Improving 'noisiness' of suspended timber flooring

red_imps_2003

The mid-sixties-built ex-council house we purchased last year was constructed on suspended wooden flooring. Since we moved in the amount of noise it generates has bothered my wife considerably. Of particular nuisance are the sound of the washing machine on full spin (I have bought an insulating rubber mat for it to stand on, which has only made marginal improvements) and our two young boys running about. We visited my parents' home with them recently and their floor feels far more solid (just a localised pitter patter of feet rather than resonating around the entire house and through to next door). I don't know whether their floor is solid concrete or suspended concrete, but it feels like the former.

Anyhow, we are taking up the wooden flooring in our living room shortly and replacing it with carpet. Before we do so, is there any way we can make the flooring, in that room at least, feel appreciably more solid to walk (or jump!!!) on? I appreciate the carpet will dampen the footfall somewhat but I know from other houses of similar construction to ours that the floor will still 'shake' as they thunder and hurl themselves (and each other!!) about.

spadoosh

Hardboard and plenty of tacks, wont solve the issue but helps spread the loads across more boards so less effect on individual boards.

DRP

changing wood to carpet will help a lot i'd have thought.

is the floor bouncing?

red_imps_2003

I'm not sure I could describe it as 'bouncing' but it certainly shakes. For instance, when the washing machine is on fast spin I can see the mixer tap shaking, tins in the kitchen units rattle, and light items move about a little on the worktops. One can hear the rumbling from every room in the house (and presumably from next door). I am fairly certain most of these are impact noise rather than airborne.

I will experiment a little when I get home this evening to see if I can describe the effects of impact on the living room floor any better.

phoenix_w

spadoosh's hardboard idea is good and cheap. I hardboarded the landing in our last house out because of the sponginess of the floor (they had been lifted and reset many times without care, it seemed) and I also screwed down floorboards where they were rubbing against the nails. It made it much much quieter.

Re: your washing machine, have you balanced it? 10 mins with a spirit level and a spanner will probably fix the vast majority of your vibration issues.

somethingcorporate

Screwing down the boards will help with some of the sponginess and sound on the floorboards. Over time the holes under the nails get bigger and cause some bounciness (and noise) in old floors, hence the screwing down can help with this. We had this in our old victorian property.

red_imps_2003

Thank you all for your suggestions. We certainly plan to screw down any loose floorboards (there is a little bit of squeaking beneath the current wood flooring in places) during the re-fit and I can't see any harm in tacking down some hardboard to spread the load a little before we get the carpet (and decent quality underlay) fitted.

I think the washing machine is as balanced as I am going to get it. Because it's standing on the rubber matting and a sheet of hardboard there's only a 1mm gap between the top of the machine and the worktop, so there is no way to get a spirit level in. I can't feel any wobbling and have extended both front feet so they are as tight to the hardboard as I can get them. That said, I have not tried doing likewise with the rear feet because I can't reach them without removing the kickboards from the adjacent units and I am led to believe they are currently sealed in place (I don't know whether this means sealant or glue or what; it's just what a Rentokill guy told my wife when he was inspecting our kitchen during a recent rodent infestation). It's possible that parts of the machine are pressed against the wall at the back, though, which may increase the vibrations it's transmitting around the house. I'll try pulling it out a couple of cm and see if that improves things (although it wouldn't be a long-term solution, as I then cannot open one of the cupboard doors).

phoenix_w

If the machine sits proud of your kitchen units a few cm, just stick the spirit level against the sides and front - should give you a good idea of whether it's square or not.

Doozergirl

You could have loose joists. Bounce on the floor near to the washing machine, for a start, and see if you can cause an effect.

If you can, follow your bouncing out in straight lines to the walls, see if it continues.

As well as a bounce, you may get a creaking.

phil24_7

You floorboards may well be underspec'd. This is not uncommon in older houses. My floor joists are 8x2's but should be at least 10x2's for the gap they have to span.

Supporting them midway will stop any deflection. If this is not possible then bolting/screwing steel plate or plywood along the length of the joists will stop them bouncing, or attaching larger joists to the sides of the current ones will help a lot.

Regards
Phil

red_imps_2003

phil24_7 wrote: »

You floorboards may well be underspec'd. This is not uncommon in older houses. My floor joists are 8x2's but should be at least 10x2's for the gap they have to span.

Supporting them midway will stop any deflection. If this is not possible then bolting/screwing steel plate or plywood along the length of the joists will stop them bouncing, or attaching larger joists to the sides of the current ones will help a lot.

Thank you for the suggestion, Phil. When you say 'supporting' them, do you mean installing some kind of lateral brace between them (i.e. to make a kind of grid rather than just a sequence of horizontal beams) or do you mean installing the support between each beam and the solid ground below them?