Hi All, I’ve recently had my kitchen renovated, which included raising the floor by approx 10cm. The builder installed the subfloor (rigid insulation under a caber/particleboard subfloor) & the kitchen fitter installed Howdens click LVT on top. Both are floating floors. The subfloor had a lot of movement in front of the French doors after installation in late Oct, & I’ve queried this several times over the last month. I was told it’d be fine once the skirting was installed, as this would keep the subfloor in place. The LVT was then installed in mid Nov, despite my concerns that the subfloor wasn’t stable enough. Both the LVT & subfloor appear to have decent expansion gaps round the perimeter. I installed the skirting myself about a week ago & the builder then screwed down a metal threshold in front of the doors, but it hasn’t resolved the issue. There is less movement, but there’s also creaking & squeaking round the threshold, & the area sounds hollow when you tap it with your foot. The builder said I’d installed the skirting incorrectly, as I should have pushed it down more & wedged the subfloor & LVT underneath (I put weights on the floor to try to stabilise the movement, checked the floor was flat & installed the skirting with a tiny gap (couple of mm) between it & the LVT. He hasn’t mentioned this again since I pointed out the floor would’ve sloped towards the doors if I’d tried to push the skirting down. I’m now being told the floor will settle eventually, but movement at the perimeter of a floating subfloor is normal. The kitchen fitter (who recommended the builder) claims he’s installed the LVT according to manufacturer’s instructions, despite the bouncy subfloor. Several of the joints are now regularly making clicking/crackling noises when you step on them - both round the threshold & in the middle of the floor. I’ve paid for flooring materials but I’ve withheld the relevant labour costs, as I’m concerned the floor isn’t fit for purpose (everything else was paid within a few days of them issuing their invoices). I’ve told them I need to take further advice, but they’re now getting pretty intimidating with me. I think my only option is to get the floor/subfloor independently assessed, which is a cost I can’t really afford, but I don’t know what else to do, as they’re telling me there’s nothing wrong with their work and I’m being pressured to pay next week. I’ve attached a link showing the creaking & movement - any advice would be much appreciated please, as I feel like I’m being gaslighted. Thanks for reading.
Ah okay - thanks! I think the squeaking started around the time the threshold & skirting were installed - will unscrew the threshold & see if it gets better. Is that amount of movement normal though? I was expecting to feel a little bounce on a floating floor, but not actually see the floor moving when I step on it.
Is the click under the kitchen units or not? click LVT imo is a terrible product and we only sell quickstep alpha. But even then we talk people into dryback / glue down was the sub floor flat? Should be SR1 which is no more then 3mm dip over 2m. what underlay has he used under the click ?
Just watched the video. Shocking that. Worst doortrim ever, screw down alum ? Why. You can see it’s been down by an amateur as the joints are in line.
No, the LVT runs under the plinths but stops at the plinth (at least they got that right!) Yes, I’m beginning to wish I’d gone for glue down - I’ve got that in a couple of rooms & it’s lasted nearly a decade - not convinced this LVT will last until Christmas at this rate. The LVT has underlay attached so it was laid directly on the subfloor. I’ve just got the spirit level out - the floor level is all over the place. The photo attached is in the middle of the floor where there’s a line of clicking joints - the dip here is 8mm.
Thank you! I feel like I’m going mad because they keep telling me there’s nothing wrong with the floor. The metal door-trim was the builder’s attempt at stabilising the floor at the perimeter. If I undo the screws, the squeaking stops, but then the floor moves more! That’s interesting about the joints - just looked at my glue down LVT & the joints are random, which looks seamless - is that the reason for avoiding 50/50 or is this pattern potentially contributing to the joint clicking?
Should always be random. Click floors need expansion on all sides. If touching anywhere that would make it tight and will cause Squeaking. But looking at the level between your sub floor isn’t flat. Needs are ripping up and checking
Do you know what insulation was used? Something like kingspan would normally feel quite firm,if the floor was pretty flat
Not sure - will see if I can get a plinth off to check if there’s an expansion gap. Although from the sounds of it, the floor needs to come back up anyway to sort out the subfloor.
I don’t unfortunately, as the subfloor was fitted while I was away. I need to find out though, as I’m now worried whether the insulation is even suitable for the weight of a kitchen, seeing as they’ve made such a mess of fitting the floor. The floor does feel pretty firm - apart from by the door, where it feels like there’s hardly anything underneath that section.
Just make sure they haven't used polystyrene insulation, I've seen it used before and it's not suitable
If it's just the doorway that's moving, you could uplift the lvt in that area, drill several holes through to the subfloor and inject some expanding foam (a resin would be better) ,which should support it,it's not ideal, but should work, without all the hassle of having everything ripped out and started again
Their solution was to screw down the subfloor & floor to the brickwork underneath the doorframe, which I’ve rejected, as they’d drill through the damp proof membrane, & I wasn’t sure fixing down a floating floor like this would cause more problems. It’s going to be a right hassle, but I think I’m going to push for them to take up the floor & sort the subfloor out. Based on Dazlight’s advice on SR1, the subfloor is nowhere near flat enough, so they’ve invalidated the warranty on the LVT.
