Floors
Best Option: Use Rubber Underlayment or Decouple Your Floors
Solid rubber is the most efficient soundproof underlay for isolation of airborne and floor noise reduction. The thickness of the rubber needed for your project will vary depending on performance requirements, type of sub-floor, and the resilience of the ceiling below. Read Maximizing Rubber Underlayment Performance for more information.
A second option that works in both wood and concrete structures is to decouple the floor using the STC Acoustic Sleeper. This requires a slight build-up of the floor, but is similar overall in thickness to rubber underlayment once you include the added mass required for underlayment in wood structures.
Starting at $1.35
Starting at $192.00
Second Option: Dampen the Floors
Over wood structures, adding layers of mass with a damping compound between will help to isolate both airborne and footfall impact noise transfer. If the ceilings below are resilient or if the framing is 24" on center, then the benefit of adding a damping compound to the floor will be increased dramatically.
Third Option: Add An Acoustically Dead Material to the Floors
Simple wood structures with minimal mass can benefit from the addition of TotalMass Barrier MLV. Somewhat by the additional mass, but mostly by adding a material to the assembly that does not resonate like other common building materials. Only gains in airborne isolation can be expected. Improvements in footfall isolation will not be achieved using MLV in floors because it does no compress and bounce back (deflect).
Starting at $78.00
Review the articles below to learn more about reducing sound transfer through floors:
- Isolate Airborne Noise / Floors
Article discussing more in-depth on the specifics of which products and methods will or will not work in isolating airborne noise, with the work being done to the floor side of the floor/ceiling assembly.
Continue Reading - Isolate Footfall Noise / Floors
Article discussing more in-depth on the specifics of which products and methods will or will not work in isolating footfall impact noise, with the work being done to the floor side of the floor/ceiling assembly.
Continue Reading - Maximizing Underlayment Performance
Article discussing the fact that underlayment does not perform the same in every assembly, whether a wood or concrete structure, and how to maximize performance in all assemblies.
Continue Reading