Accoustic underlays Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[balliol]

I have a cottage with the first floors made from a single layer of T&G boarding. Noise from downstairs travels up.

I am concerned about airborne noise, not impact noise. We are proposing to re-carpet all the upstairs rooms this winter and I see two options.

Firstly, I could use an accoustic underlay.

Secondly, I could lay a layer of dense material such as MDF boards.

I could also grout the seams in the T&G boarding to fill any gaps.

I would much appreciate any advice on which would be the more cost effective option, MDF or specialist underlay.

Many thanks.

[Ken Woodchef]

Hi, I'm not convinced that laying MDF would be a solution, this could be a lot of work in cutting and trimming and presumebly, you would still be laying carpet with and underlay on this, furthing increasing the cost with no guraentee of reducing the noise signaficantly.

I would opt for a dense crumb underlay which will provide good impact and airbourne sound absorbsion. Try looking at the soundproofing projects on the website.

Best of luck

Ken