Laminate floor underlay: foam or rubber

ohit

We are currently about to decide on the laminate flooring and underlay for our entire home (excl. bathroom, kitchen, cloakroom and stairs).

If it helps, the laminate floor we have decided is 12mm thick and AC5 rated.

Do we go for foam or rubber underlay? Both that we have found is 5mm thick and has a gold moisture layer.
The cost of either has already been factored in. We're looking to understand what would be the best choice for longevity, comfort, maintenance, etc., and why

Sub-floor upstairs is wooden floorboards and downstairs is concrete. We will try and level the sub-floor as much as possible. I get the impression foam has more levelling properties, whereas rubber's advantage is less to no compression down as weight/pressure is added over time.

Any advice or pointers would be helpful.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Downstairs you'll either want something with a vapour barrier built in or a separate barrier and foam underlay. If the floor is really uneven you may want to use something like wood fibre board underlay otherwise you don't need anything too fancy.

Upstairs shouldn't need any vapour barrier protection but you'll want to get the best underlay with sound deadening properties that you can afford IMO to reduce noise transmission to downstairs.

patman99

I used fibreboard on my concrete floor when laying my laminated flooring.

krey

the only reason you would want to spend extra on underlay is if you want less noise transmission , that's all. Perfectly flat nice floor with the cheapest 3mm foam underlay will be MILES better than the most expensive underlay with not as good floor underneath.

melanzana

Only have wood downstairs and it has something like foam +a foil top insulation underneath. Haven't a clue what it is, but it is great for noise and heat insulation anyway.

I left it to the installer.

Jonesya

Have you seen the fibre board sheets - large, rigid, normally green underlay sheets. Worth considering for the ground floor.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Premium-General-Purpose-Underlay/p/215589