Question of effectiveness of carpets / underlay for sound reduction in flats

[floopythecat]

Hi, I live in a Victorian building, in a top floor flat.

I have new downstairs neighbours (students) and have suddenly got a noise problem to deal with.

The main problem is music noise in the living room - mostly bass and drum sounds, though at night I can also hear loud conversations. I've asked them politely if they would mind keeping the bass / music down, though as yet this has had no real effect as the problem just recurs the next day.

Currently the flooring in the living room is wooden floorboards about a lathe and plaster ceiling, covered in a 4mm layer of hardboard, a layer of 4mm cork tiles, and some vinyl tiles on top of the cork. The gaps between floorboards and round the butt ends were filled and sealed before the hardboard layer was put down.

I'm wondering how much difference it would make to the problem if I replaced the cork/vinyl tiles with a thick felt underlay and carpet? It's mostly low frequency sound that's the problem, so I'm concerned that it may have little effect, and would cost a fair bit.

I'll persevere with trying to get my neighbours to be a bit quieter, but I'm wondering what I can do to lessen the effect it's having. If it keeps on like this I'll just sell up and move.

Thanks for any input.

[Séan Connolly]

Environmental Health Department ? There is no way you should have to move...

[Andy]

A few inches of sand between the joists was one old answer, but you have to make sure the ceiling can take it. You also have to lift the floor.

There was a thread on here a few weeks back about soundproofing a floor, and ISTR there are more modern lightweight materials you can use, but they still go under the floorboards. Bass sounds are difficult to stop.

You might have to go for resiliently-mounted floorboards etc to decouple yourself from down below. I don't think the answer will be easy as a thick felt under and carpet, though undoubtedly that will help

The answers seem to lie in:- (1) Mass, as much of it as is safe, to stop the floor moving so easily with sound vibrations in the first place, (2) Absorbent materials, like acoustic foam or acoustic rockwool etc, (3) Decoupling, whereby you try and put something resilient between your floorboards and the joists, as the resilient material makes it difficult for vibrations to bridge it.

You might try looking on the web and seeing who does acoustic sound-proofing materials etc, if you can't persuade the knobs below to shutup,

Andy.

[PeTe33]

IME none at all. It was this that prompted me to rip up all the floors to put insulation between joists, which subsequenly led to the "well I may as well put in UFH at the same time"

Our problem was, upstairs living area above bedroom.

floor was plasterboard, 8" gap, 20mm hardwood floor (nailed to joists) with the thickest underlay & carpet on top.

voices still came through as though in the same room, so carpet and undelay just won't make a jot of difference in my opinion. something between joists to fill gap would be the first step.

Either way, it's going to involve some significant work.

You could try doing all the re-laying of boards late at night once the bloody students have gone to bed !

:¬))

[Jennifer Moore]

[e-mail] writes

Nothing useful to say on the d.i.y. front, but my 2p on the social side of it:

I've had the noisy-student-neighbour thing a few times as different people moved in & out over the years.

Friendly negotiations have usually worked and obviously that's the best way if possible, but if alcohol-induced forgetfulness and/or sheer inconsiderateness cause it to fail, there are two courses I'd consider taking.

One is (as someone mentioned) to get in touch with the environmental health people and get their process started - it takes a while to go through its various stages, and this batch of students may well move out anyway in June, though sometimes even the earlier stages (e.g. warning letter) can make a difference.

If the students aren't the owners, it's also worth talking to the landlords (a) to find out what is in their contracts about consideration for neighbours, (b) to encourage the landlords to get quieter people next year, (c) because the landlords "having a word" may be a quick solution. If you don't know who the landlords are but do know which college the students are at, you may find that the student accommodation office can give you a phone number for the landlords.

h.t.h.

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , Jennifer Moore writes

Assuming that the OP is living in a HMO, (House in multiple occupation - this can be a block of self contained flats), they will have to be licensed in the near future, and soundproofing is a hot issue. So he could get the local Housing Officer to inspect and advise the landlord nicely of his soon to be obligations.

[meow2222]

block of wood and hammer. Place on floor, and when noise occurs, hit wood. Training takes time but works well.

NT