Noisy Floor

dball

I think its the underfloor that is making all the squeaks and horrible noise - I have always presumed it was,

Now i have taken up some of the floor to find that the builder used chip board instead of ply wood when initially fitting the floor (13 - 14 years ago)

OH wants me to put down laminate and reckons we can over the existing floor and we wont hear anything but I'm skeptical -

Its probably impossible to tell without seeing it but what are peoples thoughts on this.

remove everything and fit new plywood and new laminate or go over the lot with an underlay and laminate

Current flooring is solid oak and chipboard sub-floor
Ill have to take more up to see how the chipboard is secured or stuck down - its a bit of a nightmare

peter bermingham

i would say the floor is put down on joists and the chipboard nailed to it, that's where the squeak is coming from the joists have shrunk a small bit. If its a solid oak floor and you can take it up without damaging it do so put down 18mm ply and screw it down and back with the floor. Putting a new one on top of it wont fix the squeak.

Cerco

Chipboard flooring is very common upstairs in houses now. I laid laminate in two bedrooms over chipboard and it was quite successful. Our floor was particularly bad. When we lifted the carpet the chipboard would squeak and flex when walking on it.
First I screwed the chipboard down along the joists using 9” spacing between screws. I put down the underlay and the laminate. I was happy with the result.

If want to see how effective it can be then screw down the chipboard and have somebody walk around on it to compare. The laminate and underlay will give further improvement.
If initial test is unsatisfactory then I would go with the plywood as suggested
above.

dball

The chipboard in on the ground floor and its stuck directly to the subfloor by the looks of things.

Nightmare

you might be right about the upstairs joists but i'm waiting to get the downstairs issues fixed first before I take up to have a look upstairs

Cerco

I would have thought the chipboard would absorb dampness from the subfloor if there was not barrier e.g.polythene sheeting, between them.

It maybe that the oak floor is creaking.
Saying this I know very little about construction, so await some expert opinions.

peter bermingham

Yes then its the oak floor that's squeaking i take it that the floor is not nailed/ glues to the chipboard so its a floating floor if its solid oak that's not a great way of fitting a solid floor they should be either glued down or nailed to joists they can be clipped together with metal spring steel clips that hold the floor together and allow for expansion