So I live downstairs in a house I own, I converted my garage into a studio for myself. I have solid wood floors upstairs.

So I live downstairs in a house I own, I converted my garage into a studio for myself. I have solid wood floors upstairs. Does anyone have any experience with floor underlay that is sound deadening and can make a recommendation? My plan was to lay it over the installed hardwood and then use lifeproof flooring on top. I’m pretty sensitive to the footfalls and noise and am thinking of getting 10mm stuff for the underlay. Any thoughts ?

250 Piece Survival Gear First Aid Kit

LifeStraw Water Filter for Hiking and Preparedness

250 Piece Survival Gear First Aid Kit

  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Have you tried farting between subfloor layers as hard as you can until you faint?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I tried and popped a blood vessel in my eye.

      Anyway yeah. Still trying to hear peoples thoughts

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    is it finished or exposed? I've been told the recipe is standard pink insulation plus two layers of drywall. 5/8ths with the green goo in between if you're really feeling fancy.

    if youve already finished it and have a ceiling and it's still annoying idk. you wouldn't want to mess with the floors so you're kind of stuck. either drapping rubber mats down over them. of ripping them up and putting a layer of the rubber mat flooring material.

    in a similar situation but haven't done shit yet and haven't ever done shit.
    this guy convinced me I could. he has a half dozen vids on this https://youtu.be/pio6rNd9tAc

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      but anyway I would try going under rather than over. why cover up nice floors with bullshit?

      It’s closed downstairs and stuffed with insulation already. It does muffle voices but impacts are super obnoxious. From my understanding the goal is creating a void between anything hard mounted. I do have 5/8 drywall on the ceilings. The floors upstairs are scratched and can more easily be changed

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >From my understanding the goal is creating a void between anything hard mounted

        Thats correct, floors are a special case because like walls they act like a membrane but unlike walls they are directly coupled to percussive sources of vibration...footsteps act like a beater hitting a drum head and things like furniture can transfer motion directly to them as well and/or act like transducers that pick up direct airborne vibration to the floor via the legs.
        Decoupling that membrane from vibration/ energy sources is key and you want something that's the opposite of dense or stiff for that middle layer...something like neoprene foam or an open cell foam like upholstery foam will work better than dense sound barriers that may attenuate certain airborne frequencies but may not stop that drum head- like diaphragm of the floor from resonating when struck, and can even exacerbate it.
        Even 1/8"-14" of the right foam can make a big difference, I used to record in an old house with wood floors and made isolation blocks with soft neoprene foam weatherstripping between two pieces of 1"×2" lumber that things like amps and speaker cabs sat on and the result was a massive reduction in floor resonance.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          What do you think of the stuff on the market ? Should I mix types of underlayment ?

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            I honestly haven't researched anything being offered specifically for that purpose, just pointing out that whatever you choose should be more on the soft/airy side as opposed to dense and/or rigid because it's that gap that decouples the existing floor from footsteps and the less rigid/ dense that standoff layer is, the better.
            Some "sound proofing" material like automotive sound deadening mat is the opposite and has a different function for a completely different type of floor material sound source.

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    but anyway I would try going under rather than over. why cover up nice floors with bullshit?

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Shag carpeting?

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    If you're willing to rip up the hardwood floor, you can put down a layer of foam board, then another layer of OSB on top of it, using fasteners long enough to fasten to the existing subfloor, then put down floating click lock flooring. It won't completely eliminate all noise, but it'll help a lot.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      What is the point of ripping it up if I can just cover it ? Not knocking but I’m adding layers as a deterrent.

      Covering hardwood floors with a fake floor is a shame and expensive. Put a carpet runner in the high traffic path.
      You own the house? tell the people upstairs to not stomp around.

      That only goes so far if your the worlds lightest sleeper, stuff can be done and has been to eliminate noise. I want more.

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Covering hardwood floors with a fake floor is a shame and expensive. Put a carpet runner in the high traffic path.
    You own the house? tell the people upstairs to not stomp around.

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Ah shit, I too lived under a fricking bowling alley. I've been dedicating my free time to studying solutions and unfortunately the only final solution is to move somewhere where there's no one on top of you.

    Barring that, you're lucky you own the place bc the 2nd best option is mass loaded vinyl. Like 6mm *minimum* ontop of the underlayment and under the floorboards/carpet. It's heavy and will weigh in y your house, but the thicker the better. Impact noises like footsteps require very dense material.

    3rd thing is, the hollow space between your ceiling and their floor acts like a drum and literally amplifies the footsteps. You can stuff it but that'll only go so far. It's mediocre at best, and for light sleepers like you and me won't cut it.
    If possible (like there's no lights or fans on the ceiling) create a 2nd ceiling. This will need a small air gap bt the original and new ceilings. I'd give it at least a couple inches, and also stuff that cavity as well. If you can afford it, frick it, mass load vinyl that layer too.

    Lastly, this goes for all sound dampening/absorption/blocking/etc. Always treat the side of the wall/floor that the noise is coming from. You want to kill the waves as much as possible before they get to the wall/floor.
    In your case, carpets and rugs (and the MLV) will help more than insulation.
    If you want to keep the home theater noise in the home theater, you put the foam and MLV on the theater walls. Doing your bedroom walls will only keep the sounds of you jacking off in.

    Anyway I hope this is helpful. The MLV and some nice soft and absorbent padding underneath the floorboards/carpet is my recommendation.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Op here,
      Great post anon. I’m hitting the problem with multiple solutions. I’m gonna get 10mm material to put down upstairs below the vinyl floor, and then carpet on the top of that, I can create a soffit (sp?) drop down in the downstairs but I’m taking this route first. Thank you for your time

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Do a white noise device as well, even just a small fan.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          It is crazy how much a little fan helps

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *