Creaking Shaw Laminate

Q: I have an inlaw suite in my basement that we finished in 2000. At the time I had an inexpensive laminate flooring put down directly over the concrete with a plastic vapor over top of the concrete to absorb the moisture and never had any issues. I decided to renovate my basement a couple of weeks ago and found a beautiful laminate flooring by Shaw called sensation. Unlike the previous pergo which was glued this flooring is clipped together. I had all the original pergo removed and the new flooring laid exactly the same way over the plastic vapor barrier however the floors are creaking and soft in several places.
What can I do? Do I need to remove them and put a subfloor down or something? I’m so upset!! Any assistance you might offer would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you
Joanne
A: If your laminate was only installed over a vapor barrier, and no underlayment was used, this is likely to be your problem. Now, if the previous vapor barrier was a combination type which also included a foam underlayment layer, typically white or green in color, there is another potential issue happening here.
Now if the floor was installed over just a vapor barrier, a clear plastic sheet with no underlayment, the noisy and flex you are hearing would be removed by pulling the floor up, installing underlayment, then reinstalling the floor. Not only will this reduce noise, but it will also help to absorb some of the shock from walking over your floor which is crucial to keep the locking mechanism in shape.
If there was a previous underlayment, it is likely a foam type underlay, which over time will “sack out” or simply lose some of its ability to suppress noise and cushion the floor. When this happens, your floor which was previously fairly quiet, now begins to creak and sound noisy. In this case, I would suggest pulling up the floor and replacing the current underlayment with a new, denser underlayment, then reinstalling the floor.
The only other causes I could foresee creating this kind of issue in your case would be either an uneven subfloor or potentially a few boards which are out of square that were installed, although the latter is far less likely. If there is a portion of your floor which is noisy and the rest is less noisy or quiet like the previous Pergo, its likely you have a low or high spot causing noise in the floor when walked over. This variance in subfloor height could have been accounted for by the way the previous floor settled, but the new floor is not settling similarly, making this spot detectable, but this would point back to your underlayment sacking out.
If a plank was out of square or warped, and installed, this could be another cause of noise, though this is the least likely of cases in my opinion. This variance in the board would cause the entire floor to have a small shift, and thus, set it out of its normal balance.