noisy floor ruining dream kitchen extension

[littlelambbutterfly]

We've just built the dream extension. It looks incredible and is the result of large loans and a year of suffering.
And I can't bear to be in it. Why? - The noise. Ok it's big ,so some curtains and canvass pictures will stop the echo.
But the kids running about on the floor is making my hands tremor when drinking a cup of tea. I've always been a bit delicate to this sot of thing, but the wife thudding about in her new boots and kids doing handstands is making it impossible for me to be there when they are - it completely defeats the purpose of the build. To give you an idea, you can see the jurasic park glass of water effect when people walk, and the noise is like low pitched pumping speakers.
We have underfloor heating and karndean which looks and feels nice. But I think the builder skimped on the materials for the wooden joists. I'm now looking on rightmove all the time which is crazy as we were supposed to have created the dream house.
I feel really guilty that my anxiety is spoiling it for my wife, but it's been over a month and I am really depressed about it.
Will I get used to it? I don't think so. So I am looking for advice as to either learning to live with it or finding out ways to fix it.
I know my user name sounds feeble - it's a Paul Maccartney song - (best song he did outside the Beatles) and this post probably looks pathetic compared to real world problems, but I need help (with the floor issue).

I’m sensitive to noise too.
Rugs?? More soft furnishings? Surely you need a big rug to start with..:

Can you have your hearing checked. My DH can't bare talking pretty much at meals it driving me mad and the psychologist thinks his hearing is out of whack.

If you have UFH in a new extension it should be solid floor and no vibration at all.

I think this can be a problem with big extensions, you suddenly have this vast space and nothing to deaden the noise, you can get acoustic panels that you can put on walls to deaden noise like in this photo, that should fix it, for a quicker noise deadening effect tell your wife to take her clompy boots off in the house and insist everyone wears slippers, and buy a big fluffy rug not a flat weave type.

I'm not particularly noise sensitive, but the idea of thudding about in boots and indoor handstands is setting my teeth on edge.

Thanks for messages. To answer some questions:
Karndean flooring isn't allowed to go over 27C so big fluffy rugs are out as they insulate the heat.
The UFH is by Wundatherm and goes in between the joists. We live in South East London where there is clay so building control don't like concrete base - though i wish that's what I had.
I might well have my hearingchecked - though it might be quite good because i am two floors up as I write this and I can hear the thudding from kids in the kitchen.
Brand new kitchen and I can't bare to be in it. Dreadful situation.
I think the only true fix is to redo the floor which will cost about 15k. I'm done for.

I’d put the rugs down. The Karndean is not going to combust it might just loosen the glue and really, that’s the least of your worries at the moment.

Soft furnishings will make a huge difference. Curtains or fabric blinds, sofa or fabric chairs, rugs. When I take the fabric blinds down in my sitting room which has a wooden floor the noise is awful. I am very sensitive to noise also. You don't need UFH at 27 degrees to keep the room warm so rugs should be fine at a lower temp.
Hope you find a solution and start to love the room!

We had echo badly in our new extension. We've now got a rug, curtains, blind and a sofa. No echo anymore.

Does DW know you are finding it hard?

Do you wear shoes indoors- that would be a reasonably quick and easy fix for some of the noise. If DC go skidding about get them non-slip socks.

We inherited a large open plan kitchen when we bought this house, it got much quieter when we put in soft furnishings. Obviously, if you’ve gone v sleek and modern that might not work, but Scandi chic might fit in.

If you are worried about the cost on top in case it doesn’t work, re-home items from other rooms temporarily, if it helps- that is your answer.

You can get acoustic engineers who are experts in this type of thing. It may be that there is a specific dynamic which is causing it, it could be as simple as re-arranging furniture so that you sit somewhere else, or so that it deadens the sound in a different way.

If you can hear kids thudding around 2 floors up, I think your kids are the problem, not the room

Karndean flooring isn't allowed to go over 27C so big fluffy rugs are out as they insulate the heat.

Wtf?
What are you going to do in a hot summer? Fan it down?

Put some rugs down, it will help.

The biggest problem is the “dream” attitude, people build things up and then get upset when the reality doesn’t live up to their expectations.

Lots of soft furnishings will definitely help, as will slipper socks for indoor use for all the family. If that doesn't help you could try EMDR therapy to help desensitise you to the noise. It can be suprisingly helpful for this sort of thing

Hi Guys, Really amazed and pleased to get responses.

the 27c for Karndean is wierd. It doesn't make sense does it. Sod it, I will put rugs down where allowed.

The kids are young so can't blame them for running and dancing in open space.
The noise is not just echo on top. The empty space underneath is acting like a drum - reverberating the noise. I've spoken to acoustic engineers and it seems that's the problem. And getting under the floor would mean removing it. Hence the cost to fix.
I do agree about the "dream" attitude we all have. But when you spend such vast amounts of borrowed money it's hard not to feel gutted when it goes wrong. (the whole floor is slightly wonky). The builders blame the Karndean fitters,the fitters blame the builders. Both have my money and have moved on. The wife is the main breadwinner, and gets really, really upset if I critisize the build so I just have to not talk about it. What is EMDR therapy?

Ok, I’m not any sort of builder or construction person at all, so am thinking aloud. It sounds as if you have at least a crawl space under the floor?
It also sounds as if the joists/floorboards have quite a bit of movement in them, if you’re talking about the Jurassic park effect.
Would there be any mileage in seeing if you could put in some sort of extra supports under the floor? To shorten the vibrating lengths if that makes any sense. That might cut the reverberation down a bit.

My DF has this problem in a new extension with a block and beam floor.
I sat on the sofa then the washing machine(in utility room off the lounge) went on spin.
The vibration is horrendous it shook the whole of my insides.

The first time it happened I thought it was me who was shaking as I could not hear the washing machine.
It vibrates the whole floor(the washing machine is not unbalanced/unlevel). As soon as the washer stopped the vibration stopped.
It is down to the block and beam floor construction.
It's worse in the lounge area where they have wooden flooring.
The older front of the house has concrete floors and there are no issues there.

My architect tried to convince me to have a wooden beam floor in our extension as means you don't wait months for the concrete to dry out. I'm so glad I held off and refused. We have underfloor heating with laminate which is a total delight.

I do think though that if you had used a cushioned laminate you may have had less of a problem as Karndean looks great but is obviously thinner

Yeah. All in all Karndean just not worth it. So expensive .
I have just been on the phone to a builder and the outcome was not good. I suggested trying to support the joists by going underneath and adding some kind of support. But he was sceptical how possible that was. To compound the problem,elsewhere, the island was initially wobbling, the builders put blocks and cement underneath to support it. But then island is now not quite level with the floor so my feet slope upwards when I chop and cook at the hob. Not by much but enough to irritate. So there's loads of places where the floor is wrong.
My builder mate reckoned it was a 20K fix. As i reread this message I realise how poor the workmanship was. Why do builders just not give a Sh~~? They've left me absolutley devastated.

@littlelambbutterfly

Sorry you are suffering this. We are two years post build finish and after reading other builder experiences on here, it makes me realise what a totally professional builder we had. The quality is amazing.

Difficult one but have you talked to the architect to ask their rationale about floor and see if they have ideas to make it better?

Depending in extension size it may be worth relaying the floor with a thick laminate....obviously you would need to see how effective the UFH would be. Ours is 14mm thick and it is fine but isn't a. Instant heat when in, although is more characteristic of UFH