Our new build 20 years ago had some settling. We called in a structural engineer who advised on how to correct it and the builder fixed it as the house was still under warrantee.

If you are building where county/state inspectors 'have' to inspect during the building process, talk to them.

"and they nailed through the carpet"

Yeah that will fix it..................

"If you are building where county/state inspectors 'have' to inspect during the building process, talk to them."

They are not better than to the bare minimum of the building code 95% of the time. They look for obvious issues and from the sounds of what you have found is not going to be a code issue.

I agree with millworkman. I don't think you have a code issue, I think you have a performance issue with your floor.

Squeak free floors can't be guaranteed because wood framing and subfloor will move with seasonal changes in temperature and humidity-- particularly during the first year after construction when they are adjusting to the conditions inside the home.

With respect to floor stiffness, performance is subjective; some people are very sensitive to any amount of bounce in a floor. Depending on the particular joists and subfloor installed, and the joist spans and centers, you may have a code-compliant floor, but one that has an objectionable bounce to it.

With respect to any out of level condition, if there is a performance standard referenced in your contract or in the builder's warranty, that should spell out what is considered a defect and what the builder is obligated to do to correct it. As a point of reference, the NASCLA Residential Performance Standard (March 2009) specifies that floors should not be more than 1/4" out of plane in a 32" measurement parallel to the joists for wood and ceramic floors and not more than 1/2" for carpeted floors.

Was the hime built to the lowest possible code standard instead of to a higher standard? Well, you’ll get deflection. Because it was designed for carpet and vinyl, not wood, and certainly not for tile.

It may or may not be a deflection issue. Could be poor fastening of the subfloor to the joists.

I have exactly that problem with my home but we bought a spec house and i didn't notice until we moved in. We screwed through from above to stop the squeek.

I knew it wasn't just me when it turned out that fixing the uneven second floor subfloors to prep for hardwood floors would have been beyond my cosmetic remodel budget. I had to go with carpet. Since you are building, get it fixed to your standards.

I agree to get this fixed now and what the heck would nailing through the carpet fix.

The floors slope or they don't. You can find out with a $50.00 water level. How much slope is acceptable is debatable, whether they slope or not isn't.

Perfect plumb, level, and square are attributes that are approached in residential construction only within some acceptable tolerance level. In my view, written performance guidelines are in the best interest of builders and clients alike. That way everyone is on the same, well, page.

There could be a range of reasons for what you are describing.

One common source of the floor movement and squeeking you describe is that the framers did not use glue when attaching the subfloor ply or OSB. In addition they may have nailed the subfloor to the floor joists instead of screwing. Or not.

What does the builder say about the areas which move and squeek?

@Tqtqbtw, same thing happened to us. Only the downstairs slab was equally uneven and the tilers neglected to inform us who were new to this sort of thing. So we are stuck with carpet upstairs and not the greatest tile install downstairs. Far too pricey to do anything now considering all the must do stuff along the way that’s eaten into equity.

Sounds like it was a track builder? They build as 'cheap' as possible as they can get away with to make the most profit.

"tract".............................

It amazes me that Sophie was banned but Robin is allowed to continue to post.

Bring in independent flooring experts. You can't rely on the guys who you're criticizing to give you an unbiased opinion on their own performance.

You can argue with independent flooring experts. You cannot argue with a water level.

Measuring level (or lack thereof) is not difficult and it's an objective measurement. The question is, at what point does an out-of-level condition trigger corrective action on the builder's part and what should that action be?

All this squeeking is getting on my nerves!

mill......OK.....it didn't show it was misspelled when I typed it. I'm not a great speller even tho my Mom was an English teacher. I really like 'spell ck'.

Very gracious of you robin. “Anyone who can think of only one way to spell the word has no imagination.” Mark Twain.

" . . . I'm not a great speller . . . "

You know you might make a good architect.

Try to read something where the spelling is erratic, like Chaucer. It's quite difficult and is the reason for standardized spelling.

I gues flex ability in speling goes alongue wit create tivity witch goes alongue wit colouring out side the lynes. I feeel better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Charles Ross, thank you for making my point.

U R Well come!

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Charles Ross Homes, you mentioned the NASCLA Residential Performance Standard, and I just looked that up. Is that something the builders should follow? We are meeting with them next week, and I’d like to make sure I read up on this, maybe bring a copy with me. Is there anything I should look for for the state of Texas?

We bought this home at 90% complete and could make no changes. We lived out of town at the time, and noted many things that needed to be fixed but closed anyway and agreed to fix while we go. The floor was not something we noticed until living here about a month. A month in, we enclosed a space to make a study, and opened a pony wall in the process. There was all kinds of trash in there- bags, bottles and cans.

Hi, Suzanne,

I can't speak to requirements in your area. Here in Virginia, builders are obligated to comply with the statewide building code and Virginia's statutory warranty requirements for new homes. These are intended mainly to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the general public, and, to a lesser extent to mandate certain energy efficiency/sustainability requirements are met.

I submit that it is in both a builder's and homeowner's interest to incorporate a written performance standard in any construction contract. The standard should define quality defects and the specific actions the builder should take to to remedy them.

A number of years ago the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) produced Residential Construction Performance Guidelines for Professional Builders & Remodelers. The NAHB Guidelines are now in their fifth edition. The National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies (NASCLA) produced a somewhat similar set of performance guidelines in 2009. In contrast to building codes, these performance guidelines are intended as standards for addressing quality-related issues.

Your builder may not be obligated to follow either of the above performance guidelines, but they equip you with a reasonable and actionable quality standard you can use to help argue your point.

Was wondering how this situation turned out? Dealing with a similar issue and I'm not sure where to start.

Same. Any solutions here?