Welcome to Club Ceramic Cambridge — your trusted partner for complete premium flooring options in Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, and surrounding areas.
You just bought or built your dream home. Everything is fresh, clean, and perfect—except for one problem that’s driving you crazy. Every time you walk across your beautiful new floors, they creak, squeak, or make clicking sounds. You find yourself tiptoeing around your own house, trying to avoid the noisy spots, feeling increasingly frustrated with every step.
If you’re experiencing squeaky floors in new construction, you’re not being unreasonable to expect better. You’re also not alone—this is one of the most common complaints from new homeowners, and it’s almost always preventable. The good news? Understanding why it’s happening helps you know what to demand from your builder, what can be fixed, and how to prevent it if you’re still in the construction phase.
At Club Ceramic Cambridge, we’ve installed thousands of floors, and we know exactly what causes these problems—and more importantly, how to prevent them. This guide will help you understand what’s wrong with your floors, what your builder should do about it, and why proper installation matters so much.
Working on a new home project? Call now for a free estimate: (647) 394-6030
Let’s start with the most important question: Should new floors in new construction make noise?
The short answer is no. Properly installed flooring in a newly constructed home should be silent. Period.
This isn’t about having unrealistic expectations or being overly picky. When you’re paying for new construction—whether it’s a $400,000 home or a $1 million custom build—silent floors are a fundamental quality standard, not a luxury feature. Squeaks, creaks, and clicks indicate that something in the installation process went wrong.
New construction means:
Squeaky floors mean one or more of these standards wasn’t met. Don’t let builders or contractors tell you otherwise.
When Squeaks Might Be Temporary
There are very limited situations where sounds might be acceptable temporarily:
If your luxury vinyl plank (LVP) or laminate was just installed in the past 48-72 hours, minor settling sounds as the floor adjusts can be normal. Click-lock floating floors go through a brief settling period where the locking mechanisms fully engage. These sounds should be minimal and should resolve completely within a few days.
If you’re experiencing your first heating season and hearing occasional sounds as materials adjust to temperature changes, this can happen once. But even seasonal adjustment shouldn’t create persistent, noticeable squeaking.
If sounds are getting worse rather than better, or if they persist beyond the first week after installation, you have a real problem that requires attention.
Understanding what causes floor noise helps you advocate for proper repairs and avoid the same problems in future renovations.
This is the single most common cause of squeaky LVP and laminate flooring in new homes.
What Acclimation Means
Flooring materials expand and contract in response to temperature and humidity. When flooring comes from a warehouse or delivery truck, it’s at whatever temperature and humidity level existed in those environments. Your home has different conditions—different temperature, different humidity levels.
Proper acclimation means bringing flooring materials into the room where they’ll be installed and leaving them there for 48-72 hours before installation. The boxes should be opened or at least have their packaging loosened to allow air circulation. This gives the flooring time to adjust to your home’s conditions, expanding or contracting to its stable size before being locked together.
Why Installers Skip This Step
Time pressure is the main culprit. Construction schedules are tight, and installers often arrive ready to complete the job in one day. Waiting two or three days for materials to acclimate feels like wasted time when they could be moving on to the next job.
Sometimes there’s nowhere to store materials during acclimation. The home might still have active construction in other areas, or the room might not be ready for materials to sit there for days.
In other cases, installers simply don’t understand how important acclimation is, or they’ve gotten away with skipping it before without obvious consequences.
The Result
When flooring that hasn’t properly acclimated is installed, it continues adjusting to your home’s environment after installation. Planks expand or contract, putting stress on the locking mechanisms. This stress creates friction and movement at the joints between planks, producing squeaks, clicks, and popping sounds when you walk across them.
The problem often worsens over time rather than improving, particularly as seasons change and humidity levels shift.
The subfloor is the foundation for your finished flooring. If the subfloor itself moves, any noise it makes transfers through to the floor you’re walking on.
How Subfloors Should Be Installed
Premium construction uses engineered subfloor materials like Advantech—a specially treated oriented strand board designed for subfloor applications. This material should be both glued and screwed to the floor joists beneath it.
The glue creates a permanent bond that prevents any movement between the subfloor and joists. Screws provide mechanical fastening and are typically placed every 6-8 inches along each joist. This combination creates a rock-solid, silent subfloor.
What Actually Happens
Many builders take shortcuts to save time and money. They might:
The Problem
Without both adhesive and proper fastener spacing, the subfloor can move slightly on the joists—sometimes just a few thousandths of an inch, but that’s enough. When you step on that section of floor, the subfloor flexes slightly, then rebounds. That movement creates friction between the subfloor and joists, producing the characteristic squeak you hear.
The worst part? You can’t see subfloor installation quality after the finished floor is installed. The only way you discover the problem is by hearing it.
Floating floors—which include most LVP and laminate installations—must have expansion gaps around the entire perimeter of the room.
Why Expansion Gaps Matter
All flooring materials expand and contract with temperature and humidity changes. Floating floors need room to move. Without adequate space around the edges, the flooring expands until it pushes against walls, cabinets, or other fixed objects. This creates pressure throughout the floor that has nowhere to go.
Standard Requirements
Most floating floor manufacturers require ¼ to ½ inch gaps around all room perimeters and around any fixed objects like pipes, cabinets, or door frames. The gaps get covered by baseboards and transition strips, so they’re invisible when installation is complete.
When Installers Cut Corners
Time-pressed installers sometimes cut floors to fit more snugly than they should, leaving inadequate expansion space. This is especially common:
The Result
When humidity increases (summer, or when you start using humidifiers in winter), the flooring expands. With insufficient expansion gaps, the floor pushes against walls or obstacles. This creates pressure and friction at the plank joints, resulting in squeaks, clicks, and sometimes even buckling where the floor lifts slightly from the subfloor.
This cause produces a slightly different sound—more of a crackle or crunch than a squeak—but it’s common enough to mention.
The Installation Mistake
Professional installation requires thoroughly cleaning the subfloor before laying finished flooring. Every speck of sawdust, every drywall screw that rolled into a corner, every bit of construction debris must be removed.
In the rush to complete installation, this cleaning step often gets shortchanged. Installers give the floor a quick sweep or vacuum but miss debris that’s embedded in subfloor texture or sitting in corners.
What Happens
Small particles—bits of drywall, wood chips, screws—get trapped between the subfloor and your finished flooring. When you step on these areas, your weight crushes down through the flooring onto these particles. The particles shift, crunch, or scrape against both surfaces, creating crackling or crunching sounds.
Sometimes this issue improves over time as particles get crushed to dust or work their way out. Often, though, it persists indefinitely, creating random noise in various locations across your floor.
Floating floors require level subfloors to function properly. Most manufacturers specify that the subfloor must be flat within 3/16 inch over any 10-foot span—a fairly strict tolerance.
Why Levelness Matters
When you install floating floor planks over an unlevel surface, the planks bridge across low spots and don’t sit flat. The locking mechanisms between planks must hold the flooring together while also spanning these voids, creating stress on the joints.
The Result
Walking across areas where the floor doesn’t sit flat on the subfloor causes the planks to flex. This flexing stresses the locking mechanisms, producing clicking or squeaking sounds. In severe cases, the locks can actually fail, causing planks to separate and create visible gaps.
Unlevel subfloors also make floors feel bouncy or unstable underfoot—you sense that something isn’t right even before you hear the noise.
Floating floors typically require underlayment—a thin layer of foam, cork, or rubber between the subfloor and the finished flooring.
What Underlayment Does
Beyond providing cushioning and thermal insulation, underlayment serves as a sound dampening layer. It absorbs small movements and prevents direct contact between the hard flooring and hard subfloor, reducing noise transmission.
Some luxury vinyl planks come with underlayment pre-attached to the bottom of each plank. This built-in underlayment handles the cushioning and sound control, but the subfloor still must be clean and level.
When It Goes Wrong
Using the wrong type of underlayment—or skipping it entirely when it’s required—allows every footstep to transmit directly through the flooring to the subfloor. Any minor imperfections, any small movements, all become audible.
You’ll encounter strong opinions about luxury vinyl plank flooring. Some contractors discourage it entirely, citing installation problems and failures they’ve witnessed. Others champion it as ideal for modern families. So what’s the truth?
Why LVP Shows Installation Problems
Floating floors act differently than floors that are glued or nailed down. A floating floor essentially sits on top of the subfloor without being attached to it. This means:
Compare this to:
Floating floors require perfect preparation to perform well. When that preparation doesn’t happen, problems become obvious quickly.
When LVP Works Beautifully
Despite the critics, millions of LVP floors perform perfectly because they were installed correctly. When installation is done right, LVP offers genuine advantages:
The Quality Spectrum
The difference between successful and failed LVP installations usually comes down to:
Success factors:
Failure factors:
Don’t blame the material. Blame the installation process.
Your response strategy depends on whether you’ve already closed on the home or if you’re still in the construction process.
This is your moment of maximum leverage. Use it.
Document Everything Thoroughly
Walk through your home with your phone recording video with sound. Narrate as you go: “This is the kitchen, walking toward the island, hearing squeaks right here.” Step on every squeaky spot so the sound is captured clearly.
Mark squeaky areas with painter’s tape or sticky notes so you can show the builder exactly where problems exist. Take photos of your marked areas.
Note when the flooring was installed and when you first noticed squeaking. Describe the sounds accurately—are they squeaks, clicks, crunches, or pops?
Notify Your Builder Immediately in Writing
Send an email or text (something documented) to your builder or project manager. Don’t rely on verbal conversations that leave no record. Your message should:
Don’t Accept Deflection
Builders faced with problems near closing often try to minimize or deflect:
“It’s normal” → No, it isn’t. New floors should be silent.
“It will settle and go away” → Properly installed floors don’t need to settle. Problems usually worsen, not improve.
“All houses do this” → New construction with proper installation doesn’t.
“We’ll fix it after you close” → Once you close, your leverage disappears. Get it fixed now.
Stand firm. You’re not being difficult; you’re expecting the quality you paid for.
Understand Your Leverage
Before closing, you have significant power:
After closing, you’re dependent on warranty coverage and the builder’s goodwill. Some builders honor their work and fix problems promptly. Others become difficult to reach once they have your money.
Demand a Resolution Plan
The builder should:
If the cause is improper acclimation or insufficient expansion gaps, proper repair means removing and reinstalling the flooring. If it’s subfloor movement, screws should be added to secure the subfloor before any finished flooring goes back down.
If you’ve already closed and are living in your home when squeaking develops or becomes unbearable, you still have options—just fewer of them.
Review Your Warranty Coverage
New construction typically includes:
Review your closing documents to understand what’s covered and for how long. Many warranties have strict deadlines for reporting issues—often 30 days for items like flooring.
Document and File Claims Immediately
Use the same documentation approach described above—video, photos, written descriptions. File warranty claims promptly in writing. Keep copies of everything you submit.
Consider an Independent Inspection
If the builder resists your claim or disputes that a problem exists, hire an independent flooring inspector. This professional can:
The inspection might cost $200-$500, but it provides leverage in disputes with builders or warranty companies.
Potential Fixes
Depending on the cause, repairs might involve:
For acclimation issues: Remove flooring, allow proper acclimation if materials will be reused (or purchase new materials), reinstall correctly
For expansion gap problems: Remove baseboards and trim flooring edges to create proper gaps, reinstall baseboards
For subfloor movement: Access from below (if basement or crawlspace allows) and add screws securing subfloor to joists, or remove finished flooring and add screws from above before reinstalling
For debris: Minor debris issues sometimes improve as particles crush. Severe cases require removal, cleaning, and reinstallation
For unlevel subfloor: This is the most serious issue, potentially requiring subfloor leveling with compound, which means complete flooring removal and replacement
If you’re in the construction process and want to prevent these problems, take an active role.
Specify Quality Subfloor Systems
Your construction contract should specify:
Don’t assume “standard construction” means quality construction. Specify what you want in writing.
Verify Flooring Acclimation Requirements
Ask your builder:
Put the acclimation requirement in your contract if possible. At minimum, get written confirmation that proper acclimation will occur.
Be Present During Critical Phases
You don’t need to be onsite daily, but try to be present for:
Your presence signals that you’re paying attention, which often improves work quality.
Ask the Right Questions
Before flooring installation begins:
Choose Quality Installation Over Low Bids
The cheapest flooring installer often cuts the corners we’ve discussed. Paying more for experienced, reputable installers is the best insurance against squeaky floors. Ask potential installers:
How do you know if your situation requires immediate action or if you should give it time?
Wait a Few Days If:
Give a newly installed floating floor a few days to fully settle. The locking mechanisms sometimes make minor sounds as they fully engage under foot traffic.
Act Immediately If:
Red Flags That Demand Action:
Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, it probably is. You’re not being unreasonable to expect silent floors in new construction.
Squeaky floors in new construction are not normal, not acceptable, and not something you should tolerate. They indicate installation shortcuts or errors that could have been prevented with proper procedures.
If you’re experiencing this problem, you now understand the likely causes and can advocate effectively for proper repairs. If you’re building and want to prevent it, you know what questions to ask and what standards to insist on.
At Club Ceramic Cambridge, we take installation quality seriously because we know these problems are preventable. Our installations include:
We don’t create the problems you’ve been reading about. We prevent them. When you invest in new flooring, you deserve installation that performs flawlessly for decades—and sounds absolutely silent from day one.
Visit our showroom to discuss your flooring project, whether you’re building new, renovating, or replacing floors that never should have squeaked in the first place. Let us show you what proper installation looks like.
