Very loud sub-floor footstep sound

[[Glen]]

A section of my floor is generating unbearably loud footstep sounds.

Typically, threads of this nature complain about footsteps being heard the floor below, but in this case the loud sound is heard in the same room that the walking occurs in. Its a "boom", and the floor acts like a sounding board.

For example, they can be my own footsteps.. its not liveable so we avoid walking in the affected area. It affects an area measuring about 2m x 2m. Its also definitely coming from the subfloor.

What could be the causes and fixes? Would the house builder be responsible for fixing this?

 

[Tony]

It's difficult to say - how old is your home? Is it within the warranty period?

 

[[Glen]]

10 months old.

The footstep noise problem was always present but we initially thought it was because we hadn't added a normal floor to the sub-floor. We didn't need to use all rooms when we first moved in so it wasn't a pressing matter. We are now finalising the house ahead of Christmas, which means issues are only now being fully felt.

When we did finally install a floating floor, we anticipated that using the best available sound-insulating underlay we make the noise go away - that did not work.

 

[Tony]

In the first instance get in contact with your builder, in writing, and ask them to assess and put it right within a reasonable period of time - 4 weeks. If that doesn't work, then you should contact the warranty provider - NHBC probably. Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

Tony

 

[NewHomeExpert]

As this is localised, this is probably being caused because one or more of the beam and block sub floor blocks was cracked and has now fallen between the beams into the void below assuming you have a timber floor finish over it..