I looked over all of my other articles and realized that I had not written anything on how to soundproof a floor in a condo or co-op for example, well being an authority on soundproofing it is sacrilegious to not write an article on this subject, so here goes.

There are many ways to soundproof your floors from the neighbors below and also from your footfall (impact noise) traveling down to them. In previous articles we have talked about soundproofing your ceiling below as well as soundproofing walls etc, but we have never talked about soundproofing a floor.

Let’s first talk about the reasons for soundproofing your floor if you live in an upper unit in an apartment or condo situation. Many times the people down below will have a tendency to crank up their TV or Stereo because they don’t think the neighbor upstairs will hear them. Wrong answer, the people upstairs can definitely hear your stereo and surround sound home theater. So if you live in a upper unit and the people below are loud and will not compromise on the volume issue, then it might be time to soundproof your floor above.

One very effective soundproofing agent is called American Impact Standard and it is a soundproof floor underlayment made of very dense and heavy recycled rubber. Recycled rubber does not need to resonate in order to be effective, as does Mass Loaded Vinyl (MLV) or lead sheeting. The American Impact Standard comes in tiles, which are generally 2 ft X 2 ft. You would lay them out onto your floor wall to wall butting all of the seams together. I always recommend adhering the America Impact Standard to the sub floor, but it is not necessary. For example, if you had a nice hardwood floor but wanted to alleviate noise issues from below, you might not want to trash your existing would floor if your were going to carper the floor for instance. I’m hoping that this all makes sense.

Once the tiles are laid out onto the floor I always recommend caulking all seam as well as the entire perimeter of the recycled rubber membrane. Once your have caulked all seams with the acoustical caulk it is now time to install the carpet and pad, hardwood or ceramic tile flooring. If you are installing carper and padding but have not glued down the Impact Standard then it is essential that your drive the carpet tackless (tack strips) through the American Impact Standard and into the wooden sub floor. If you have glued the Impact Standard down to the sub floor then you’re in luck, the carpet tackless now does not need to be nailed into the sub floor as the Impact standard is stout enough to hold the nails. So once you have the Impact standard installed and caulked your can put down any type floor your wish and still have maximum soundproofing from the neighbors below.

There are other material for soundproofing your floor that we will explore in future articles, but in the meantime “For peace of mind" talk to the professionals at Soundproofing America Inc. (877) 530-0139 Thanks for reading, This is Dr. Bob…Out!!