Hardwood floor underlayment
Thomas Tzeng
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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Is there any underlayment under my hardwood floors?
Comments (10)My subfloor is 1 inch thick pine planks that are layed diagonal. There is a utility closet where the floors stop at and there is a piece of plywood in that closet. I can see the edge of the oak board and there is a quarter inch gap between the oak and where the plywood starts. I can see the diagonally laid pine planks but there is no underlayment there. It might have been removed when the plywood was put in the closet. The closet holds the water heater and furnace. When they took up the original floor that was in the closet, they may have removed any underlayment before putting down the pine. Where the edge of the hardwood stops and where the plywood begins, the area is too small to be able to see if anything is under the oak. I would have to damage a piece of the board to find out. It is not important that i know im just curious....See MoreChoosing Underlayment for Engineered Hardwood Floor - 2nd Floor Condo
Comments (3)Quietwalk or 1/4" cork. I've seen the Eco-cork "numbers" and how they achieved them....not pretty. Unless you can buy your downstairs neighbor a 12" drop-down Armstrong Acoustic ceiling, you will not get what you want from that product. Eco-Cork foam is 90% polyethylene foam (not cork). They HAD to add cork because of some complaints that they were using the word "cork" when it didn't have ANY cork (100% polyethylene foam = false advertising anyone?). So...they added a snick of cork and then republished their old numbers. Done like dinner. And still wonky after all these years. Having sold and worked with cork for more than 6 years, I have investigated pretty much every underpad out there. QuietWalk is the ONLY one I have respect for. Please use their 3mm thick pad...or thicker if you can. The 1/4" cork is lovely because you throw it down like a beach blanket. No tape. No glue. Just butt the edges together and start laying the floating wood floor. It will help even out tiny wobbles in the gypcrete...which is helpful because gypcrete is a PAIN in the @ss to deal with if it needs patching. Either one will get you a nice quiet home....the cork will be more rigid and sometimes that is needed over a little bit of a wonky subfloor....See MoreHardwood with cork underlayment
Comments (18)Thanks for bringing me back into the discussion. First things first: you NEVER use carpet underpad under anything but carpet. EVER. So now that is out of the way, we'll move on. The QuietWalk Plus is allowed to be nailed into. Very good. So too is the MPGlobal. Excellent. We are officially working with Apples to Apples. Nice. Now onto ACOUSTIC RATINGS.....shise (German...allows me to swear without getting flagged!). You are now into a WHOLE NEW INDUSTRY of trickery and crap...with some crapola on the side. And a desert of kaka pie! Nope not kidding. This is one of the LEAST understood parts of the building industry. And the underlayment manufacturers LIKE it that way....which is why they spend big bucks lobbying to KEEP the industry 'stupid'. OK. That's my rant. Done. Onto SCIENCE (yah...big cheer!). Always look for a Delta IIC rating. It is an expensive test that PROVES how good underlayment is. The cheep dudes will NOT do this test because it proves how BAD their product is. See where I'm going with this? Right. QuietWalk Plus HAS the Delta IIC rating (22 dB). MPGlobal (made by quietwalk....ahem!) does not. For me that's all I need to know...but I also taught myself the insulation/acoustic rating industry. Only took me two years. Yep. 2 YEARS. And I already had a background in human hearing, decibels and neurophysiology of the auditory canal. It was teaching myself the CRAP the industry likes to do to HIDE how bad their products are, that took the longest. But I digress. 1. The QuietWalk Plus has a Delta IIC rating of 22 dB. That's EXTREMELY GOOD. That's BETTER than 6mm cork underlayment with a cork floating floor on top. This is VERY VERY VERY good. Personally I would stop there. 2. QuietWalk Plus is THICKER. Yes. I know. It is ONLY 1mm thicker...but the TOTAL thickness = 3mm. Compare that to the 2mm thickness of the MPglobal. It doesn't SOUND (haha) like a lot but STATISTICALLY it is 30% THICKER. WOW. You have the difference RIGHT THERE. Quiet walk has DELTA IIC ratings that are ranked as very good to exceptional...and it is 30% THICKER. My research is done. I'm still with QuietWalk Plus. I love my cork but it isn't always possible to use it. It cannot be nailed into. Which means my next favourite, QuietWalk Plus is the way to go. Remember: floors are like roofs. It is the ONE surface that takes ALL the abuse. Do not 'save' money on the floor. You'll pull your hair out because you thought a few dollars saved on the flooring would be a great way to save a budget. I'm not saying you are headed in this direction...it's just a statement I always make about floors. I hope this helps....without having to give a two day lecture on the BS of the acoustic/insulation industry. Good luck. QuietWalk Plus is still the best that I've seen. And no, I have no affiliation with them. I'm just impressed with their product....See MoreUnderlayer between rubber floor and hardwood flooring (adding a gym)
Comments (2)Ram Board could also play a part. It is the 'tough stuff' they put down during construction to prevent damage to finished wood floors. It's great stuff. Very tough. Just do NOT tape anything to the wood. Tape the seams to each other and then lay the rubber flooring over top. And please be aware that rubber can be tough to work out around. The HIGH END stuff in commercial style gyms has been treated in such a way that it does not off gas too much. The homeowner access stuff can be pretty nasty (low end = $3/sf) with odour and continuous life long off gassing. The high-end stuff ($10/sf or more) is usually too high a price tag for homeowners to buy into. As someone who is allergic to latex and rubber, I can't walk into a tire shop let alone a gym with rubber flooring. The rubber mats are too much for me. I go into anaphylaxes within 10 minutes. Ambulance rides are not the way I like to end my workouts....See More
Thomas Tzeng
5 years agoThomas Tzeng
5 years agoThomas Tzeng
5 years agoThomas Tzeng
5 years ago
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