Soundproofing a place can be quite challenging. Especially if we’re talking about hardwood floors. That is because there’s no magical material that fits all needs.
Besides the material’s acoustic quality, other relevant factors need to be taken into account when soundproofing a facility or a home: types of noise, floor installation, insulation, and budget.
In today’s article, we talk about what your clients should know if they’re interested in picking the best hardwood floors and accessories to soundproof their space. You will also find some tricks to consider before and after the hardwood flooring installation process, meant to diminish noise and improve the acoustics of the room.
What type of flooring is better for soundproofing – laminate wood, engineered wood, or hardwood?
Hardwood never goes out of style, but despite its many pros, it can be noisy and we cannot deny that. But let’s take them one at a time.
There are three main types of wood flooring, and each of them has its own specific acoustic properties.
1. Laminate wood
Laminate wood is made from wood fiber, with a hard melamine surface, and it’s known for being available at accessible prices. Because of its lightweight and hard surface, laminate wood makes the most noise – both when it comes to transmitting impact sounds (eg. foot traffic, vibrating machinery) as well as airborne sound (eg. people, speakers, instruments).
2. Engineered wood
Engineered wood is made from thin layers of solid wood, it has more weight, has a resilient surface, but it’s also slightly more flexible, which makes it quieter than laminate floors.
3. Hardwood
Hardwood absorbs sound best of the three. However, it transmits and reflects sound superficially, and also transfers many of the frequencies to walls and rooms above and below. But let’s see what your clients can do about that when soundproofing their place.
What type of wood is better for soundproofing?
When it comes to sound blocking and sound absorption properties, the best types of wood used to soundproof a space are as follows:
1. Cork
It’s a porous material, extracted from the cork oak tree, with a honeycomb-like cellular structure. The air spaces are the ones trapping sound, and that is why cork underlayment is often used for sealing and insulation.
2. Acoustic plywood
Just like cork, this is another good sound control wood. It minimizes impact vibrations, absorbs low-frequency sounds, and prevents echoes and sound reverberation. To enhance its soundproofing qualities, acoustic plywood can be combined with Amorim cork rubber to form soundproof plywood panels.
3. Medium density fiberboard (MDF)
This type of wood is a better choice than the previous ones, due to its high density and thickness. The panels consist of softwood and hardwood fibers, fused with resin binder and wax under heat and pressure.
4. Oriented strand board (OSB)
This type of wood is the result of pressing different wood strands together and securing them in place with adhesives. It is strong and dense, but if your client is looking for an upgrade, OSB can be combined with other materials to make it even more soundproof, such as glass wool.
What type of insulation can you use to enhance soundproofing?
Impact insulation class (ICC) is the unit of measurement for the transmission of impact noise. A material’s ICC rating is determined using a hammer machine on an upper floor, while measuring the sound in decibels in the room below. So, the higher a flooring’s ICC, the more impact sound insulation it provides.
There are several sound insulation solutions that you can use to enhance soundproofing in an office or home:
- Polyethylene foam – placed on top of the subfloor, before the installation of the flooring. Besides soundproofing the area, it also provides a smooth and predictable surface for the fitting.
- Acoustic foam – a dense material, usually 3mm thick, specifically designed to block sounds.
- Felt underlayment – it’s five times heavier than foam, and hence it’s also denser. This is the best fit for noise reduction when it comes to engineered wood and laminate flooring.
- Plywood underlayment – provides moderately effective sound insulation, appropriate under vinyl or linoleum tiles (thin, flexible flooring materials).
- Cement boards – due to their high density, cement boards are a slightly better sound-blocker than wood. Usually, they are used as a base for tiling.
Other tips & tricks: Products & accessories
1. Floor coverings
These are the most popular soundproofing methods, because they don’t require pulling up floorboards and rebuilding or replacing the joists.
- Rugs, carpets, pads
Rugs and carpets dissipate the vibrations before the hardwood can even pick them up. Thick pads are also a good alternative. They do not only prevent much of the sound from going below, but also from going into the walls. Still, the music shouldn’t be played too loud, anyway. Unfortunately, the hardwood floor does not only transfer sound up and down, but the vibrations also ‘bleed’ into the walls through conduction.
If clients are very keen on their hardwood floor and would want to cover it up as little as possible, they could go for some area rugs, strategically placed in high-activity areas, like living rooms, playrooms, or an office. Plus, they won’t get bored with the aesthetics, since they will be able to change the placement of their rugs at any time.
- Rubber mats
In any shape, color, and size, rubber mats work very well to impact noise on wooden floors.
They are great for workout rooms, kid corners, and pet areas, and another advantage is that they are resilient under harsh use.
2. Furniture
Thick fabrics covering pieces of furniture represent another good method for dampening the noise in a facility or a home. Sofas, chairs, headboards, and ottomans can be covered in velvet and corduroy. Tablecloths, cushions, bedcovers, and pillows can be added to reduce noise as much as possible.
3. Footwear
Shoes can be very noisy on hardwood floors, especially heels. A tip would be to wear socks or soft-soled slippers, or cover the floor with carpeting if you’re trying to soundproof a busy office space.
4. Pets
Clipping pets’ nails periodically excludes the risk of clicking against the floor. Additionally, pets running around can easily scratch your hardwood floors, so you might also want to add rugs or carpeting to further protect the floor in a household with pets.
If you’re looking to soundproof your flooring, check out our offerings at First Atlanta Flooring, and don’t hesitate to contact us for more details.
