Sound proofing between floors in a house

[SunflowerLV]

Hi,

I am planning the renovation of my house. I have two young children and planning a third so preparing for lots of little feet running around.

Just wondered if anyone did anything to help with the noise between floors. I was going to ask the builders to increase the amount of insulation (e.g. with rock wool) when they lift the floorboards up. Also thinking about whether to use some sort of acoustic boards instead of the chipboard. The acoustic boards are expensive and not sure how effective they would be.

Would like to hear what you did and whether or not you thought it made a difference.

Thanks!

how old is the house? Do you know what the ceilings are made of? Old L&P ceilings are usually much thicker and heavier than plasterboard, and better at soundproofing. Don't make any holes in your ceilings, e.g. for downlighters

Carpets and dense underlay will make a big difference.

Chipboard is at its best on a bonfire. Flooring ply is much better. For soundproofing you need dense mineral wool batts, which are heavier than loft insulation. Electrical cables must not be surrounded in insulation, but can run underneath or on top.

Hi PigletJohn - my house is 10 years old but built very cheaply. Unfortunately I do need to make holes in the ceiling for downlighters as the living room on the ground floor is very dark.

I plan to have either laminate or engineered wood on the 1st floor living room (directly above the ground floor living room) which is why I am concerned about the noise. We prefer not to have carpet because it is hard to keep clean with children.

Sounds like I should replace all the chipboard with plywood, is that right? Thanks.

Downlighters are not a good source of light, unless you want to have pools of light in an otherwise dim room.

The holes will also allow noise through, which you said you did not want.

If it is a modern cheaply built house, I expect the ceilings will be a single layer of plasterboard. You can improve noise resistance by having an extra layer added, and skimmed. Use thick pb. You can get a noise resistant pb at extra cost, I have no experience of it. Boarding and skimming a ceiling is not an expensive job. If you make holes in it your money will be wasted.

Ply is a better floor than chipboard.

Thanks very much for the guidance PigletJohn, much appreciated.

There are really two types of sound impact and airborne, extra insulation (quitex chips or quiltex) good but expensive help with airborne sound. A part e robust detail such as a rubber mat beneath the engineered floor (glued not nailed) short sort impact sounds...hope this helps