While most of us try to avoid the noise, Architect Lloyd Russel built his home under the flight path of the San Diego Airport and next to Interstate 5. Using concrete and special windows, he was able to tame the noise.

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Many homeowners like the look and feel of hardwood floors. What they don't realize is that their new floor create additional vibration and noise in the unit below. Many homeowner associations have begun to protect against this problem by amending their CC to prohibit a change in flooring without prior approval. By including the types of flooring within the rubric of architectural control, a board can protect adjoining homeowners from noise caused by flooring not installed with sufficient noise dampening materials.

Failing to control the types of floors installed in CIDs can result in a painful lesson. In one recent case a homeowner sued his upstairs neighbor and his association's board of directors because of an allegedly unreasonable amount of noise created by his neighbor's new hardwood floors. The board had approved the installation of the floors without investigating the potential for affecting the downstairs neighbor's quiet enjoyment of his property. The homeowner successfully proved that the hardwood floors created an unreasonable amount of noise and that the homeowners association was partially to blame for approving the installation. After a three week jury trial, the homeowner was awarded $162,000. The jury determined that the homeowner association's board of directors was responsible for two-thirds of the recovery.

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Soundproofing a wood or tile floor by SoundProofing America

I have been getting a lot of requests lately to write an article on soundproofing a wood or tile floor in an upper apartment or condo unit. The solutions are pretty simple if you're installing wall-to-wall carpeting, but things get a little more complicated when you're dealing with hardwoods, ceramic or vinyl flooring. To begin with, when a manufacturers STC (Sound Transmission Class) claims appear to be too high always read the fine print. Generally they mean that you can only reach this high STC value in conjunction with a myriad of other products that must to be added to your floor or ceiling assembly. For example, if you're looking at ¼"cork as a floor underlayment and the manufacturer claims that it will give you 55-57 STC, keep in mind that this value will only be attained with at least 3 inches of gypcrete (light weight concrete) poured overtop of the existing sub-floor and most likely the addition of a couple of layers of cement board (Hardy or Wonder board) will be needed as well. All of the STC values of these products are additive and so the manufacturer makes his claim hoping you won't read the fine print.

Even though these values are additive, there is always the law of diminishing returns to contend with, so you still may not reach your STC goal even though it says you do on paper. Many times the call out for a floor or ceiling assembly is such that ceiling below must be floated on sound clips and furring channels or resilient channels in order to obtain the 55-57 STC values that some manufacturers claim to get from their product. Basically, no soundproofing product on it's own will give you a 55-57 STC value. If you find one that does, please let me know and I'll get it on the website immediately. There are no magic formulas. What it boils down to is simply this, very few products on the market today can give you an STC value greater than 32 to 35 STC on their own, and thus these high STC claims are very misleading to say the least.

I had a customer who told me that a 1/8" cork mat would give him an STC rating of 55- 57 when laid beneath carpet and pad. I smiled and had him show me the cut sheet (spec. sheet) for the cork. The sheet called for the addition of a poured gypcrete sub floor and numerous other items that I can't recall off hand, that were needed in order to meet the 55-57 STC. Needless to say, he was shocked. Its back to that old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it is! That being said, the absolute best way to soundproof an upstairs unit from a lower one is by floating the ceiling in the lower unit using sound clips and furring channel (hat channel).

This is the most common method used by contractors who have done any type soundproofing in their careers. This method, though more economical than the sound clips system is only about ½ as effective and is generally installed improperly even by the most competent of contractors. The difference in cost for the sound clips and furring channels is well worth it to effectively soundproof a ceiling from impact or airborne noise from above. Now there are other materials that can be placed over the sub floor above that will help stop impact noise as well as block most airborne noise from below or above. One is called American Impact Pro and the other is American Impact Standard. These recycled rubber products that are specifically designed to be installed underneath hardwood and tile floors. They will also work well under carpet and padded floors.

When dealing with a hardwood floor, you can also use a product called America's Best, which is a mass loaded vinyl that is bonded to a layer of ¼" closed cell foam mat. This material will provide a certain amount of floor resilience that's prevents much of the impact noise from traveling downward, however the only way this system will work properly is if the wood planks are at least 6' in length, it is also preferred that planks be interlocking on the sides. Mass loaded vinyl with foam backing is a resilient product and will allow the new hardwood floor to actually flex when walked on. This resilience adds to the footfall protection to the ceiling below. Long planked wood floors are the only hard surfaced floors that will work with America's Best vinyl. Other floors such as vinyl or ceramic tile or Pergo floor systems will not work with this product as these surfaces will have a tendency to separate or crack.

Finally, if your condo or co-op association board has a call out for IIC (impact isolation coefficient) then you will need to call a professional to discuss the procedures you'll need to follow in order to meet that particular IIC call out. Impact isolation is a whole other chapter in the Soundproofing Bible and will have to wait until next time! Thanks for reading and learning about soundproofing a wood or tile floor.
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Soundproofing from loud upstairs neighbors in condo or apartment by SoundProofing America



One of the most common soundproofing questions I hear most is "How do I soundproof my condo or apartment from those noisy neighbors who live above?" Generally the most annoying noise is what is known as "foot fall" or "impact noise" Impact noise is noise that is caused by heavy walking on the floor of the neighbor above. It can also be caused by chairs dragging across a hardwood floor above or simply the impact of a fork or plate that is dropped on the floor above.



Impact noise is transmitted through the structural members of the floor/ceiling assembly and generally travels down through the floor joists and into the ceiling below at lightening speed. Impact noise is the most annoying noise you will ever have to deal in your condo or apartment. Sometimes it can actually feel like you neighbor is living in your unit. Sound familiar?



When dealing with impact noise, it is always best to completely remove the existing ceiling and start from scratch. This can be a real chore especially if your ceiling is plaster and not drywall. (For plaster ceiling consult local drywall contractor) Once the ceiling has been removed, it is then recommended that you fill the joist cavities with sound batt insulation such as rock wool, mineral wool, or cotton batt insulation. Roxul and Greensound are common brand names for these batt materials. It is always best to completely fill the cavities with one of these materials, but if you don't have enough of these materials you can always fill the remainder of the cavity with common fiberglass insulation. Just make sure that the first layer of insulation (the layer against the sub floor above) is cotton, mineral wool, or rock wool.



Now that your joist cavities are filled, you will then want to "float your ceiling" on sound clips and furring channels. Float my ceiling? What are you talking about dude? I'm glad you asked; a floated ceiling is a ceiling that is connected to the ceiling joists using a device called a sound clip. Sound clips isolate the joists from the new drywall that will become your new ceiling. Here's how it works. You will screw the sound clips onto the bottom face of the joists and they will run parallel to the joists. The sound clips are then fitted with a metal furring channel also known as "hat channel" because it looks like a Dick Tracy hat if you look at it from the side. Furring channels come in 20 and 25 gauge steel, you can use either gauge with the Americlip sound clips. The furring channels will run perpendicular to the joists as they are fitted into the sound clips. Once you have all of your rows of sound clips and furring channel installed, you are ready to drywall. There is a trick to floating a ceiling and that is to make sure that your new ceiling drywall does not touch the adjoining walls and is completely independent of the ceiling joists.



You will screw in your new drywall using self-tapping drywall screws that will screw through the drywall and into the metal furring channels. Once you are finished screwing the drywall to the furring channels, you will make sure that you have maintained a ¼" gap around the entire perimeter of the new ceiling. This gap will be filled in with acoustical caulk that is designed to remain pliant throughout the life of the caulk. Now that the new floated ceiling is installed and you have caulked in the ¼" gap around the perimeter you'll then tape mud and paint the new ceiling as normal.



Now if you are looking for the ultimate in soundproofing from impact noise as well as airborne noise from above, it is recommended that you float 2 layers of 5/8" drywall on the sound clips and furring channel, and between the layers of drywall you will apply a product called "Green Glue". Green Glue is a visco elastic damping compound that when applied between 2 layers of drywall or any rigid wall board, acts to deaden both layers of wall board thus not allowing the drywall to resonate or transmit sound. When the sound is unable to pass through the drywall it dissipates rapidly and turns into heat energy.



To sum this up, the absolute best way to soundproof your ceiling from the noisy neighbors above is to float the ceiling using the Sound clips and furring channel, and then installing 2 layers of 5/8" drywall suspended from the sound clips and furring channels with Green Glue sandwiched between the 2 layers of drywall.



Now if space is an issue or money is a concern, you can get some great soundproofing and impact protection by simply adding another layer of 5/8" drywall to your existing ceiling, applying the Green Glue to this new layer of drywall and then simply screwing the drywall over top of you existing drywall or plaster ceiling. This method will not be quite as effective as the complete floated ceiling system using Green Glue, but if you are on a budget and need effective protection from the impact noise from above, Green Glue is a great way to go.

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To learn more about Soundproofing and soundproofing materials visit our site http://www.soundproofingamerica.com/



To order Mass Loaded Vinyl see our site.