Separating floors are designed to limit or insulate against airborne sound,
such as from speakers and impact sounds such as footsteps. The heavier the
floor, the less sound is transmitted. Mass is designed into floors by using
concrete or adding layers of dense material to the steel floor structure. The
physical separation of a floor reduces the transmission of sound through a
structure. The installation of a floating floor, which incorporates resilient
layers and uses soft or acoustic floor coverings, is the best option for achieving
the perfect soundproofing seal.
What is Acoustic Underlay?
Acoustic underlay is specifically designed to help reduce
airborne and impact sound within a floor system. It’s used in concrete floors
and is great way of reducing impact sound with minimal fuss when it comes to
installation. Acoustic underlay is essentially a rubber resilient layer that is
traditionally installed underneath the final floor, the flooring from the
structure of the building. Acoustic underlayment helps to elevate the floor using
a floating floor. The elevation creates a space of dead air that can help to
drastically reduce the vibration transmission from one floor to another. Often
this type of acoustic underlay is made from recycled wood.
How Do Acoustic Underlays Work?
Acoustic underlays are primarily designed to reduce
impact sound within a floor system. The purpose of the acoustic underlay is to
minimise mechanical fixings and rigid stiff connection between the final floor
finish and the structure of the building. Typically, the thickness of the
acoustic underlay will dictate the level of impact reduction it can provide,
the thicker and more elastic the underlay the greater the impact sound
reduction, as the acoustic underlay should act as a spring pushing back against
footfall.
How to soundproof concrete floors
Concrete
floors have a good level of mass and density. This ensures airborne sounds such
as talking, and conversation will be blocked. Impact sound such as footfall and
moving objects will transfer through a concrete floor. Using a resilient layer such
as carpet over the concrete floor is best to reduce impact sound from
transferring through concrete flooring. The best way of soundproofing concrete floors to
reduce impact sound is to use a layer over the concrete flooring. The
soundproof layer is installed over the concrete and below the floor finish. The type of soundproofing you use to block impact sound through the
concrete is made from materials that absorb impact sound before it transmits
into the concrete. Soundproofing a concrete floor will block impact noise
(footsteps) travelling from the room above to the room below. Floor
soundproofing can also block airborne noise travelling from below to the room
above or from the room above to the room below.
Acoustic Foam
The
underlayment of acoustic foam tends to be one of the most expensive foam
options. This is known to be effective at keeping sound from moving between
floors. There are two product types for concrete floors of over screed acoustic
underlay and under screed acoustic underlay.
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