Sound proofing floor

[rjibbotson]

Looking to sound proof a bedroom floor against airbourne sound coming up from the kitchen below - voice mainly - and need some suggestions. I don't need to worry about impact noise in the bedroom being transferred downstairs.

House is early 1980s - tongue and groove flooring on joists.

I've already looked at people like soundstop.co.uk and at the moment the likely solution would involve something like this - http://www.soundstop.co.uk/solutions/floor_access/under_floor/floor_solution_2.php - with acoustic mineral wool and plasterboard.

Does acoustic plasterboard really cut down on airbourne noise ?

Downside is the fitted wardrobes on 2 sides of the room - I can't remove them without significant damage. How do I lift the boards with them in place ? Do you just cut the flooring ?

 

[Space cat]

Does acoustic plasterboard really cut down on airbourne noise ?

Mass blocks airborne noise and the more of it you have the better. To improve things even further, you can divide your available mass of material into two or more barriers with spaces between them. This is what the diagram in that link shows. It also shows the need to get airtight joins around the edges of your acoustic barriers.

It'll be a hell of a job lifting all the boards to fit the barrier(s) between the joists, especially since, as you say, you won't be able to get them all up. Any bits of floor you don't do will allow the noise to bypass the barrier(s). Have you considered approaching this from below with a false ceiling in the kitchen. Make this from something heavy and fix it only to the joists or something equally solid (like brick walls or the uprights in partition walls). Don't forget to seal around the edges.

 

[rjibbotson]

Mass blocks airborn noise and the more of it you have the better. To improve things even further, you can divide your available mass of material into two or more barriers with spaces between them. This is what the diagram in that link shows. It also shows the need to get airtight joins around the edges of your acoustic barriers.

It'll be a hell of a job lifting all the boards to fit the barrier(s) between the joists, especially since, as you say, you won't be able to get them all up. Any bits of floor you don't do will allow the noise to bypass the barrier(s). Have you considered approaching this from below with a false ceiling in the kitchen. Make this from something heavy and fix it only to the joists or something equally solid (like brick walls or the uprights in partition walls). Don't forget to seal around the edges.

Spacecat : Thanks - yes I have considered pulling off kitchen ceiling - downside (apart from SWMBO) is that kitchen ceiling is more than just 1 bedroom as its a knockthrough of dining room and old kitchen.

What I had considered was removing just the relevant part of ceiling and putting in wool and board in - not sure what order as reboarding with wool in last might be tricky

Anybody done it or got suggestions please ?