Hey guys I’m new here, been a long time reader but I’m going insane trying to fix this issue.
I bought a new build home a year ago. Masonry first floor with wood framed second. Second floor is very noisy. Pops all over the place when walking around in most rooms. Some info:
they are webbed engineered floor trusses at their maximum span (23’ 8”) 24” OC across the entire second floor. It’s a narrow bungalow style house. OSB subfloor with carpet installed.
The issue is POPS not squeaks. Primarily coming from the baseboard AND top plate of interior non load bearing partition walls. They sit on top of subfloor upstairs and are connected to the trusses above via blocking. I can walk in a room and the ceiling joint will pop. I get the sense that the floor is trying to deflect and transferring the load up to the top plate or blocking and popping the nails. I’ve removed baseboards and screws down the bottom plate to joists with SPAX construction screws- no change. I’ve screwed subfloor down to joists – no change. It’s driving me insane and I’m running out of ideas.
Oh and the builder is useless they specifically state in their warranty that they don’t do anything about squeaks and pops and that is “to be expected” . They can put once and shimmed under every wall upstairs- now the pops are louder.
ideas? Thanks a million.
Replies
top plates of non bearing walls below clear span trusses should be have at least 3/4 " space from bottom chord of roof trusses. Plates should be attached to trusses with Simpson truss clips where they cross the truss .These have a vertical slot which allows the truss to deflect while holding the wall in place. From what I am reading it appears that you have both floor and roof trusses. The floor trusses are deflected 5/8" based of 1/480 span deflection. good truss design typically will only less than 1/2" deflection. So even if they are within the "max spec" that is too much movement. add to the fact that you also have roof trusses that are designed for more deflection 1/240 typically that would be over 1" of deflection. That is a whole lot of movement going on between the floor and the roof. If they put a flat block from the roof truss to the top plate and put a 16d nail down to the plate it would pop as the truss deflects. It is also possible that they didn't put trusses under parallel nonbearing walls which are still heavy. My recommendation would be to see if you can put a beam under a reaction point near the middle of the floor truss and put truss clips over all interior partitions and remove the blocks. Cut notches in the top plates where the walls cross the truss chord to allow clearance for deflection of the truss You still have what I believe to be a poorly engineered floor. Remember the maximum span just means it is not going to fail but is rarely the best choice especially on longer spans. They should have been spaced closer. e.g. 16" o.c. or 19.2" o.c.or the span reduced.
Thank you for the detailed reply... sim additional information: I have spray foam insulation in the attic, the bottom chords of the roof trusses are not covered in insulation and the attic is air conditioned. Yes my though was maybe remove the blocking nailed to the top plates of walls and chord of roof trusses.
So what I’m gathering is the floor is deflecting and pulling the walls with it which is popping on the contact points between the partition walls and roof trusses?
Also seems to pop in the middle of the walls, just the walls are constantly being pulled on by the under engineered floor system.