My Sob Story -Concrete Sub Floor, Silent Blue Underlayment, Home Legend Laminate
The title says it all, this is my sob story - My brother in law and I have been working on and off for the last 5 days on doing the floor in my condo. We've installed roughly 600sq ft of Home Legend 7MM brazillian cherry Brazilian Cherry 7mm T x 7 9/16in. W x 50 5/8in. L Laminate Click-Lock Flooring - HL88 at The Home Depot over SilentBlue Underlayment Welcome To SILENT BLUEUnderlayment.com! This was laid down on concrete subfloor. Here's the ordeal. My condo had shaw laminate already in the kitchen and entry way and carpet in the hallway and living room. We tore out the old laminate and installed the Home Legends flooring over the existing underlayment since it was good condition. The kitchen install went great. We used the silent blue underlayment in the entry way and the living room. For the most part it is ok, but there is a roughly 4ft wide by room length section near my wall that has the fire place where the floor is crackling horribly...It is not something I can live with. The area making the noise is the starting wall, so basically to fix anything, I have to take everything out again. I've read everything on here from using Self Leveling Compound Custom Building Products LevelQuik RS Rapid Setting Self-Leveling Underlayment 50 Lb. - LQ50 at The Home Depot To roofing felt FGUR30 15 Lb. Felt Quality Roof Deck Protection - FGUR30 at The Home Depot And roofing shingles acting as shims? I also read that dust or dirt could make these sounds...Just how clean does everything have to be? I swept and vacuumed regularly through the install, but I suppose there may be some dust left? I called SilentBlue today and their operations manager said to leave in it for a week and see what happens, that their underlayment is good at filling in flaws....I don't want to do that, i want a real fix. We've been trying to complete this to have the condo ready to host Thanksgiving for our families, my wife and I were just married in September, and I'm concerned this will ruin those plans. Can I put the roofing felt all over the room under the silent blue? Do I just do it in areas? If there are peaks and valleys in the subfloor, is the self leveling compound the only way to fill the dips? How do i deal with high points? Going into this I would just like some advice and support from the forums. but there is a roughly 4ft wide by room length section near my wall that has the fire place where the floor is crackling horribly Is the fireplace being used? Hard to guess from my seat, but I thought I'd throw this out. The floor could be shrinking because of the heat? But then you mention the entire wall area. Minor dust would not cause the noise. Maybe adding some humidity to your home will reduce the noises. My 3/4 wood floor makes more poping in the winter than the summer and its stapled down. Interesting situation. There are several possibilities causing the crackling sound. It seems that the sound is only coming from one area, and that you have used two different underlayments, are they equally as thick? 2. I've heard of some laminates that create a crackling sound. This comes from the tongue and groove moving a little against each other. They can move for various reasons like change in temperature, casuses wood and laminate floors to expand or contract. Also bad milling from the laminate during the manufacturing process can be the culprit. Another possiblity is a difference in hight between the two underlayments, if they meet within 10 feet or so of the area with the problem. I would have to assume that the problem might be 7mm laminate which is the least expensive and never made with the same strict standards as 8mm. The last possible scenario is their just isn't enough expansion left away from the wall, the floor is expanding and is touching the wall, not necessarily near the area creating the sound, it's moving slightly away and has come as far as it can go, now the tongue and groove near the fireplace have a tremendous amount of pressure and you are hearing the crackling. Start here if you want to take care of the problem immediately. Remove your quarter round or base board and check for expansion everywhere, I've seen boards touching the wall as far as 20 feet away from the problem. Cut the laminate boards leaving at least 7mm of space for expansion, then wait a day, if they grow again cut back once more and then put your moulding back on and bingo, a quick fix without having to remove the entire floor. Good Luck and have a great Thanksgiving this year. Mari. Did you check the floor for flatness before the install? A few low/high spots could easily cause the crackling.
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