Scrambled laminate what to do

Laminate flooring transforms any room, giving it a respectable look. But this new material on a number of reasons can become the source of certain inconveniences, for example, in the form of the creaking of individual floorboards.

If the laminate is creaking what to do? This question arises almost every homeowner, if such a noise accompanies the tenants while traveling around the house. Do not think that such a phenomenon is the norm .This sad fact only says that when the floor covering was installed somehow disrupted the process technology. Any flaw that leads to unpleasant noise can be corrected, but only first you need to find out the reason for its appearance.

Causes of squeaks of laminate flooring

It should be noted immediately thateven experienced professionals who have long been involved in the installation of this coating, always talk about the "capriciousness" of the laminate, since it primarily requires a perfectly flat base.

Some customers refuse to listen to the warnings of the master and ask for installation on the existing base, without its thorough preliminary preparation. And this may be the first reason for the creaking of the laminate. However, it also happens that everything goes well, and the coating serves for many years without any negative manifestations.

Quite common are cases where the work is done in full accordance with all the developed technologies and on absolutely equal footing, and the laminate, after its proper packing, all is equal issues unpleasant ear sounds .Sometimes, after some time the panels get used to each other, they sit down and the screen n _ falls, but this does not always happen, and we have to make efforts and look for a way out of this situation.

There may be several reasons for the noise and squeak, and it is not enough just to list them. You should consider each of them separately to understand how to deal with the noise of the coating.

Uneven or unstable base

As mentioned above, most often the cause of the squeak becomes uneven or shaky foundation for laying the material. To be sure that it will not cause unreliable creaky floor, although covered with expensive laminate, it is necessary to make its alignment.

If the laminate has already been laid on an unprepared basis, and the creaking appeared on its individual sections, it means that in these places the base of the roughness( groove) is maximum, and the decorative coating can bend with the loading to its surface. When the panel position is changed while is pressed on the , the t is generated rhenium between the individual adjacent laminate floor elements, which becomes the cause of the squeak.

If, while walking , according to , the creaking is heard not in separate areas, but practically on the whole surface, then the entire base absolutely exactly requires alignment.

Solving the

• problem If scratches appear on small areas of the floor, you can perform a local repair by dismantling the individual panels. In order to work neatly, you first need to remove the thresholds and plinths that fix the laminate in the repair area. When removing the cover panels, they are recommended to be numbered on the reverse side, indicating the number of the row from the wall and the arrangement of the element in the row, so that there is no confusion when re-installing.

- Having removed the laminate panels and making sure that the deepening in the surface of the base was the culprit of the squeak, a flaw must be eliminated.

- The alignment process is best carried out with a quick-hardening mortar, which is spread with a spatula to the general level of the base floor.

- After the mixture has dried, the aligned area needs to be sanded, since even a small elevation or groove can not correct, but exacerbate the problem.

- A thin cardboard is laid on the dry surface of the substrate, the substrate is returned and the laminate is re-installed.

• If the coating will secure everywhere , where on it , it means that the original laying was substandard. In this case, will have to disassemble the cover completely.

Next, align the base. It will be more convenient to do this with self-leveling self-leveling floors, since such a grout will fill all grooves and make the surface perfectly smooth.

• If the laminate has been laid on a wooden floor, the is possible with the , it is the plank base that caused the creaking of the laminate, since the boards may lie unevenly or move away from the log onto which they are laid.

- In this case, will have to do a great job of .First of all, it will be necessary to remove skirting boards and thresholds, and then the entire laminate.

- Then the will have to inspect the wooden floor and find the "problematic" sections of the on the it .Particular attention is paid to the floorboards, which have obvious signs of "decrepit" wood, mold fungi or fungus - such details are subject to unconditional replacement

- Next, will fix the lagged lag boards, and then they better otsikelevat , so that the boarding surface becomes perfectly even.

- In case the is not able to carry out the process of the bushing, the board floor can be leveled with a plywood thickness of at least 10 mm. Plywood must be mounted on the glue with fixing screws.

On top of the board or plywood sheets are covered with a substrate, on which the laminate is subsequently installed according to all the rules of technology.

Video: several steps to repair or replace the laminate flooring

Incorrect substrate

When buying a laminate, you need to remember that its manufacturer always recommends buying for it a certain substrate. If once it was decided to save money, and according to it a low quality material was purchased for laminate flooring, then you should not expect an excellent result. Alas, but inexpensive substrates very quickly crumble and collapse. Moreover, this process can take place unevenly, and as a result, the laminate will lie unevenly, and over time the coating will start to make a creak or crunch.

In addition, you need to be well aware that it is impossible to align an uneven base with thickened substrate, since it should be exactly rigid surface. Such a substrate on an uneven surface with time will start the to break and tear, so do not buy a material thicker than 3 mm.

Solving the

problem In the , this case has only one solution to the problem - the is to completely dismantle the laminate, and then remove the substandard substrate. At the same time, it is worthwhile to conduct an attentive inspection of the base, and if you want to align with its , then you need to do this using self-leveling filler floor.

Then it will remain to lay the substrate recommended for of this laminate and re-lay the decorative coating.

Rubbish under laminate

Crack and screen When moving on a laminate, it can also occur if the substrate, before the flooring, has not been sufficiently cleaned from various litter such as small pieces of construction debris,sand or small pebbles.

Foreign elements falling under the laminate may not show up immediately, as they will be covered by the .However, over time, under the influence of loads, the material of any substrate necessarily crumples, and if there were even small solid fragments of rubbish, then when they come into contact with the laminate, creaks will be heard. Moreover, these decorative panels can be spoiled most, and their will have to completely replace the .

Due to such an oversight as an unqualifiedly cleaned base, it is possible that the will have to completely rework the entire volumetric and costly work.

Solving the

problem To remove everything unnecessary, you need to perform the following manipulations:

• The skirtings and -s are first removed only in those areas of the floor where you can hear a squeal when pressed.
• Next, the whole cover is dismantled or only that part of it, under which it is necessary to clean.
• The next step is removing the substrate, which is most likely to have to replace the , since it may already be corrupted by with solid garbage fragments.
• Then, you need to thoroughly clean the base, and it's better if a vacuum cleaner is used for this, and then is carried out by the and a wet cleaning.

• is absolutely necessary. A new substrate is laid on an absolutely clean surface, and a laminate is laid on top.
• The final action is to secure skirting boards and flaps.

The sudden change in temperature and humidity

A sharp, abrupt change in one of the parameters typical for the existing normal microclimate in the room can negatively affect the laminate coating. Under the influence of high humidity or cardinal temperature changes, the decorative coating can start the to creak or even deform.

For example, after the autumn cool weather, the heating season begins and the material must adapt to higher temperatures and dry air in the premises. Humidity rises during rainy autumn and spring days, and its effect on laminate layers is particularly damaging. Panels of floor coverings can swell or, on the contrary, dry up. It is these processes that lead to unwanted sounds.

After a recent laying of the laminate floor and during its adaptation to the conditions of a certain room, similar phenomena can also occur. In this case, there is no need to rush to correct them, since, perhaps, the material needs to be given time for its "getting used" to new conditions.

If the laminate creaks only in the off-season, and with steady temperatures and humidity "subsides", then there is only one effective tool to avoid this negativity. It is necessary, if possible , to try to keep the humidity and temperature at the same level all the year round. This can help climatic equipment - air conditioner and air humidifier, and for monitoring special measuring instruments - thermometer and hygrometer are needed.

Lack of space for

The lack of space for the laminate will be in case the installation was immediately produced by incorrectly, and is more accurate than - without leaving compensating gaps, close to the walls. In this case, there is simply no room for expanding the material when the parameters of its environment change.

Therefore, experienced masters know that around the perimeter of the room where the laminate is laid, a gap of 10 ÷ 12 mm must always be left between the coating and the walls, depending on the area of ​​the room. In halls with a large area of ​​coverage, where volumetric skirting boards will look perfect and are able to close fairly large gaps, from walls retreat even 20 ÷ 30 mm.

By the way, for the laminate, even special plinths are produced, having an elastic soft layer from below. This is necessary in order for the material to move smoothly to the required distance during expansion. Well, if the gap does not exist at all , then not only creak and crackling, but, probably, significant deformation of the entire surface of the laminate will be provided.

Troubleshooting

If the has started the to creak the laminate, you should immediately check for any gaps. This can be done by removing one of the skirting boards. If there are simply no gaps, or they are extremely small( less than 5 mm), you need to immediately begin to correct this violation during installation, otherwise the cover panels, their locking connections, and the will have to seriously to replace them.

To correct the situation, it is necessary to leave the gaps of the desired value. This is done as follows:

• Removed from all walls of the plinth.
• Next, the edge panels are removed. They measure the required distance, and the site is sawed off with a manual circular saw. Another variant of - is to accurately perform this action on site, with the help of a special manual electric tool ( somewhat reminiscent of the work of the usual grinder ).

The second variation nt sd is much harder to make - such a specialized tool is far from even for all masters, so it's better to use the first one.

• The dismantled trimmed panels must be installed in place, and then secure the baseboards and sills.

It should be noted that sometimes the cause of creaking may be the plinth itself, if it is very strongly pressed against the laminate. To correct this moment, you need to raise the plinth slightly, or better - fix the ribbon of thin polyethylene foam on the bottom part of it, or purchase this trim element with the already existing soft bottom plane.

Low-quality laminate

Attempts to save often lead to the purchase of a low-quality floor covering material. From such a laminate, you should not wait for long-term service, as in the design of its locks there may be inaccuracies in the manufacture, and this panel element is very often the cause of the creaking.

The logic of people saving on quality is hard to understand. Perhaps they are guided by the belief that " will carry ", all will cost and it will. It is not excluded that they have listened to "good advice" from acquaintances who already once went on this "slippery" way. But the logic here clearly lame - can not qualitative material of higher or first grade cost very cheap .

If even one of the layers of the laminate is made of low-grade materials, this can cause the entire coating to be stratified. Such material can in general unpredictable to react not only to temperature and humidity changes, but even to usual wet cleaning.

Video: the original technique for replacing the damaged laminate panel

Solution of the

problem To get rid of the squeak of a poor-quality laminate, all the above-described ways of repairing it can be taken, but the best option is to replace the coating completely. Therefore, , choosing a decorative flooring for the floor, you need to carefully study its characteristics and be sure to find out the warranty period, which is set for it by the manufacturer. It is very important to purchase such materials in construction stores with a good reputation, which do not allow counterfeit goods on their shelves. And with the principles of the correct choice of laminate can be read in more detail in the dedicated to this issue of the publication of our portal.

New

coating The new laminate coating must adapt not only to its surroundings, but also to the substrate as well as to the substrate. At first it can behave not quite as it would be desirable, and when walking on it it is possible for to appear creaking, rustling or clinking, slightly noticeable instability. Specialists claim that this is quite normal, since laminated flooring should properly lay on to the base surface. In connection locks, the is lost over time, which occurs when mounting individual components. The laminate flooring is floating, that is, it is not fixed to the base and to the walls, and hence the must find and take the its stable place in a confined space.

. If the installation process fully complies with the process technology and the recommendations of the manufacturer were not ignored, then after a certain time( usually not more than a month ÷ two)they will stop and "swim" and creak. The stabilization period depends on the quality and material of the laminate, as well as on the substrate and the type of substrate that was used in the installation.

Of course, if nothing changes six months later, and the coverage will still be "capricious", then it's not the novelty of the laminate that should be looked for one of the reasons described above.

Some tips for fighting the creaking of

• Some incompetent masters are sometimes advised to fight the creaking of laminate using talc. However, real experts do not recommend this because positive results of in the series can be achieved, but to aggravate the problem of - is easy. Having fallen into the locks, talc will only strengthen the squeaks with time.
• Laminate, which is bonded with glue, creaks much less frequently, since locks are protected from ingress of foreign particles into them, as well as possible friction between two panels. However, if the reason for the creaking is not the locks, but the uneven rigid base, you will not be able to get rid of unpleasant sounds until the surface of the base is aligned to the ideal.
• If is assembled by according to all the rules, quality laminate was laid, but it creaks because of fine grains of sand found in the locks or under the panels, that is, it's worthwhile to suffer unpleasant sounds for a while, as small particles of garbage canand the boards will stop creaking and crackling. If this does not happen - you need to take measures - such as described above.
• In order not to become an unintentional culprit of a squeak, the owner should buy the laminate to be stored horizontally, on an even surface before installation.
• It is not recommended to install laminate - newly purchased , it should lie in a room where it will be later laid, for two ÷ four days, always with when the original - package is opened for acclimatization. It is especially important to take into account this requirement when purchasing material in the cold season, in order to avoid deformation of the panels.

should be strictly observed. Strict compliance with all technological recommendations of the manufacturer of the chosen model of laminate coating is the main condition for floor to enjoy its beauty, comfort and quietness for the longest time. Well and to get rid of the problems arising in the course of operation, it is necessary to undertake one of the ways of repair offered above.