Laminate flooring making "clicking" sound when walked on

Our laminate flooring makes the "clicking" sound all over the place when walked on, and the sound seems to be from the seams.

In the winter mornings, when we get up and step on the laminate flooring, it makes much more obvious clicking sound. But as soon as a clicking spot has been stepped on, when it gets stepped on again, it's silent. However, after a while if we step on the same clicking spot again, the clicking sound can happen again..

Such clicking spots can be found all over the house..

What could be the cause of this? Is there any way to fix this problem? The clicking sound, although not loud, is getting very annoying...

Is this wood - it can make noises - especially with certain shoes.

Might also be settling. How "old" is it ?

It's just laminate, not real wood..

And it's not about the shoes.. The clicking sound from seams can happen even when walked on by bare foot.. Typically, after having not been walked on for a few hours, it will make the clicking sound from seams when people start to walk on it again.

It's been nearly a year now, so should have well passed the settling stage..

I'm puzzled why it is happening...

Real wooden floors are glued down to the subfloor so nothing moves. Laminate can be floating floors with nothing tying them down other the interlock grooves between each plank. As they expand and contract with heat, these floors can get a bit tight and cause friction between each plank hence you will have these crackling sound when you walk over them.

Thanks.. In my case, when it gets cold, the crackling sound becomes more obvious..

Does it happen to every home with laminate floating boards? (I don't think it does, as none of my friends has got this issue) Is there any way to fix this problem? Would reinstalling the planks help?

Well if your friend has real wood floor then that’s expected. If they have laminate, it’s possible although not common to glue down the planks to solve the squeaky floor problem. Reason why laminate don’t usually do this is because it’s usually a budget product and you want to reduce your labour cost.

For you, you will need to rip the floor up and relay using glue. Not a cheap proposition as the labour would cost possibly more than the laminate.

Thanks.. So for laminate floors, is it common to have the same problem (crackling sound from seams) that I'm having with my laminate floor?

My friends mentioned above all have laminate floors and none of them has this problem..

I have the same experience, newly laid.

I think its pretty common especially if the subfloor is not flat..its annoying but not something that i cant live with

Are you still experiencing the issue? Or did you get them fixed somehow..