Creaking floors in a new house are a common source of annoyance for new owners. But what can be done about it?
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A common fault in most new build houses is creaking floors, they can be a source of huge annoyance especially when you can follow movement by the creaks in the flooring above you.
The term used to describe this in the industry is micro cracking, which describes a defect within the floor or ceiling construction causing the floor and plasterboard ceiling below to crack and creak. In some cases, this noise can be extreme.
There are many reasons why you have creaking floorboards making it difficult to identify the root cause, such as Improperly installed hangers, poorly connected partition walls, floor panels that were installed wet, nails that are rubbing against the joist, mechanical systems rubbing against the joist etc, these can all cause the floor to creak.
Rectifying creaking floors can be disruptive and expensive for the homeowner and may even lead to them having to move out of their home until the issue is resolved.
A full investigation should be carried out by the builder to identify what is the cause and the necessary remedial action they should carry out to rectify it, if necessary, using a specialist subcontractor to carry out the work.
If you are experiencing creaking floorboards, it should be brought to the attention of your builder.
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My floor boards are creaking it’s a new build only in since June .
Please can you give me advise
Thanks
Hi Linda, what you have is called micro cracking and needs to be reported to your developer to rectify. There are a number to f causes but the most common one is insufficient glue on the flooring joints.
I hope this helps.
Kind Regards
Ian
My new build house has some serious cracking and unstable bathroom/hallways/bedroom floors, but the builder is claiming those are normal and they won’t do anything bout it as it’s standard. It’s a nightmare noise, not just a creaking sound and the hole area seems very unstable. What can I do?
Hi Alicia,
Microcracking is not normal and your developer should rectify it, I would raise it with your warranty provider.
Best Regards
Ian
Hi Ian. I called the NHBC as we seems to have exactly the same issue as described and I have been told that if I don’t have visible damage to the cealing than they cannot do anything and I would not have a claim. I told them that is not good enough their explanation. The noise is two out of 5 rooms upstairs is so annoying and loud that I feel it will fall down. What do you suggest I should do ?
Hi Eunika,
Sorry for the late reply, how disappointing that the NHBC don’t want to do anything, micro-cracking is a problem within the industry. I would keep on at your developer and the NHBC, check out the consumer code for new build homes, here is a link:
https://www.consumercodefornewhomes.com/
I hope this helps.
Ian
I moved into an old property in August which has recently been developed and split into a number of apartments/houses. New floors have been fitted throughout because the building was a shell. I’ve bought this house but one room has started to get a creaking floor. Would this be up to the developer to rectify?