So, I have a question. Let's say you're going to take out carpet from a room and want to put down some hardwood floors. When you have the carpet taken out can and the hardwood flooring installed, is there some kind of material you can put down before the hardwood to reduce noise and maybe even vibration? Would I have to take out the bare-wood panels below the carpet and get in between the floor below me ceiling and the floor and add something there between the two?
Just wondering if any of you have any experience with this.
Thanks!
A: Concrete/tile board with a thin layer of foam over it. The foam comes on a roll and is normally used under hardwood anyway. The only weird thing would be the concrete board. The concrete board is dense to reduce noise penetration. The foam will damp vibrations. This will cost roughly $1 per sqft, and make your floors a half inch thicker, assuming you are already having the floor replaced. A half inch thicker floor will probably add some labor cost with non-flooring items, like removing and replacing all the baseboard and shoe molding (if any), cutting doors, cutting door frames/jambs etc. Depending on the room, this could get quite costly.
B: Use denser hardwood. This could easily get very pricey. Brazilian Cherry (really a rosewood) is much denser than Red Oak or Maple (most common hardwood flooring in NA) and far more expensive. Most high density wood is imported, rare, and super expensive.
C: Use tile instead of hardwood. Over one inch of stone and concrete on the floor will keep out a lot of noise. Far better for this purpose than any wood.
D: Why does a teenager, living at home, with no job, and very little sense, need to know this?
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