Can anyone talk to me about soundproofing a floor?

[Charliemouse500]

Hello

Have any of you soundproofed your floor? We are in a first / second floor maisonette, and our elderly downstairs neighbours are driving us bonkers. They are deaf, and their TV is crazily loud...we have politely asked to turn down, DH has offered to fit speakers for them etc etc but no joy.

So we are looking at soundproofing our living room floor (luckily that's the only room affected). Has anyone ever done this? What did you use / any good recommendations for getting it done? I am in Dorset.

Most importantly did it work? Its damn expensive if it doesn't

TIA - what a boring subject to post about!

You need to think about floor level - you don't want a step so your floor will probably have to come up

Think about

sealing other gaps (skirting/built-in cupboards/cavity walls) as these can transmit sound really well

Have you looked at some of the acoustic foam products for music rooms etc?
There are some good products out there...this one is the one we use in the upstairs bathroom and you cannot hear a thing from downstairs. It was fairly inexpensive and has lasted well.

Thanks Katymac, I've been reading about mineral wool insulation that you put between the floor joists (to hopefully avoid a step / raising the level)- don't suppose this is something you've used?

Thanks for the tip re gaps though, our house is v.old so that's bound to be an issue somewhere!

cross posted! Thanks also Gentle, will investigate further. It looks like you could spend a fortune so budget options always welcome.

Thisis a shredded fireproof paper product which can be scooted in to the gap between your floor and their ceiling.
Again, it is not too expensive per bag, someone comes with the machine and there is little disruption or damage.

Ooh, that looks good. I like that it is a bit more environmentally friendly too. Your geekiness does you proud

Does your property has breeze block inner walls?If so,they transmit sound super efficiently so insulating the floor won't help much.Our neighbours are old and their tv drove me to distraction when we first moved in,but I barely notice it now.I looked into soundproofing,but because of the breeze/cinderblock walls it wouldn't have made any difference.

Try putting your ear to one of your outside walls-if you can hear their tv through it,insulating the floor won't help much if at all.If the property was built pre 1939 and is brick with no cavity [you can tell this by seeing how the bricks are laid,all laid lengthways=cavity,laid long and short,=no cavity.],sound insulation would probably improve things.

HTH

This is a good thread for me. I can hear my neighbour's TV through my living room wall and it's annoying me. Floor is concrete. Any tips on making it soundproof? tis the only room in the house we can hear neighbours but we had terribly noisy neighbours in old house so we're a bit antsy about it (new neighs aren't being unreasonably loud, but I'd still like to block the noise)

There are grants available under the 'decent homes' scheme which cover noise insulation. This is for England and Wales, I think.

Watching this thread with interest as those little tiny feet that my children once had are now huge and make a lot of noise

Thanks everyone - our house is 1903 so no breeze blocks, which fingers crossed means sound proofing the floor should work.

I've just checked out the decent homes grants - no good for us as you need to be in receipt of benefits (or fit into over 60's / or disabled catagories), but they look pretty useful for anyone who is eligible. I guess the focus would be insulation for heat rather than soundproofing, but it would still have the same effect.

MamaG - I was looking at this place here - if you are in London they will fit, but otherwise they sell the panels which you (or a builder depending on how handy you are feeling!) can fit.

I would check what sort of sound all these solutions insulate against - it is very difficult to cut air-borne noise such as a neighbour's TV - an awful lot of these products, in particular the foams and mats that go under flooring, is to stop impact noise such as foot steps. So your (deaf) neighbours might (theoretically) benefit, but you won't .

It's so tricky as it's not the kind of thing you can try first to see if it works, unfortunately. You're right, the focus does tend to be on foot step noise in general. TBH we'd be happy with just a reduction in the noise; I think its pretty impossible to expect not to hear the TV at all, but hopefully we can reduce the volume to the point where it doesn't make the floor vibrate!