Best way to cut down noise from upstairs bedrooms?

mrlee

Hello,

My question is as the title really. We have a small chalet bungalow with 2 bedrooms upstairs. The kids have a room each up there but a fair bit of the noise made up there makes it's way downstairs.

The rooms are both mostly regular floorboards with chipboard sheets along one side (previous extension)
The joists are approx 175mm thick & there's no insulation between the floor & the plasterboard below. Both rooms are carpeted twice (i.e. the original carpets being used as an underlay of sorts,although all cheap thin stuff)
The rooms downstairs have low ceilings (approx 2m high) which might be making it sound worse as you're that much closer.

So basically which will be most likely to cut down on some of the general noise up there? :

Lift all of the floorboards, insulate underneath and then chipboard the whole floor

or

Buy decent carpet and underlay

Or both, or something else? Money is a concern so don't want to be doing any work if it won't make any difference. Telling them to be quiet doesn't make any difference, it's just the way the sound travels I think.

Thanks in advance,
lee

Norman_Castle

Good quality underlay is the easiest starting point. Carpets on there own will make little difference to impact noise and won't absorb much airborne noise.

I've considered insulating under floorboards with acoustic underlay. If you diy this could be relatively cheap. The whole floor doesn't need removing, just every fourth or fifth board which should give enough access.

Keep the thread updated with whatever you try as I suspect this is a common problem.

exiled_red

There is a big difference between airborne noise (talking or music etc) noise caused by contact with the floor (kids jumping or dragging things across the floor or a bass shaking the house etc). Underlay and insulating will reduce the airborne noise but will do little/nothing to reduce noise from any noise which is traveling directly through the floorboards, joists and ceiling etc. The way to minimise this is by isolating the floor which would be expensive.

Assuming the problem is airborne noise insulation and/or acoustic underlay etc probably the way to go.

PasturesNew

Swap your children for quieter ones. It's cheaper.

mrlee

Norman_Castle wrote: »

The whole floor doesn't need removing, just every fourth or fifth board which should give enough access.

We had some electrical work done last year & he had a nightmare lifting boards on the landing. Because they're tongue & groove I figured they'd all have to come up (& all get trashed in the process I'd guess!) hence chipboarding the floor. Didn't know if that in itself would make a difference...

exiled_red wrote: »

Assuming the problem is airborne noise insulation and/or acoustic underlay etc probably the way to go.

If I get a new carpet & decent underlay put down I won't want to lift it all to put insulation in. The carpet etc will certainly be easier work wise though.

PasturesNew wrote: »

Swap your children for quieter ones. It's cheaper.

Wife would probably veto that, she's curiously attached to them!

Thanks for the replies :T

Geoff1963

How about some garage flooring ?
http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/garage-equipment/garage-essentials/rolson-8pc-coloured-inter-locking-floor-mat

Furts

Whether your floor joists are adequate is a secondary question - they may be flexing and undersize. Plus chalet construction is not good for sound, ventilation, and insulation. The fashion went out after the 1960s and there was a reason for this.

The sound could be approached with a builders mindset. You leave the floor untouched and tackle work from the ceiling below. Ideally remove this, put Rockwool into the floor void, seal any gaps at joist ends, and all sound paths. Then double board a new ceiling - staggered joints and ideally 15mm Soundbloc boards. Heavy to fit, so your decision here but two layers of boards are a must really.

Carpet and underlay will definitely help - the thicker the better.