What is the subfloor and how did they install the planks? Nail, staple, cleat, float or glue? What was the vapour barrier?

Usually the "creaking" and "popping" has to do with glue. This leads me to believe the floor has been floated or glue has been used in some way.

For this reason, it is always best to use a professional flooring installer rather than a GC and his "crew" (who also get coffee and move ladders in their spare time). This is an installation issue...not a wood product issue. How ever they have installed this floor is now coming back to haunt you.

I suggest you ask the FIRST company to come in and give a quick opinion. Tell them it isn't their section you are working with...it is someone else and you are looking for their thoughts on what would cause this floor to act differently from one install to another (here's a hint...different install = different result).

Use that information to deal with the GC so that you can suggest (ahem) you can suggest the FIRST company comes in and fixes the problem. Technically the GC is allowed "first kick at the can" to fix an issue. Once the attempt is made (and fails) you know have every right to go ahead and bring in second company to fix the GC's mistakes...on the GCs dime.

But you MUST give the GC the first opportunity to fix this....or they won't owe you a thing.

They used a large roll of black paper as the barrier. I'm pretty sure the wood was nailed in. The subfloor is plywood. Those three things are just like the rest of the wood in the house. Our contractor had a specific floor crew that did this part of the job. But they demonstrated a poor attitude towards us and it seems they may have cut corners.

I totally understand needing to give the GC first stab at the problem, but I would LOVE to avoid having him back here. Thank you for your suggestion on getting the first company's opinion.

Black underlay seems to indicate asphalt paper which would be correct. Nailed you say? How interesting. Are the sounds a popping type noise as you walk on the floor in the area you are stepping on? If floor is nailed it should be fastened extremely tight. I would first read the instructions for the product and see what's reccommended and then ask the 'flooring' company what fasteners they actually used. If you don't get answers or don't like what your hearing call the NWFA and get an inspector out. It sounds like yet another uncertified installing crew. Inspector will help you get resolve.
Good luck.

Thanks. I looked up "cleats"-- I think it was probably cleats, not nails.

I suppose you could say it's a popping sort of sound. I made a video of it, looks like I have to put it on YouTube in order to post it here. Not sure if I can do that today. To the eye the floor looks fine as far as tightness. It isn't level. It has a dip and a rise, lengthwise. That is the subfloor. I didn't notice the unlevel issue till after it was installed. But I know that is common.

Always hire NWFA certified installers. Do not hire gc's as they use labourers to install.

Back in March I started a thread expressing my concern over the unlevel floor (which I noticed after the wood was installed). Most people responded that uneven subfloors are super common and that cabinets can still be installed evenly. I had brought my concerns to the GC's attention but he said it'd be fine. Our cabinets look great but then the vertical clearance for the fridge and stove/oven was messed up. Ultimately they fixed the issue by taking up the wood under those appliances and lowering the subfloor in just those spots. The flooring was installed again and the appliances fit.

Anyway, now, based on what you all are saying, it sounds like the uneven subfloor could be causing this stupid noise issue. Our reno was a neverending nightmare that i never want to revisit. Tomorrow a friend is coming over who does remodels. We'll ask what he thinks. Thank you all for your feedback!

You had a hack. He's ruined more than your floors. Having appliances sit on a subfloor is an expensive mistake that will bite you come replacement. Sounds like you need to document all of these deficiencies and file a complaint with the licensing board.

I agree wit Sophie. Get an inspector out. You have been the victim of a hack GC. Not sure why GC's always think they can install wood floors. Anyways installations should be left to the certified pros. Start a claim against the GC. An inspection will help kick it off and usually the threat of a well documented inspection is enough to get that GC to buck up. If not take him to court.
I wish you well.

I would love to hear what anyone has to offer on my engineered hardwood. I have engineered hardwood on a raised slab in Charleston, SC. The first for me both the raised slab and engineered hardwood. Not only is the floor splitting, losing it’s coating, the scratches are unstoppable and the majority were here from the building process. However, some boards have rough areas and these areas get caught in your socks, by a dust mop, etc. and rip up eventually. The installation was done by a flooring company(I think) and the builder. The top coating is flaking off which seems to be a clear coating. I have never used anything but a very damp mop on these floors and live alone. I don’t roller skate or move furniture around. These floors are a nightmare. The builder which is pretty much a very high end track home builder @ and above the 500,000. does not want to take ownership. Where do I go from here.

Bop SC - "I have never used anything but a very damp mop on these floors". This is a big NO NO. The only time wood likes water is when it is growing. This could be a HUGE factor as to why your floors are cupping, raising, splintering, loosing its protective coating etc. You need to find wood cleaners that are made specially for wood floors. Do not use a product that has a polish or wax in it.
In our experience most 'track home' builders do not put great quality products down for flooring so they can keep pricing down on their homes. If I were you I would find out what product was installed in the home. Then search for the manufacturers warranties. There you will find what methods they recommend for care for their products.

I use a Bona mop but also use plain water for the first round because it seems like my floors never get clean enough. I think it's to do with the worn look of the wood- lots of crevices. In my non expert opinion it sounds like they used really poor quality flooring. I have had no flaming or issues like you described, except scratches, which can be expected. Actually, one weird issue has been that blue painters tape can pull off the finish pretty easily. But we picked the wood and had it in our home before our whole kitchen debacle. I'm sorry for your hardship, I hope it is resolved fairly.

Thank you for your reply. I always use bona, but very little. The ends do not seem to meet and there is separation so afraid the liquid would go below the so called wood. This is what I was told to use by the contractor. I don’t doubt that this is a low grade flooring. I want to send pictures but I can’t get them to upload. Is there a top brand in Engineered hardwood or with laminate. I am going to replace these floors. If I have to walk on the floors with bare feet and ask my company to take their shoes off. I don’t want it. I have only been in the house for a few months. I downsized and had old heat pine in my other home which was beautiful for 20 years and still is.

My shower had to be torn out of the Master Bathroom. During this process the one man crew came in a starting sledge hammering the ceramic tile and grout on to the tile flooring the bathroom as it poured into the hall on the wood and he was tracking it thru to the front door instead of the side door. By the time I came downstairs, not only did he not have any floor covering and the house was a huge grey cloud of dust, ceramic chips and grout. I ended up having to move out for five days. I have no clue what took place after that as I could not walk back in due to allergies.

I do remember the lady cleaning my floors when I came back in and there was a bucket and a mop. Not sure what she had in the bucket and or on the mop.

lfblair768 Bona is decent but you still need to read their labels as some of their products have wax and/or polish in them. We used to sell Bona but a lot of our customers were complaining about streaking after using the product.
The item I sell in our store for wood cleaning is made by Shaw Floors. Great product, have been selling for years with no complaints about streaking. It's called Shaw Hard Surface Floor Cleaner. Worth looking into.

Bop SC Without seeing it first hand, it's hard to say what the problem could be. Very well could be from too much moisture but could also fall back as a manufacturing defect or installation problem... Best bet would be to hire an independent inspector to narrow down actual cause. From there, if determined that you are not the cause of current issues you should have grounds to fight the contractor and/or manufacturer for replacement.

Thank you for your advice and the product information. I will try to find the Shaw Product and recommend it. If you were to recommend a engineered or laminate flooring, would you mind sending information. I know this maybe hard to do online. What type of independent inspector would you use?

How old is the home? How long do you have "builder warranty" or insurance on a new build? If you are inside the material/workmanship warranty you have a place to START!

And you start it with a WRITTEN letter delivered to the BUSINESS address of the builder. There will be a material warranty (which is much longer). This is a warranty you will bring into play once you start the written complaint to the builder. S/he will try to cover their butt by blaming the material. That's when the material warranty gets brought in.

You have a "hand scraped" engineered hardwood on a raised slab in S. Carolina. You have delamination and splitting/checking of boards. I suggest you hire an NWFA Certified wood flooring inspector (www.nwfa.org) to come out and inspect your flooring. This will give your claim added weight to what you have been saying.

If this is improper install (can be put through if the builder installed something that should never have been installed in your situation) then the builder gets to deal with this ALONE. If this is material failure then the flooring manufacturer's warranty comes into play.

Either way you need an impartial, third party who is recognized as an expert in his/her field. That means you need to pay to have an NWFA Cerfified inspector come out and have a look. You pay his/her fee. You OWN the report s/he writes. You get to use that report to back up your claim.

Start today. Start with a written complaint. Get the ball rolling. While you wait for a response, go ahead and contact a local NWFA Certified Inspector to come out to create a report.

And STOP LETTING the cleaning lady use "stuff in a bucket"!!!! This has lead to so many ruined floors it makes me sick to think of it. You are responsible for the cleaning routine of your floor. If you don't know what is in the bucket then you need to ask.

I tell everyone to PURCHASE all the cleaning materials for their home. The cleaner will then USE YOUR PRODUCTS...they leave their buckets and mops in the car!!! That way you control your floor and your home.

lfblair768, what did you find out about your floor? It dismays me that the sound spread over time. We had 650SF of 7" engineered small leaf acacia installed in our second floor bonus room about a month ago. We have a GC who sends all his flooring work to a particular flooring company. Although fairly small operation they have a showroom ect. As we specified they installed 3/4" OSB over the old OSB. They put down a moisture barrier. I think they used nails because the heads I can see at the perimeter of the room are round. At any rate I could hear the nail guns all day. The day after the install I stepped in front of the closet & hear CRACK! You could call it a pop, its really a crack if you ask me but that would be easily confused with the wood cracking, coming apart. Its not doing that, it makes a sound when I step on it. Just now as I walked over to the sofa the floor "popped" in a different spot. Oh Lord, don't tell me this is going to spread across the entire room! When the flooring company was here installing the downstairs solid hardwood, (see todays post titled Industry standard for site finished white oak hardwood, something like that) anyway I mentioned it to the owner/installation supervisor & he was like, "Huh. I don't know what that could be" I asked well what could he do about it & he said "I could hit it with a rubber mallet if you want". Ok. Thanks but no thanks. I have since read it is a glue issue & as you step onto & off the board it pulls away from something underneath....so it's the glue cracking...& you get it. They did use some glue as well as nails. And don't tell me this guy in business for 8 years never heard of engineered floors making this sound. I'm so annoyed. And you have my empathy on the nightmare remodel. We have been 4 months without our entire first floor & as we are finally winding down it will be 1 more month. I am insane. The mess everyone leaves behind, the lack of concern for my belongings, i.e. my front door, the furniture you moved with paint on your hands (in bonus room), showing up when your not supposed to, not showing up when you're scheduled, the GC not checking behind anyone, rather it's me, the men urinating right next to my front stoop, the pizza in the yard, having to come back multiple times to do what you left out, to fix what you did poorly on & on & on. Remodeling is not just stressful like people say. It is a nightmare. And needlessly so. If the tradespeople would just come & do their job. If The GC checked up on them they might stop being slack, the customized folding door system built incorrectly by a major door company so it can't be installed & we are leaving for Christmas in 4 days & I have an 11ft x 7ft hole in the back of my house, the salesman who didn't write a delivery ticket for delivery the second time around so I had to chop off every single person's head I spoke to the day it didn't come until a manager put it in a truck & drove it to my house himself. It just goes on & on. Now I've got double flooring issues. We have a GC & every single job is hired out, but this has been SOOO much work for me. Asking questions & not getting straight answers is going to make me commit Hari Kari. JK. So lfblair how did things turn out with your floor?

"the men urinating right next to my front stoop..." WOW... Never in my life would I accept any of what you just claimed. So sorry to hear of your nightmare. I would have ran them all off by now and followed up by a lawsuit.

7" is a hybrid or full spread type install. Cleats alone will not adequately hold this flooring. Also if the subfloor isn't flat that can be contributing to the noise as well. PL 400 or regular wood glue is not acceptable here. Ms polymer type adhesive is what should be used.

This is what happens when you allow men and women work on your house that can't read instructions.

Contractors pick up these workers every morning and that day they could be the plumber the next they are the electrician, etc, etc.

People always argue cost and they should because it doesn't always mean with quality. Heck some of the biggest Co's have perfect english speaking reps but when the drop the guys off in the AM and hand out Co shirts this is what you get.

Installing anything requires the person to be educated in the field they are presenting themselves as knowing. It is such a huge insult to people like Cancork who obviously knows his stuff.

If it is DIY you can accept some quality issues but if you paid for quality thats what you should get.

Access to underside of subfloor from basement or? Check for nailing pattern.

First thing I would do is log onto the website of the floor MFG and read the instructions yourself and see if there were deviations. Lay a level or any say 4' straight board? or? across the spot and have someone walk on it while you watch if floor dips in that area.

Good luck and have the person who did the rest finish the repairs.