Why floorboards creak, click or sound hollow

A repeated click in a quiet hallway can become hard to ignore. Before choosing a remedy, establish what is moving and where the sound is heard. The same description, “noisy floorboards”, can mean a joint rubbing underfoot, movement in an older timber floor or footfall travelling to another apartment.

The ATFA owner-expectations guidance identifies several contributors to floating-floor noise, including subfloor flatness, movement allowance, underlay thickness and board-joint characteristics. That is a reason to inspect the construction, not a diagnosis that can be made from a sound recording alone.

Where is the noise happening?

Walk the area normally and mark the location on a simple room plan. Record whether the sound occurs at one joint, along a wall, beneath a doorway or throughout a room. Note whether there is visible movement or a change since installation.

Do not turn up the volume of a phone recording and describe it as a measured acoustic failure. Recordings can help demonstrate the location or character of a sound; they do not replace an assessment against a specified test method.

Is an occasional creak normal?

ATFA distinguishes occasional or localised noise from very audible, widespread noise that may need remedial work. Its guidance does not give every creak a free pass. The pattern, extent and construction matter.

Keep a brief log over several ordinary uses of the room. Note whether the sound changes with the time of day or the first walk across the floor. Describe what happened without guessing the cause. “Clicks beside the kitchen doorway when stepped on” gives an inspector a better starting point than “the underlay has failed”.

What should the installer check?

Ask for a review against the instructions for the installed product. Bring the invoice, board details, underlay specification, preparation records and any photographs taken before the trims were fitted.

For a floating system, the useful questions concern support beneath the boards, the joints and room for movement. Ask the installer to identify the product requirement being checked, record the finding and explain how it relates to the symptom.

Discuss doorways, fixed cabinetry and perimeter trims as well as the open floor. Our expansion-gap guide explains why the edges are part of the inspection. For an older structural timber floor, ask the inspector to distinguish movement in that floor from movement in a newer covering above it.

Should you add underlay or fix the boards down?

Avoid changing the construction before the cause is established. Adding another underlay may conflict with the floor’s support requirements. A screw through a floating floor changes the way it is restrained. Neither is a universal repair for a creak.

Ask for the proposed remedy in writing, including the affected area, the reason it addresses the diagnosed cause and the maker’s acceptance where relevant. ATFA’s flooring-problem guidance directs owners towards the relevant industry expectations and repair information. If the explanation remains disputed, a flooring inspection can help separate symptoms from responsibility.

What if the complaint comes from downstairs?

Keep the installation investigation and the acoustic assessment connected, but do not treat them as the same test. A quiet-sounding board in your room is not evidence that the apartment below meets its requirement.

Ask the manager for the relevant by-law, approval conditions and earlier reports. Where measurement is needed, agree the assessment scope with an acoustic consultant. The post-installation acoustic-test guide explains the access and paperwork to arrange before the visit.

Finish with an agreed record of the inspection and any next step. That record should identify what was checked, what remains uncertain and how the proposed remedy will be assessed after completion.