Laminate flooring upstairs - earplugs needed?

[whethertheweather]

We have Amtico flooring everywhere downstairs apart from kitchen which is tiled. Nice and easy to sweep and control dog/cat hair etc

Upstairs and the stairs is all carpeted, but the holes are becoming a trip hazard so we need to do something before there's an accident.

DH thinks we should look at replacing the carpets with hard flooring - probably laminate "wood" not real wood due to cost. He and two of the DC are somewhat asthmatic and he thinks it would be easier to sweep/hoover clean each day (well I say each day- housework not my strongest skill).

I'm fearful that we'll just sit downstairs listening to the three teenage DC clumping around and it will drive us crazy. DH thinks that sound proofing technology must have moved on since laminate was invented...

Does anyone have hard floors upstairs and can give me an opinion?

Thanks

My SIL has this in a new build house with (I'm told) excellent insulation. The noise is horrific, and that's with toddler aged children not teens. Sounds like a herd of elephant moving around.

We had hard flooring in the top floor bedrooms of our old house - a townhouse. Our bedroom was underneath the spare room. Clomp clomp clomp of DPs/PILs just in slippers when staying was awful, let alone the thought of teenagers.

you need proper underlay. there are soundproving ones available

Don't do it. My sister lived in a downstairs flat where her upstairs neighbour had done this. It was hell.

We had laminate throughout when we bought this. We still have it in our room as we are the last to bed and so it makes no odds. When we lay carpet in the kids' rooms, by God the difference was amazing. So much quieter and warmer and just... nicer. Carpet upstairs all the way. It's no more expensive and just as easy to run the Hoover over.

I've never lived in a house with carpets, so don't really understand this - why is it so much quieter? Doesn't laminate flooring or wood planks come with underlay too? So presumably if you have carpet, you've got carpet (thin), underlay (thick) then floorboards; and if you've got hard floor, you've got plank (ok, clicky step noises, but thick) then the same underlay (thick), then the same floorboards.

Someone will have to explain this to me really slowly because physics really wasn't my strong point back at school.

Have also lived in a flat where the people upstairs had hard floors and no noise transmitted

I have walked on badly fitted laminate floors where there is a lot of clicky noise and movement, but I think you can avoid that by installing it properly... after all, I've walked on plenty that don't. I had engineered wood in our last house, (and put some down myself in my sister's house) which is the same sort of thing and that wasn't noisy. She has a ten year old and a seven year old and two dogs.

Because most people don't bother with underlay/sound proofing.

We have laminate upstairs with good underlay and don't have huge problems with noise (teenaged/adult kids)

Vinyl. I love LOVE my vinyl flooring.
Looks like laminate but it's softer, got a slight texture so feels nicer under foot. Plus it comes in one great big roll so no faffing around with prices or laminate and trying to cut them the right size/shape for door frames.

It cost more but not by loads and it is fantastic. I will have vinyl flooring everywhere I go for the rest of my life unless I get gorgeous original wood flooring but that's unlikely