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Can you hear through your floorboards?

8 replies

MeMeMeow85 · 21/10/2018 22:07

Recently moved into our new house. If someone is in a room downstairs, then you can hear a mumble of them speaking/laughing etc in whichever bedroom is directly above. It is quite loud.

The house currently has hard wood floors everywhere. I’ve already ordered carpets and acoustic underlay for the bedrooms and it is being fitted shortly.

But I wanted to ask if it is normal to hear people through floorboards?

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GuntyMcGee · 21/10/2018 22:11

Yes. I can hear the TV, DH and the dogs if he's downstairs and I'm upstairs. It's muffled but I can hear it.
My NDN have hard flooring upstairs and I can clearly hear them clattering around through the walls too.
Carpet will help. I bloody wish NDN would get some.

Eminybob · 21/10/2018 22:20

I can only hear if the tv is on loud, or if dh is shouting (like he was at match of the day last night). Normal conversation and tv volume I can’t hear. We have carpets though. And I have never heard so much as a peep from next door, I think we have pretty solidly built houses (1950’s ex council house)

PiggeryPorcombe · 21/10/2018 22:28

Yes. Easily and clearly if it’s dh speaking below me. House built 2009. Carpeted. It doesn’t cause a problem though and I’ve never given it any thought up till now.

PigletJohn · 21/10/2018 23:16

Yes. But carpet and underlay helps a lot.

The other thing is the plaster on the ceiling below. I formerly had a house with thick, heavy lime plaster. When some of it had to come down, I was startled by how much noise came through the uncarpeted bathroom floor.

A modern house usually has a single layer of plasterboard with a thin plaster skim, which is not as good. If you ever need to have ceilings skimmed, for example if you want to cover artex, and you have a particular noise problem, consider having an extra layer of plasterboard added first.

Lastly, any holes or gaps in ceiling will allow noise through. It gets through the weakest spots. There are usually gaps hidden by the lighting roses, and around pipes, and sometimes above cupboards, boilers etc where the plasterer's work was unseen. There are even people who like multiple holes in their ceilings for lamps to poke through. As well as noise, these holes allow odours, draughts, and even smoke or fire, to pass through the ceiling barrier. You can often fill them with expanding foam (get the pink, fire-resistant grade)

If you ever have to take the floor up, fill all possible holes and gaps. There will usually be a gap under the skirting, and gaps in the mortar and brickwork that are out of sight.

You can also put mineral wool quilt between the joists, especially packed tightly round the edges of the room where most draughts get in. Ordinary loft insulation makes a slight difference, you can buy dense builders batts which are better (the extra mass deadens sound more). Don't put it under a bathroom floor where it may get wet.

Pic: A recent floor. You can't see the pink foam applied to the joint between the walls and the upper surface of the ceiling, and all pipe or cable gaps.

foam

gun

cleaner

Can you hear through your floorboards?
Squirreltamer · 22/10/2018 01:06

I had lath and plaster ceilings and floorboards

They reduced sound by around 20- 25db

I stuck rockwool soundslab between the joists and now I have a sound reduction of slightly more than 55db.

I reckon if I sealed the skirting it would be more but 55db is good enough for me.

Doesn’t help impact sound but my house is a no shoes household so don’t get much of that.

I got these figures from setting a stero and measuring the reduction... I can confirm the hall which is carpeted with no soundblock wool has pretty much the same reduction.

So I can only imagine soundslab plus carpet would be more than enough for day to day noise.

Most houses you’ll hear a slight mumble from speaking as speaking is about 70db

I can also confirm a solid 18inch thick brick party wall will reduce sound by 55db too. I can still hear talking mumbles and tv. Can’t hear mine between rooms. Guess they’re just loud :( but they go to bed at 11 and are quiet in the morning so I can’t complain... expect on the internet

PigletJohn · 22/10/2018 01:27

what thickness was that, please?

notangelinajolie · 22/10/2018 01:39

No I cant hear upstairs/downstairs. Old house, thick carpets. But I can hear next door neighbours when they are looking after grandkids. Don't think they have carpet and kids run up and down and up and down and up and down a bit more grrr....

MeMeMeow85 · 22/10/2018 14:27

Thanks all. I’ve ordered an underlay called “Colours Red” which is supposed to be good for impact noise reduction (hopefully will help with acoustic noise too) and we’ve ordered some sound insulation foam for fitting in the trench (floor) radiators. Fingers crossed! I suppose at least it is only our own noise, which we can control, rather than neighbour noise!

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