An apartment is nothing like a busy street or a large factory. Nonetheless, it is not actually a very quiet place. There can be quite a level of noise in the average apartment.
Some of these sounds can have playing children, loud music, crying babies and sometimes fiercely quarreling couples as their sources.
Sometimes the source of noise in an apartment is a total nuisance to the neighbors. Other times, it is not exactly a nuisance but still makes the neighbors a little uncomfortable.
As an apartment owner, you might not be sure what activities in your apartment your neighbors find to be disturbing.
This, therefore, makes it important that you make efforts to soundproof your apartment even if very slightly.
You can also learn how to soundproof ceiling if you own the apartment, or if your landlord allows.
There are quite a number of ways to soundproof your apartment. Of these many ways, one of the most trusted is soundproofing your floor.
When your floor is soundproof, it absorbs the vibrations which come from your room as well as those which come from other apartments.
That being said, this article focuses on how to soundproof your floors. Let’s find out how you can go about this.
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Be Sure of the Contracts Binding Your Apartment
Various apartments come with contracts that differ. Some come with very strict rules, while others come with rules that can be said to be a little stupid.
Regardless of the type of apartment you live in, there will always be a way to properly soundproof your floor.
I have lived in apartments that were covered by lots of terms and conditions. These terms and conditions were so strict that soundproofing my apartment was a bit of a challenge.
If you live in an apartment like the one I just mentioned, you might not be able to pay for the service of a professional.
It might be only possible for you to do soundproof your floor by yourself. You will get to know about this later in this article.
Ways to Soundproof your Floor
Basically, there are two major ways to soundproof your floor. They are paying a professional and using a DIY method. Here is an article that compares DIY vs hiring a professional for doing home improvement.
Pay for the Services of a Professional
Paying for the services of a professional is perhaps the easiest way to soundproof your floor. That, notwithstanding, it is by far the most expensive way to go about soundproofing your floor.
Unlike do it yourself methods where all you need to do is spend money on getting tools and materials, when working with professionals, you will actually spend a lot of money. Nevertheless, if you have the funds to spare, it is the way to go.
After paying a professional, all you need to do is relax and watch them do the job. The job done by a professional might be the best when it comes to soundproofing floor.
It, however, is usually a permanent change and might not be so welcomed by the landlords of some buildings.
If you have a landlord that is not comfortable with permanent alterations to their building, you might not be able to make use of professionals in soundproofing your home.
Soundproofing your Floor with DIY Techniques
Soundproofing your floor by yourself might not give you the best result. It also might be very stressful. It, however, is much better than having unnecessary issues with whoever rented the apartment to you if you live in an apartment that comes with very strict terms and conditions.
Suggested Reading : Do soundproof wallpapers / curtains work ?
There are various ways to go about soundproofing your floor by yourself, some of these methods are very demanding and also very long-lasting.
Others are not very tasking and might not last so long. All things being equal, the methods you select should be up to you.
Well, rather, unfortunately, the methods you make use of will be a lot dependent on the rules binding the apartment you live in.
Some DIY methods to soundproof your floor are using interlocking floor mats, using carpet paddings, and using acoustic floor underlayment.
Acoustic Floor Underlayment
Making use of an acoustic floor underlayment is a step further from using interlocking floor mats. Sometimes, it is used alone. Other times, it is used alongside interlocking floor mats.
To make use of an acoustic floor underpayment in soundproofing a floor, simply place it beneath a carpet or beneath an interlocking floor mat.
To get the best results from the use of an acoustic floor underpayment, it should be placed just on top of a vinyl floor or bar hardwood.
When soundproofing your floor with an acoustic floor underpayment, you can make use of laminate flooring underlayment for maximum results.
Interlocking Floor Mats
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Interlocking floor mats might seem only suitable for nursery schools. Well, in reality, they can help in soundproofing your apartment. It is really easy to make use of them even if you know next to nothing about soundproofing.
All you need to do when soundproofing your apartment with interlocking mats is to place one mat in a corner of the room you want to soundproof. Once done, you can take it from there until the entire area you intend to soundproof is covered.
This method of soundproofing floor is very easy and cheap. It, however, is one the least effective ways to soundproof your floor.
Carpet Padding
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Carpet padding is one trusted way to soundproof the floor in your apartment without having to hire the services of a professional.
When used on their on, carpet paddings can efficiently cancel out the noise coming from an apartment under you and also prevent noise from your apartment from getting outside. However, when made use of under a more regular carpet, their effects are even more pronounced.
Apart from the weight of a carpet padding, there really is no challenge to placing carpet paddings on the floor of your apartment.
Think of carpet paddings as normal carpets and go ahead and roll them into any position you so desire. This carpet is a little heavy. So, you might need assistance from one or two people.
When you succeed in placing this carpet in the position that you want, you can go ahead and hold it down either with small nails or with glue.
How to Soundproof Floors: Get the most of DIY
Anyone can take part in the DIY method of soundproofing a floor. Regardless of that, different people get different results even when it appears that they make use of the same floor covering.
Now, a question arises. How is this possible?
Well, this is quite simple. Apart from the three popular floor coverings that you can make use of in soundproofing your floor, there are other materials that you still need to make use of.
These materials can to a very large degree, affect the final result that you get after soundproofing your floor with any material. Some of these materials are glues and nails.
Basically, glues and nails are made use of in holding whatever piece of covering you intend using to soundproof your floor.
Whilst they are very effective in holding these materials into place, glue provides an extra form of padding while nail does not.
This is possible because when the glue is used to hold down any material used in soundproofing a floor, it serves as a source of lamination and soaks up any sound that normally should be passed from apartment to another.
Nail, on the other hand, is used around edges. When used, it has a way of transmitting sound waves when people walk across a room.
This feature leads to the reduction of the efficiency of nails as a means of holding soundproof material in place.
What to do when you have Options
When living in another person’s building, you might not have much of a choice as to what materials to use when soundproofing your floor. This, however, is not the same when you live in your own building.
So, what do you do when the need to sound the floors of your own building arises? Well, this is pretty easy. To get the best results, you will need tiles, a hard floor and a thick rug which is not too fluffy.
Of course, all these are in addition to the materials that you need to use for the actual soundproof of your home.
When I had to soundproof my home, I ensured that the floor was tiled. After this, I made use of the soundproof material I intended using. I help this material in place with glue to make it more efficient.
After making use of the soundproof material on tiles, I covered it up with final padding. This padding was a thick rug
When making use of a thick rug, ensure the rug is not too hard. This is important so people are comfortable walking across the room.
You don’t have to make use of One Material
Soundproofing your floor can be done with one material. You can decide to make use of a carpet padding an interlocking floor mat, or an acoustic floor underlayment.
In as much as you can get good results when any of these materials is used, you can actually obtain a much better result when these materials are all used together in soundproofing your floor.