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Remodeling Flooring Design Dilemma

Soundproofing between floors

5 years ago

Our guest room is located in our finished basement and it's directly under the kitchen. Whenever someone is walking in the kitchen it sounds like a herd of elephants to our guest. Is there anything we can do to help dampen that sound (especially since our kitchen is currently gutted)? It isn't so much voices as the movement of the floorboards.

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Comments (4)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
5 years ago
The floorboards should not be moving so adress that for sure . The only way to help with sound transmission between floors is to add sound deadening insulation between the floors which would involve removing your subfloor in the kitchen and adding the insulation. The easier choice would be to do a floor in the kitchen that has underlay that is foam and helps quita a lot so something like laminate or vinylplank with a cork base.
Cyndy
5 years ago
I would do insulation...maybe rockwool or cellulose. Also- thicker subfloor and screw it down in addition to nails.
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PRO
G & S Floor Service
5 years ago
Your subfloor needs to be glued, along with insulation.
SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
The noise solution is usually applied from below (as in when the basement was finished). Usually this is the cheapest, easiest solution because you gain access to the floor joists very easily. With the basement ceiling open, you can STUFF the joist spaces with two layers of Roxall Safe N Sound (creates both a fire break and a noise break). If your noise issue still remains, you can then add decoupling products before you hang the ceiling. If done this way, the cost of renovation is kept quite low.

If you have to do this from above, as in your case, the costs just went up. Securing the first layer of subfloor (the things attached to the joists) will be the first order of business. If this layer is old and dry and the product is starting to crumble (ie. the screws/nails are coming loose) then you may have to remove EVERYTHING to the joists anyway (pray to the gods of renovation that you do NOT have to do this).

Assuming you can leave the subfloor in place, you can then use 1/2" cork in between the first layer of subfloor (the part screwed to the joists) and the second layer of underlayment (the nice plywood that will sit directly underneath your floor). You can glue the cork into place. Allow the adhesive to cure and then glue the second layer of underlayment down onto the cork. Do NOT pierce the cork with metal. Metal screws become a conduit for noise (aka. thousands of telephone wires).

Once your 'cork sandwich' is in place, you can then start to rebuild your kitchen. Of course if you MUST get down to joists, then go ahead and STUFF the joist spacing with a double layer of Safe N Sound. It is relatively cheap and easy to use. Then lay your beautifully thick subfloor followed by another thick layer of plywood. Making sure everything is screwed into place.

Remember: density/thickess/total mass kills noise.

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