Soundproofing a Floor

12 years ago

My parents and I share a two family. They live on the first floor and we live on the second floor. For the most part, noise isn't really a problem. The one area that is frustrating and upsetting is that our bedroom is above their living room, and noises we make up here travel through the floor pretty easily. Hopefully you get my drift.

So, what can I do to soundproof a little? It's affecting my marriage, to be honest. We have hardwood floors and our bed is on a standard metal bedframe.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

camlan
12 years ago
Easiest would be to switch rooms and use another room as your bedroom, if possible.

If that's not possible, what I think you need to do is insulate the bedframe from the floor.

Get a large area rug and padding to go underneath--large enough so that your entire bed will fit on it. Get thick foam to put under the legs of your bed. Make sure the bedframe doesn't squeak--if it does, oil it or tighten screws or do whatever you need to to make it stop.

The long-term, most effective and most expensive solution is to put down a new floor, with a sound-dampening underlayer. I don't know if you own or rent, but you might be able to work something out with your parents if they own the building.
raidra
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks! Unfortunately, we can't switch bedrooms. A rug and padding sounds doable. What kind of foam should go under the legs? Our frame is definitely squeaky.. I was actually thinking that it might be easier just to put the boxspring and mattress on the floor (on the carpet, on the padding, etc). Any idea if that would work better than trying to fix the frame (it's old, and I don't know how much we'd be able to de-squeaky it).
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Try a cork underlayment with a Pergo or DuPont laminate floor with foam. DuPont Elite already has the foam attached, and it is an in-stock item at Home Depot. I just installed it in my coop in NYC because I wanted to minimize the sound to my neighbor below me in a room that I wanted to use as a work room/yoga/workout room. Prior to laying down the cork, my contractor screwed down all the squeaky boards on the existing old, oak floors. Google Pergo, DuPont Elite, and cork underlayment and you'll find useful information that may work for you. I donÂt plan to jump around but I wanted to deaden the sound as much as possible. A sprung floor (raised and on thick pieces of foam) would be the best sound insulation, but your floor would be raised so high that most of your doors would have to be cut down to open. I wanted a sprung floor, but the doors situation was a problem and it was 2-3 times the price of the DuPont Elite laminate. I wanted to use Pergo, but couldn't find it in stock anywhere and I needed it ASAP. If you want wood, this may not be the solution for you, but laminate was fine for me as it is for one room that I intend to use as a rec/work/work-out room. Note that laminates can have a clacky sound, but the cork does deaden the sound quite a lot so I think the person below won't hear it as much.
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camlan
12 years ago
I don't know much about sound-absorbing foam, other than that it exists. But they make it for use under stereo speakers, to help stop the noise from going to the floor below.

Or you could try felt--really thick felt, like an inch or more thick. Felt has great sound absorbing qualities and would probably hold up better under a bed. You can also get felt rug pads.

A new bare-bones metal bed frame will run you less than $100 for a queen size bed. It might be easier to buy one than to fix the one you have.

I don't know if putting the box spring directly on the floor would make things better or worse--you probably will have to experiment with that.

Also, you can try in general to keep as much sound in the bedroom as possible. The more fabric and other soft surfaces you have in a room, the more sound is absorbed and the less sound escapes the room. While your best bet is to concentrate on isolating the bed from the floor, adding curtains if you don't have them, and other fabric, like an upholstered chair or lots of cushions or a fabric wall hanging will help with noise overall. Even bookcases filled with books, not decorative objects, will help to keep noise confined to the room.

To start, I'd get a rug and the thickest rug pad you can find--go to an independent carpet store and tell them you need to soundproof the floor and ask what's available. You don't want those thin little rug pads with lots of little holes in them--they won't help at all. Add a new bed frame and see what the results are. I suspect that a rug, padding and a new bed frame will solve most of the problem. Just make sure the legs of the bed are on the rug/padding.
tectonicfloors
12 years ago
Nice response camlan. I agree with it completely
marrie0204
12 years ago
How are you going to sound proof a floor?

Soundproofing a Floor

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camlan

raidra
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Soundproofing a Floor

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