New Home Owners And Snagging Forum
Advice on buying a brand new home => Snagging and defects => Topic started by: l26 on February 21, 2015, 08:35:52 pm
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New to forum and desperate.
We moved into a new build last year.
Our perfect dream house has turned into a nightmare due to extreme loud popping and cracking noises from the downstairs ceilings when someone walks upstairs. This is not slight squeaking of boards or nails!
The independent builders who built the house did come out and try to remedy this by fitting new floorboards upstairs in one room but this didn't work. They are now not interested, I suspect because they have no clue how to fix.
It's a timber framed house, all boards upstairs are chipboard, screwed and PVA glued to joists with PVA around board edges. When they replaced boards I bounced on the joists and there was no noise downstairs or any movement in them.
The joist size and distance between each is better than NHBC minimum requirements. The issue is only in rooms at one side of the house too? I stood on a chair and pushed the ceilings today and it recreated the popping noise so I now think the problem is with the plasterboard and not the floorboards. We have a lot of screws popping the ceiling plaster. Some forums suggest screwing the plasterboards to the joists?
Can anyone offer any advice or help or have the same issue?
We can't get a builder to come out and look for love nor money?
Thanks in advance
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First of all please don't double post the same thread! It means I waste my time reading and deleting the copy.
You problem is almost certainly caused by the PVA glue cracking on the joists.
This in turn is probably due to excessive deflection.
Who has told you the joist centres are closer than the NHBC minimum?
Timber frame floors can use various types of joist from solid wood, to TJI type "I" joist to composite "Posi" Joists.
Each type will have a varying depth and/or thickness and will be designed depending on the span of the floor.
Longer spans require deeper joists and/or closer joists centres.
Steel beams may also be required in some cases to reduce spans.
If you can push up the ceiling to recreate the noise you have a problem with deflection.
Contact both the house builder (which was who by the way?) and the warranty provider and ask for them to inspect the floor.
Timber frame floors can come in cassettes, completed sections of floor complete with boarding. In these cases it is unlikely that an detail will be wrong, unlike floors constructed on site with loose floor joists and boarding.
To cue the "popping" fixings to the ceiling boards, use additional plasterboard screws and remove any popped nails or screws. Note this alone will not cure the noise problem!
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There is not much point posting, asking for help and advice if you don't come back and read the reply!