My New Hardwood Floor Makes A Cracking Sound

The old 2nd floor bonus room originally had carpet but we had new 3 red oak hardwoods laid down.

My new hardwood floor makes a cracking sound.

Work the powder down into the cracks between hardwood planks with the tip of your shoe or a broom or putty knife. Winter and summer months. The hardwood strips on the stairs run east to west e w across the room while the rest of the floor strips are north to south n s. The n s floors strips i need to replace.

Hardwood floors will usually shrink in the winter months and expand in the summer months. Noticed with the cold weather lately that there seems to be a lot of cracking noises coming from the hardwoods. Wood floor problems caused by excessive moisture. Then when walked upon the wood pieces rub against one another and you hear a creaking sound.

This room is attached to the new addition through a large cased opening so the hardwoods extend through the whole area. Spread the powder liberally then force it into the cracks between boards with a broom or a dry mop. This is a completely natural process but excessive mc changes can cause wood floor water damage. When relative humidity rh rises wood absorbs moisture from the air.

A more serious cause of creaking is wood movement which can be a problem if you install the floor without acclimating. When they shrink a thin gap or space occurs between the boards. Now we have new. Popping or cracking sound in hardwood floors.

This is a redo job since the original floor had to be ripped up because of major cupping due to moisture in the subfloor. There are also a few stairs to the living room close to the gap. Walk across the area several times to work the powder down into the joints where it. You can fix this by driving screws from underneath to anchor the loose boards.

We just had new floors installed in a 1 year old home on the entire first floor with a crawl space underneath. If the wood flooring material was not acclimated properly before being laid and moisture from high humidity was absorbed or if there was a lack of a vapor barrier under the floor or the wood pieces are installed without proper spacing for expansion and movement. If your wood or laminate floor is squeaking you may be able to stop the squeaks by dusting a lubricant such as graphite or talcum powder over the squeaky area.