How To Tell If An Upper Floor Is Sound

Additional mass helps block sounds by reducing vibrations.

How to tell if an upper floor is sound.

Iic 50 has the least impact sound absorption quality. When my attic floor was squeaking i took note of the areas that produced the noise and took care to avoid them. Carpeting gives superb results and often resolves the problem of impact noise. Drywall sheets which might include a type designed for sound control add mass to the underside of a floor.

Do you want to reduce the noise traveling from an upper floor to the room s below it or to reduce the noise entering a room from beneath through the floor. It s best to have a professional company do that kind of work. There are many different approaches to sound insulation. While this may be appropriate for ground floors it would be unsatisfactory for most on a high floor without a great deal of insulation in the area.

Let s start with the floor. If the squeak is coming from the upper floor of your own house you probably know which floorboard or joist is the source of the noise. Seek out thick pile material or something with a rubber backing to muffle sound humphrey suggests. Likewise sound from below migrates through ceilings to the floor above.

The other important factor to keep in mind when thinking about the direction of sound is the positioning of the device that s making it. When evaluating flooring underlayment sound deadening and acoustical ratings are one of the things homeowners or hoa considers it all begins with how sound is generated and the medium it transfers through. For instance you can make a vast difference by filling the space between your ceiling and the upper floor with insulation. Iic impact insulation class is measured in terms of sound impact or how well sound vibrations travel through a floor to the room below.

Flooring sound transmittal is an upstairs downstairs and everywhere problem footfall music tv play and other noises carry down to the floor below. Another important point is to know what to use to glue the sheets together. The floor covering industry considers the sound insulation very important in living areas such as multi family or single family dwellings. There s no need to fully carpet the floor as even a selection of scatter rugs will help.

To further reduce sound transmission add carpet padding to new or existing carpets. This dissipates the impact energy before it has a chance to enter the building structure as sound. Ultimately floors and ceilings are thicker and denser than walls so they won t let the higher frequency sounds through as easily. The positioning of the source of sound.