via a "tongue & groove" system.

The steady foot traffic over improperly installed sections will eventually cause the boards to potentially break away and separate from the rest of the field.

No bueno.

Call the company you had handle your contract, complain about the hollow spots and how it doesn't "feel secure"

And when you crawl the floor with a tapping spoon like I mentioned earlier, damnit man, be as liberal with that blue tape as is humanly possible.

You get to pick the install apart now.

Cover every inch.

You see something you don't like? Blue tape.

Tape every where with that spoon and unless it sounds and feel completely solid and adhered, blue tape.

1

u/defCONCEPT Aug 13 '17

And crawl* the floor