soundproofing under laminate/wood flooring

[lozoz]

I live in a flat in a converted victorian townhouse which has cheap and nasty laminate flooring throughout. We get a lot of noise from our neighbours downstairs and in certain spots it sounds as if they're pretty much in the same room.

In the bedroom we are about to relay new flooring having ripped up the old stuff but want to install some good soundproofing first. We are undecided as to what we'll lay as a floor but it def will be wood/solid.

Can you recommend a decent soundproofing system that is fairly simple to DIY? I have looked into floating floors etc but it seems a little involved for my limited skills.

Thanks in advance.

L

[PeTe33]

It doesn't exist.

We managed to cut down a huge percentage of "conversation" and impact (shoe and dogs claws) frequencies from being transferred to the downstairs bedrooms by removing upper level floor completely (which needed replacing anyway) then running 6" of loft insulation between every joist, which also included full re-wiring, then adding Underfloor heating before re-flooring with new chip board and wood surface.

Because the downstairs ceilings are directly fixed to the joists, and the upstairs chip board is also directly screwed to the joists, even the addition of a floating floor doesn't do a lot for lower base frequencies, but every other sound has gone.

Before we ripped up the floors there was an extremely deep pile carpet with a pretty dense underlay in the lounge and that did absolutely nothing to stop sound getting through, so don't waste money there.

Also, I can guarantee it's far worse for them downstairs with you walking on their ceiling. :¬)

[DJC]

I used a belt and braces approach. screwed down the 200 yr old floorboards,

8mm Redupax+ then 5mm Impactafoam then 15mm Kahrs engineered floor

The redupax is easily cut with a stanley knife, Impactafoam with scissors, etc

[Tim Lamb]

In message , lozoz writes

Isn't sound attenuation a requirement for split residences?

Not a recommendation but daughter's flat has 25mm of *polystyrene* under a second lot of chipboard flooring topped with stick on imitation wood.

Soundwise it seems to work but plumbing/electric alterations will be a nightmare. Slightly springy underfoot and there is a butt joint directly in front of the sink where the laminate has cracked badly.

regards

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , lozoz writes

I used Reduc Strata between my ground floor flats and basement flat. It made a big difference, (from hearing them talking, to a vague noise), although an even bigger improvement was made with 2 layers of plasterboard on the basement ceilings.

is the stuff, but I got it from a firm in Merseyside - cant remember what they were called.

[DJC]

Is by the most recent building regs, but most older conversions fall far short.

[The Natural Philosopher]

The very very first thing to do is to hermetically seal the floor. That means probably laying hardboard all over, and using a mastic round all the edges, especially in cupboards etc.

Realistically, that plus a foam underlay is all you will be able to so - unless you start e.g. sand filling the floor.;-)