Sound Proofing Options For Wood Flooring

Wooden floors are a highly sought-after flooring option. They are the best way to set the atmosphere in your home, and with a variety of different options and possibilities available in the market, you can get really creative. It’s a great way to make a clear interior design statement, as a wooden floor can be both stylish and chic or very outstanding and modern. But more importantly, it’s affordable and easy to maintain. Yet, there’s one slight disadvantage of this type of flooring when compared for instance to carpets – wooden floors often produce creaks, noises or amplify sounds. Therefore, sound proofing has become of vital importance for homeowners who value comfort and silence.

Soundproofing requirements

If you’re one of them, you can consider reducing noises coming from your wooden floor, for instance by insulating sound coming from rooms above in the house. When it comes to apartments, an obligation can be imposed on tenants by landlords or flat management companies to abide by some rules related to noise reduction.

Therefore, you should always remember to carefully check your soundproofing requirements which you must stick to. There may be a list of products which are recommended as suitable for this purpose. Go through all the related regulations and recommendations before you start a flooring project at your flat.

Underlays

Underlay is the most popular product and the most effective way to reduce noise related to your wooden floors. Any underlay will get the noise level down, but if you want optimal results, there is no better option than acoustic underlay. Such underlays have been developed with this specific application in mind.

But, when choosing an acoustic underlay you should get all the necessary information. Noise and vibrations spread through every building in a different way and each landlord or flat management company has its own rules saying how much impact noise is acceptable.

Good acoustic floor underlays can very effectively reduce noise by up to one third. They differ in terms of their quality, effectiveness and cost and you need to decide what properties are important for you in the case of an acoustic underlay and what sort of product you can afford.

A wide selection of various acoustic floor underlays can make your head spin, so making a proper choice can be difficult. The most important aspects that determine the effectiveness of an underlay in minimising noise level are its weight and thickness. In general, the thicker and the heavier the underlay is, the better sound insulation properties it has.

Moreover, the labels of acoustic underlays often have a sound rating which will help you assess the sound reduction effectiveness. The testing process for acoustic underlays is very thorough and considers such factors as impact and airborne noise. Therefore on their basis you can choose an underlay that meets your noise reduction requirements. You will find many products with excellent impact sound reduction values, but, should you need any help or guidance, contact us for more details.