Why does the laminate creak when walking?

Long repair was left behind and it's time to rejoice at the results of your work, but to cloud this moment can suddenly found an unpleasant creaking under your feet. Why does the laminate creak when walking and what to do to get rid of this, our article will tell.

The causes of squeaking of laminate floor when walking

All reasons are associated with improper stacking technology and non-compliance with basic requirements. The most common of them are:

1. The laminate was laid on uneven floors. In this case, the script will appear pretty soon. Even the lining, laid under the cover, can not prevent this, as time goes by it will be compressed and the load on the locks of the plates will increase, which will cause a squeak.
2. Before laying the laminate surface was not properly cleaned from debris, sand, small pebbles. The consequence of this negligence is similar to the previous situation - the substrate will lose its elasticity with time and the laminate locks will begin to creak under loads. Determine that the creaking happened precisely for this reason will help establish the fact that the creak is heard even when walking on the floor barefoot, and not just in shoes.
3. There is no necessary clearance between the plinth and the laminate. If the skirting board is loosely pressed to the laminate, they will begin to rub against each other during the movement of the floor and produce the most unpleasant sound.
4. Between the laminate and the wall there is no gap of 10 mm - this leads to excessive compression of the panels, increased load on locks and creaking.
5. Even if all the conditions are met, a creak may appear if the laminate itself is of poor quality.

How to eliminate the creaking of a laminate?

Clarifying the reasons is just the first stage, now we need to get rid of the creaking. You can do this in several ways, depending on why it happened:

1. The lack of distance between the laminate and the wall is the most easily solved problem. You need to remove the plinth, dismantle the panels that are adjacent to the wall and cut their edges with a disc or saber saw, so that the gap is about 10 mm. In parallel, you can check whether the additional reason for the creaking is an incorrectly installed plinth. If this is so - fix the plinth slightly higher.
2. If the cause of creaking in the garbage under the laminate, it is logical to try to remove it. You need to dismantle the laminate flooring, or where the croak is being heard, remove the substrate and walk with a vacuum cleaner and a damp cloth. It is not superfluous to wipe the underside of the plates and pay special attention to locks.
3. If the cause is in an uneven floor, you can not avoid overhauling. Naturally, the laminate and the substrate should be removed and made a screed or a cycle (if the floor is wooden), followed by checking its level with a level. In order not to allow double work, it is better to immediately take care of the flat surface of the floor.