Noisy 2nd floor

Blues14

Hi

we bought a house 3 years ago and the 2nd floor has always been very noisy it’s squeaks in areas and is just so noisy when walking it’s got carpet layed through out is there anything that can be done to reduce the noise.will buying new plywood help the issue?any info would be appreciated

Trigger Happy

We had this in our house when we first moved in. During a renovation we then had plywood fixed over the floor boards and a layer of carpet underlay and carpet on top of that. This raises the floor level so the doors had to be shortened and skirting boards raised (we replaced them).

All in all it was an intrusive job but made a massive difference to the sound issue. The upper floor also feels much more solid now.

Blues14

Cool thanks for reply had a few carpenter say they’ll just screw down where it’s making noise but I’m afraid of pipes and electric under the floor.

Blues14

Iv seen this online i wonder would this stuff be any goodhttps://primacoustics.ie/product/barriersorba/

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058269424/noisy-2nd-floor

If it is sheets of ply...lifting them and glueing them as well as screwing them will help with squeaking, Don't know how effective the rubber barriers are but have heard they help too.

Blues14

Yeah you would think that the rubber wud take the impact of walking

GreeBo

AFAIK the barriers are to try to stop noise transmission such a footsteps, but if your problem is squeaky floors then barriers wont help.

The squeak is the wood moving against nails and other wood. You need to screw this down to stop it moving. If it doesnt move it wont squeak.

The approach recommended by your carpenters is the standard "minimal impact" approach, carpet & underlay should be rolled back to identify the suspect floorboards and also to ensure correct fixing points (i.e. missing pipes etc)

If the floor is very bad in lots of areas then you are into either removing the existing floor boards and replacing with OSB/Ply or boarding over the existing.

Sometimes, in older houses, the boards have been up so many times that its just not worth trying to fix them.

Blues14

Can I ask what mm plywood wood did you use?

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058269424/noisy-2nd-floor

Carpenter & Joiner is correct. Plenty of 60 mm screws where there are any squeaks.

Deregos.

Not sure if it's completely relevant, but I once had a squeaky staircase and simply by painting it, it solved the squeaking.

Blues14

I was thinking of laying those rubber type gym Matt’s so It would take the impact of when people are walking upstairs is that a decent idea or a stupid one open to suggestions?

986s

Hi,

Had a similar issue- had 20mm solid French pine flooring upstairs which ( I thought) was squeaking like crazy. Decided to rip it all up and replace with a good quality laminate. However when I pulled the French pine floor up, realized that it was the OSB subfloor (also 20 mm) that was moving again poorly inserted nails into the joists.

Decided to take up OSB floor, place 200mm rock wool insulation between joist, relay OSB subfloor securely screws with spax screws, seal everything with acoustic sealant. Then I placed Techsound 100 over the OSB and added the 15mm SBX boards ( sand filled boards), added a good quality underlay and laminate on top.

The process above was detailed in soundstop.co.uk so wasn’t making it up as I went along. No more squeaks and sound transmission is dramatically reduced as well as house retaining heat much better. Pig of a job though that took me months to do fitting it in on evenings/ weekends etc. Materials were quite expensive also. Only thing I would add would be the rubber joist strips before I relaid the OSB as I can still hear a little impact noise from below, but overall very pleased with outcome.

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120318343#Comment_120318343

that sounds like a serious job.