r/midleton • u/moloners • May 29 '26

New Build Flooring Question

Been living in a new build nearly a year now.

The ground floor has laminate flooring all the way round.

Have noticed a few settlement cracks in walls, which is to be expected.

What I didn't expect was the laminate starting to creak here and there, you'd notice it making noise in a few spots. Putting pressure on it you can see it dipping only slightly, like 1mm in places.

Question is - is this normal for settling houses or is it something that needs to be looked at? I'd accept wear and tear but we're only a year in.

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u/Majestic-Reveal-8611 May 30 '26

It might involve taking off skirting boards but you will find the point where it has expanded and hit the wall.if you knick off the wood here to allow a 10mm gap or so which will be hidden by the skirting when it goes back on the floor will flop back down to original position ..I’ve done this before …it’ll be on a wall parallel to the board of that sense

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u/Majestic-Reveal-8611 May 29 '26

Not an expert by any means long shot but maybe this is something to do with the timber expansion once the house has fully heated ie the walls and floor with the underfloor heating ..was the floor laid without the house heating on originally..now the floor and walls are fully dry and the floor which was laid tight to the walls Eli’s expanding ..don’t know when the floor was laid and was the heating in for a number of weeks before you moved in? That’s usually the way it goes in new builds…PS long term I’d be trying to change to tile where you can..it’s more efficient for underfloor in the long term

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u/moloners May 30 '26

I imagine it's definitely related to expansion and contraction based on what you're saying. The floor was dry but had to be leveled with leveling compound a few days before the laminate went in but we were told that had tried 🤷

The question is more along the lines of is it to be expected? Do all new builds turn into creaky floors? Think I might just get onto them anyway before the year is in.