What is my floor type? (Sound insulation)

SpikeyKitten

I can understand it being used in a house. But in a flat between different floors seems mad. The occupier downstairs could be putting up a light fitting for example and drill into my foot! 

ic

SpikeyKitten said:

I can understand it being used in a house. But in a flat between different floors seems mad. The occupier downstairs could be putting up a light fitting for example and drill into my foot! 

There's still joists below the floor, with your neighbour having a plasterboard ceiling.  There'll be a void of maybe 6 inches between you in which plumbing and electrics can be run.

SpikeyKitten

ic said:

SpikeyKitten said:

I can understand it being used in a house. But in a flat between different floors seems mad. The occupier downstairs could be putting up a light fitting for example and drill into my foot! 

There's still joists below the floor, with your neighbour having a plasterboard ceiling.  There'll be a void of maybe 6 inches between you in which plumbing and electrics can be run.

Ahh... I see. It's making sense now. Which is why other posters were advocating stuffing the void with rockwool. 

I'm not sure how feasible it would be to lift the board then as it would require some serious work. Not to mention whether I'd even get permission to do it.

Thanks for the clarification. 

SpikeyKitten

So I guess this is what I'm potentially in for... 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RmG-JecPR_E

grumpy_codger

SpikeyKitten said:

So I guess this is what I'm potentially in for... 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RmG-JecPR_E

The mineral wool in the video isn't soundproofing. Are they opening the floor to replace it?
For a real improvement you need something like 

bjorn_toby_wilde

Have you established what kind of floor it is?  As Eldi_dos suggested, give it a tap with something. You’ll soon hear the difference between concrete and timber.

SpikeyKitten

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

Have you established what kind of floor it is?  As Eldi_dos suggested, give it a tap with something. You’ll soon hear the difference between concrete and timber.

Hi,

Yes, I've given it a tap and it sounds hollow to me. So I'm guessing it's chipboard over a void covered with tile adhesive. As such I don't feel comfortable cutting into it in order to stuff the void in case I cut through cables or pipes etc. If it were floorboards that could be prized up individually I'd give it a go.

plumb1_2

Going off what I find in flats, it’s generally a screed, and the black is usually adhesive for vinyl tiles
A good quality underlay and a cheaper carpet is always better than poor underlay and good quality carpet 

But could have concrete slab, then fire proof slabs, then green chipboard, then adhesive and tiles.
The only way to find out is drill a core hole 

SpikeyKitten

plumb1_2 said:

Going off what I find in flats, it’s generally a screed, and the black is usually adhesive for vinyl tiles
A good quality underlay and a cheaper carpet is always better than poor underlay and good quality carpet 

But could have concrete slab, then fire proof slabs, then green chipboard, then adhesive and tiles.
The only way to find out is drill a core hole 

Funnily enough, there is a little hole in the floor at the edge where it looks like it's been drilled. I can see that below the black tile adhesive seems to be a kind of cement, then beyond that I can't see any further.

Good tip about the carpet/underlay.

I already have this which was going cheap locally. Is it considered to be of good quality? I bought it primarily because of the thickness. 12mm-15mm by the look of it.

stuart45

It was normal for purpose built flats put up in the 70's/80's to have concrete upper floors. On some of them the floor is taken through to the external skin, and it's visible from outside. Timber floors were more of a fire risk in flats.