Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - noise when walking on laminate floor

We recently installed laminate flooring in our living room, hallway and one bedroom. We bought enough to do our entire 1900 sq ft house but are reconsidering. You see when you walk on the floor it sometimes make a noise almost like a little pop I guess from the movement of the floor I dont know. And when you rub your feet across the floor you can hear it. It is not quiet, almost loud even. We are wondering is this normal with laminate flooring or did we not do something correct when we installed it? We have the underlayment down and the floor was level when we installed this. We did buy the cheapest laminate flooring they had at Lowes. We are now considering hardwood but we want to make sure that it will not pop as well. Does anyone know about the efficency of engineered hadwood? What is the difference as far as wear vs. real hardwood? Thanks

You JUST had it installed? That's a lot of footage to reconsider...but...anyway...

The subfloor is level or FLAT? It has to be FLAT. There's a difference. How did you know it was "level"?

We used a level and moved it across the floor. All of it was level acording to the tool anyway.

Yeah...that could be the problem. See...the floor doesn't have to be "level" as you did with the leveler. You need a good straight edge to determine the flatness of the subfloor. High spots have to be grinded down and low spots filled.

This sticky has photos and great explanations on concrete slab prep...you should read it :)

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=245099

I installed three rooms of laminate flooring but I bought the flooring which has the backing already on it. Did not use any underlay.

For about a month I too noticed a noise when walking on it but it went completely away. Reckon it just had to settle in. I installed it on plywood sub floor and on tile also in the kitchen.

I would give it a bit more time before making a change. Hope you kept a quarter inch spacing around the walls when you did the job.

Duke of ....

There should not be any creeking/popping when walking on a properly installed floor.

The sound means the seams are flexing, and when that sound goes away, it means it has worn down far enough and lost strength.

Seams will make this sound if the board is warped or the subfloor is not flat.

How long was this level? I usually tell people to get a FLAT 2x4 and lay it on the ground. If you see any light under the board, your floor is not FLAT.

Substrate flatness requirements:
1/8" in 6' or 3/16" in 10'.

Some have an 18" in 8'

Not enough expansion space, to allow for a gain in humidity, will buckle the floor, causing the edges to be tight and compressed. A step on this area, will po or crackle.