Noise from wooden floors upstairs.

[Four Masters]

Renovating a 2 storey house at the minute. Want to replace wooden floors upostairs with carpet. What additional measures could i use to lessen the noise travelling to ground floor. What would be best type of underlay?

 

[ben09]

What you would really need to do is to take up the floorboards and insulate in between the joysts. Then you can get a foam type tape that you can stick to the joysts to stop the creaking. I don't think that putting a good underlay will really help with noise travelling to the down stairs area. Hope this helps.

 

[Four Masters]

Thank You

 

[onq]

I presume you mean you want to cover bare boards with a carpet?
Well and good, this will lessen impact noise to some degree.
You might consider relaying the floorboards on a compressible material to absorb impact noise even more.
While the boards are up, install extra bracing to help minimise creaking in the floor as people walk across it.
Then as ben09 suggests install insulation, but get an engineer to check if the additional weight can be carried if its something like rockwool.
I don't advise foam or any material that might reduce the timbers breathability, but you should check for agrement certs.

ONQ.

 

[Sconhome]

Most second storey noise is impact noise on the floorboards, people walking, furniture shifting, chairs etc.

If is is just impact noise - you can roll cork or felt underlay over the entire floor area (similar to that used in floating floors) then put your carpet underlay over that, carpet on top and that should be that.

If your problem is conversation, or music being carried through, this is usually casued by vibration in the air rather than direct transfer through the structure. The previous posts with insulation between the joists will help alleviate this, though depending on the severity of noise a multi layer effect of felt, underlay and carpet will deal with most domestic situations.