Creaking engineered flooring

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pr1970ster

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Hi All,

A few months back with had a refurbishment done on our kitchen/dining,etc, new 18mm plywood subfloor and self leveling compound with underfloor heating and then 15mm floating click together engineered wood flooring ontop of a thin underlay (quicktherm 1.8mm). Over the time the floor has become increasingly noisy with creaking and some vertical movement in places, typically where the most traffic is.
The builder says its to do with the type of flooring we have but it seems to be fine on the majority of areas just worse near the worktop. It actually moves 2-3mm where the kickpanel for the kitchen units are.
Any ideas what I can do,the noise is driving me nuts!
Thanks
 
prepping is the key to good floorwork - eg nothin movin such as subfloor or joists. everythin level.
an the recommended underlay.
is the sub-floor t&g boards or ply?

expansion an contraction sometimes cause noise if thers no built-in expansion gap, typicly about 10 - 15mm, around the floor at all abutments.
or sometimes heavy appliances or units prevent the floor from moving.
take the kickpanels off an see if the unit legs have an expansion gap around them.
 
The subfloor is floorboards, and then thick ply , then about 5mm of levelling compound. The levelling compound was solid as it was down about 2 months before the wood flooring was installed. I didn't notice or check if the levelling compound wasn't in fact level. I just think there maybe a slight drop between the edge and the main area Infront of the worktop.
There is plenty of expansion gap around as there is an island and it doesn't go upto the feet of the units on either side.
Thanks
 
did the ply expansion gaps?
how come you didn't previous check the level of the SLC surface?
is the recomended underlay bein used?
 
Yes ply had expansion gaps but thats fine as we walked on bare cement for a few months before the wood was fitted.
Didnt check the level because i`m not an installer, i`m just a customer who has to try and fix stuff that cowboys install.
yes underlay is for underfloor heating and engineered wood flooring.
thanks
 
UFH could be suspect but would need someone on site to have a proper look.
if the engineered wood is risin an fallin under the plinth(kickpanels) you could rip a few mm's off the plinths
but no guarantees just a possibility that dont get to the root of whats happenin.
any signs of openings appearin between trafficked boards?
 
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