Soundproofing in a flat

jee

Had a look at the lease- nothing in there about flooring. But I think a reasonable person understands that uncarpeted floor in a floor is a nightmare for neighbours so should be avoided.

Looks like she's breaking quite a few of the agreements though..one by keeping pets!

Brallaqueen

Noise carries in flats, it's something you can't get away from. My sensitivity to noise was high when I first moved in to mine and I woke at every bump, tinkle (:P)and cough.

Sounds like your neighbour will be used to a period of silence if the tenant has long gone and ANY noise you will make will be amplified so do beware!

jee

Was thinking the same thing Brallaqueen.
She's lucky I like dogs otherwise maybe I'll be complaining in the future.

propertyman

So she's mad cat lady too?

jee

I don't know what to make of her to be honest. Maybe she did have a nightmare neighbour upstairs and has been jaded or perhaps she's the neighbour from hell.

breadlinebetty

There should be a lease stipulating that the upstairs flats are carpetted with good underlay. If there is no such lease then one needs to be made up. It's easy to do and any good solicitor will make one up for the leaseholders/freeholders (not sure if it's leasehold or joint freehold/) It sounds like the downstairs neighbour is unaware of this..........

Secondly, there's two types of noise: one is acoustic noise (music, voices etc) which can be deadened by specific soundproofing.

Movement noise from above (people walking on bare floorboards/laminate) needs treating differently. Besides insulating the space between upstair floor and ceiling, all it needs is for the upstairs flat/rooms to have heavy duty underlay and good thick carpet. Since everyone went laminate crazy people all over the country have been going mad with noise 'from upstairs' and the government are now taking action and a law is soon coming out forcing landlords/owners to carpet any floors above ground level (except for kitchens/bathrooms)

If landlords/owners refuse to do it they'll be subjected to massive fines.

It's anti-social and breathtakingly unreasonable to expect downstairs neighbours to have to put up with someone stomping about in stilettos on cheap laminate flooring above them. FGS, why don't these people invest a pair of bl00dy slippers?

It's also outrageous for the OP to suggest the downstairs neighbour suspend HER celing!! Why should she do that???? Go to all that expense - and possibly destroy a beautiful ceiling she already has (also making her room effectively smaller and lower - because he's too mean/selfish/ignorant/whatever to buy some underlay and carpet?!:money:

In a house very few people laminate their bedrooms - they all have soft warm carpet in the bedrooms - which is actually coming back into fashion anyway. But when you're sat in your lounge in a house and someone is moving about upstairs in their bedroom, you will hear 'movement' but it isn't intrusive because there is CARPET and underlay on the floor. The reason this neighbour is probably mad with frenzy is that the flat above has cheap nasty laminate which actually AMPLIFIES the sound and is driving her to distraction.

I suggest the OP be a nice boy and do the decent thing - lay some bl00dy underlay and carpet. It will only backfire on you in the long run - when YOU try to sell you'll have to inform the new buyers you have a dispute with your neighbour - and you will lose THOUSANDS! Much more than a piece of thick underlay and carpet costs!:money:

jee

breadlinebetty wrote: »

There should be a lease stipulating that the upstairs flats are carpetted with good underlay. If there is no such lease then one needs to be made up. It's easy to do and any good solicitor will make one up for the leaseholders/freeholders (not sure if it's leasehold or joint freehold/) It sounds like the downstairs neighbour is unaware of this..........

Secondly, there's two types of noise: one is acoustic noise (music, voices etc) which can be deadened by specific soundproofing.

Movement noise from above (people walking on bare floorboards/laminate) needs treating differently. Besides insulating the space between upstair floor and ceiling, all it needs is for the upstairs flat/rooms to have heavy duty underlay and good thick carpet. Since everyone went laminate crazy people all over the country have been going mad with noise 'from upstairs' and the government are now taking action and a law is soon coming out forcing landlords/owners to carpet any floors above ground level (except for kitchens/bathrooms)

If landlords/owners refuse to do it they'll be subjected to massive fines.

It's anti-social and breathtakingly unreasonable to expect downstairs neighbours to have to put up with someone stomping about in stilettos on cheap laminate flooring above them. FGS, why don't these people invest a pair of bl00dy slippers?

It's also outrageous for the OP to suggest the downstairs neighbour suspend HER celing!! Why should she do that???? Go to all that expense - and possibly destroy a beautiful ceiling she already has (also making her room effectively smaller and lower - because he's too mean/selfish/ignorant/whatever to buy some underlay and carpet?!:money:

In a house very few people laminate their bedrooms - they all have soft warm carpet in the bedrooms - which is actually coming back into fashion anyway. But when you're sat in your lounge in a house and someone is moving about upstairs in their bedroom, you will hear 'movement' but it isn't intrusive because there is CARPET and underlay on the floor. The reason this neighbour is probably mad with frenzy is that the flat above has cheap nasty laminate which actually AMPLIFIES the sound and is driving her to distraction.

I suggest the OP be a nice boy and do the decent thing - lay some bl00dy underlay and carpet. It will only backfire on you in the long run - when YOU try to sell you'll have to inform the new buyers you have a dispute with your neighbour - and you will lose THOUSANDS! Much more than a piece of thick underlay and carpet costs!:money:

Thanks for the info but firstly there is no laminate on the floor only cheap carpet and thin underlay. Secondly I am buying the flat like that and have asked for advice of how to sound deaden the flat after the neighbour commented on the noise-
I've already said that I think it's unreasonable to have laminate/wooden flooring in flats and would be looking at good underlay or sound deadening options within reasonable costs.

However I think that both neighbours, or the freeholder by himself, should work towards sound insulation. Why should the owner of the top floor be soley responsible?
I will be taking up the carpet and having a look between the joists to see what's in place and I can reasonably improve.
I'm not going to go overboard on sound deadening (which can be expensive) just to please the neighbour.

Also note on the lease- nothing on floor covering which I think is pretty strange. But the flat was converted in the 70s.

jee

anybody had any experience of putting boards on the floor without insulation mineral wool?