|
There are 2 main reasons why you’d want to soundproof a floor, either to stop airborne noise rising up from a lower room or neighbour, or to prevent either airborne or impact noise travelling down to the floor below. As impact and airborne noise have their own unique attributes, there are different solutions for each one. Reducing impact noiseImpact noise is generally caused by footsteps, dropped items or moving furniture, but it can also be created by things like closing doors or cupboards, drum kits or DIY. Whilst it would be possible to reduce impact noise transfer by treating the ceiling below, it is advisable to treat it as close to the source as possible. Accordingly, the simplest and by far one of the most effective methods of reducing impact noise is to use a thick carpet with an acoustic underlay that will dissipate the bulk of the noise at the source and resolve the problem. In the case of wooden or tiled floors, where carpet is either unsuitable (like inside a wet room) or is just aesthetically unwanted (or if there is an additional airborne noise problem that won’t be resolved by using the above method alone) it then becomes necessary to add additional resilient underlay materials. These typically consist of a resilient underlay material, like acoustic foam, cork, or a denser shredded rubber mat, a dampening compound, typically in the form of a specialist adhesive that sits between the layers of underlay material followed by the desired flooring finish on top. Airborne Noise from aboveIf the noise issue is due to airborne noise, like people talking, stereo or TV speakers, babies crying etc. and if there isn’t really any impact noise to combat then the key floor soundproofing attributes to aim for are mass and damping. (Adding a compressible resilient underlay as you would to reduce impact noise could actually be counterproductive as it introduces a resonance cavity that could help amplify the airborne noise.) To achieve an increase in mass, the ideal solution is to add layers of MDF or specialised flooring material like Maxideck. To add dampening apply a specialised adhesive between the original subfloor (assuming it is of a similar thickness and stiffness of the soundproofing solutions) and the additional mass layers before screwing them together. The finished flooring layer (like tiles, wood flooring or carpet underlay can then be laid on top of these sandwiched layers.
Related Articles -
Floor Soundproofing, soundproofing,
| 
