Soundproofing Middle Floor - Insulation

Andycap8

Hi All,
Hopefully someone here can help me or give me some pointers.
We're sale agreed on a house which, per our survey, has poor airborne sound insulation (poor insulation overall it seems). This noise issue is most noticeable between the ground floor (kitchen & playroom) and the first floor (living & dining room and main hall). 
In the next 12 months we intend to change the floors on the first floor as well as move some radiators. This will involve removing the existing carpet and tile.
Questions:
- if the flooring is to be replaced anyway how difficult a job (expensive?) is it to also pull up the 1st floor subfloor and lay insulation under this and then replace the subfloor?
- Is there any point in doing the above or will some sort of acoustic textile or underlay under the new floorboards work just as well?
- Would it be better & cheaper to correct this problem by ripping down the ceiling downstairs and installing insulation from underneath?
- What sort of insulation would works best? It's recommended to use mineral or natural wool insulation in old houses, but as this is an internal floor, would it be possible to use some other type of insulation which might achieve a superior result?
Thanks for your help
Andy

BryanF

You need a good carpenter and plasterer. They should not be left at it without you meeting the produrt rep with them (of whatever system you go with) There are several systems on the market.
http://www.gyproc.ie/products-systems/products/gypfloor-silent

I’d try to do the work before you move in.

mfceiling

I'd imagine lifting a floor would be easier than pulling down a ceiling. Then it would have to be re-boarded, plastered and painted.
Lift up each floor in each individual room and see what's there (nothing??).

Andycap8

Just looking at a youtube videos on that gyproc stuff, and given the downstairs ceiling heights are already poor, whatever we do will have to be done from the first floor level.
It seems that Gyproc silent floor system adds approx 7mm to the floor level. While 7mm doesn't sound huge, in an ideal world I wouldn't want to reduce the 1st floor ceiling heights. 
As far as I'm aware the issue isn't with impact noise. 
Would adding layers of insulation on its own reduce airborne noise?

BryanF

I doubled slabs ceilings (stiple sh1te on existing) and installed mineral wool in certain areas - but didn’t lift all the floors upstairs. 60 year old house. If the floor boards weren’t in such good nick, I’d lift them and lay mineral wool through out, add the acoustic board then floor finish.

BryanF

Andycap8 wrote: »

As far as I'm aware the issue isn't with impact noise. 
Would adding layers of insulation on its own reduce airborne noise?

yes but

Let’s go back to Impact noise

Who is advising you?

Why not visit the house, with A another. Sit down, ignore agent and send other person upstairs. Repeat in each room down stairs.

Andycap8

BryanF wrote: »

Andycap8 wrote: »

As far as I'm aware the issue isn't with impact noise. 
Would adding layers of insulation on its own reduce airborne noise?

yes but

Let’s go back to Impact noise

Who is advising you?

Why not visit the house, with A another. Sit down, ignore agent and send other person upstairs. Repeat in each room down stairs.

Spending time in the house would be ideal but I'm abroad for the next few months and seller looking for quick close as part of a chain.
Both the surveyor & engineer we sent in said it was airborne noise - we know the house is rock solid as it was effectively rebuilt internally within the last 15 years. It seems they just didn't spend money on insulation.

MixedMessages

Andycap8 wrote: »

Hi All,
Hopefully someone here can help me or give me some pointers.
We're sale agreed on a house which, per our survey, has poor airborne sound insulation (poor insulation overall it seems). This noise issue is most noticeable between the ground floor (kitchen & playroom) and the first floor (living & dining room and main hall). 
In the next 12 months we intend to change the floors on the first floor as well as move some radiators. This will involve removing the existing carpet and tile.
Questions:
- if the flooring is to be replaced anyway how difficult a job (expensive?) is it to also pull up the 1st floor subfloor and lay insulation under this and then replace the subfloor?
- Is there any point in doing the above or will some sort of acoustic textile or underlay under the new floorboards work just as well?
- Would it be better & cheaper to correct this problem by ripping down the ceiling downstairs and installing insulation from underneath?
- What sort of insulation would works best? It's recommended to use mineral or natural wool insulation in old houses, but as this is an internal floor, would it be possible to use some other type of insulation which might achieve a superior result?
Thanks for your help
Andy

If floor finishes are to be replaced, the additional cost of taking up and replacing floorboards will be a small amount less than taking down and replacing ceiling - it will not be a major difference and ought not be a deciding factor.

If from above, you might look at strips of rubber on top of joists before laying board - can reduce impact noise.

There are specialist acoustic insulation products that will be much better than a generic wool fibre.


If the building was empty the transfer of sound would have been much higher than if occupied and complete with belongings