Cracking Noises with an Engineered Floor

Cracking Noises with an Engineered Floor — modern flooring photography

Q: My Universal Flooring engineered floor makes cracking and crunching noises that are so annoying it wakes up the kids when we walk around.
Are the self-activating glue joints to blame, or is this a structural problem with this flooring? (It was professionally installed).
Sincerely,
Angus
A: Typically this problem occurs for one of two reasons. The most common cause of cracking noises when you walk over a floor is that the wooden subfloor underneath is not firmly anchored to the floor joists below. Even with a rather minimal amount of movement in your subfloor it will cause very audible creaks and cracking noises when you walk over your floor. Think about all those ancient homes you see in the movies with the overly creaky floor.
The other primary cause of this problem is also related to your subfloor. If your subfloor is not checked to ensure it is level before installation, changes in the height of your subfloor could allow your floor to move more than is intended, which would cause similar noises.
The only reason that the glued joints would be a cause to this problem would be if the glue did not cure properly and did not form a solid bond. In that case the joints would move more than is intended in the floor and this noise could be cause; however, this is the least likely of scenarios.
To resolve noise on a wooden subfloor, you will want to use some flooring screws, and find the portions of your subfloor which are slightly loose and cause noise, then screw those portions down to the floor joists to resume the proper anchoring. On a concrete subfloor, use a self leveling compound to level out the floor (make sure you check the level first to ensure where your problems are occurring) then install the floor over it. Unfortunately this would require removing the floor in order to fix the subfloor issues.
You best bet to get a definitive answer as to the problem you are encountering would be to get a licensed inspector out to your home to do a thorough inspection and find the solution to your problem.