Any alternative to Acoustilay, Impactilay etc?

[pzguy]

Hi, I have a bad noise problem with the flat below and am looking at ways to improve the situation for both parties. At the moment the floorboards are carpeted - old house. I want to replace the carpet and put down some good impact and air noise insulation underneath the new carpet. Ideally I would put down some 12mm or 15mm Acoustilay but the prices are high (£30+/m). Could I do a similar thing myself, buying the rubber matting (e.g. 3mm) and Foam underlay (10mm) separately? If so, could anyone recommend any suitable products and the best way to do that? Was thinking rubber directly on the floorboards and then the impact product on top of that. Would that work? What about the edges? I don't need to do all rooms so will I have an issue where the new carpet meets the old?

Any advice, alternative options or comments appreciated ... Thanks,

 

[ajrobb]

I assume you don't want to lift the floorboards and fall into the flat downstairs. This limits your options. Noise insulation requires a combination of rigidity, isolation, mass and damping. New buildings can use stiff (deep) joists and don't have to bother with all the isolation, mass and damping.

Proprietary full solutions would put resilient tape or caps on the joists and lay a heavy, rigid floating floor of 22 mm glued, tongued and grooved, cement filled particle board. Then there is a constrained damping layer and finally another floating floor of wood flooring. For the ceiling of the floor below, they use acoustic mineral wool, resilient bars and 2 layers of heavy plasterboard (e.g. soundbloc). This is another damping, isolation and mass combination.

Without taking up the floorboards, you need to incorporate isolation, mass and damping in a thin layer, like Acoustilay. The rubber layer provides the mass and must be isolated from the floorboards with a resilient underlay. Put the carpet straight on top of the rubber (or separate with paper). The foam underlay must provide both isolation and damping. The carpet will isolate impact noise.