What is the best material to build your floor?

[DonH50]

...see if you can understand them in normal voice.

Warning: Do not try this with my teenagers.

 

[Dale Pitcher]

One way to address the noise coming through your ceiling is to get a urethane foam contractor to come in and spray in foam in the joist areas. I have done this a number of times with very good results. I have found that the most important area is that along the edge where the under-flooring meets the joists. A 2" bead along each of these surfaces will greatly reduce foot fall noise. If it is in the budget to do more, than covering the entire area of the sub-floor with 1" or more of foam can do wonders in reducing noise transmission. There are mineral loaded foams available that are even more effective. You can also buy two component kits and do the job yourself. These usually cover 300 to 600 square feet at 1".

Here is the other side of it. One of the reasons that this works so well is that it improves the rigidity of the floor. If your listening room has a wood floor over trusses and you can access the underside to do this same process, I think you will be surprised how much this not only tightens up bass response - but improves almost every other area of performance.

 

[zztop7]

One way to address the noise coming through your ceiling is to get a urethane foam contractor to come in and spray in foam in the joist areas. I have done this a number of times with very good results. I have found that the most important area is that along the edge where the under-flooring meets the joists. A 2" bead along each of these surfaces will greatly reduce foot fall noise. If it is in the budget to do more, than covering the entire area of the sub-floor with 1" or more of foam can do wonders in reducing noise transmission. There are mineral loaded foams available that are even more effective. You can also buy two component kits and do the job yourself. These usually cover 300 to 600 square feet at 1".

Here is the other side of it. One of the reasons that this works so well is that it improves the rigidity of the floor. If your listening room has a wood floor over trusses and you can access the underside to do this same process, I think you will be surprised how much this not only tightens up bass response - but improves almost every other area of performance.

Mr Dale Pitcher,
I do not have any idea if you will agree with my following comment:

I would always use & recommend Closed Cell Foam - the open cell foam is garbage IMHO.

Respectfully,
zz.

 

[GaryProtein]

Just looking for good sound. I'm thinking of a concrete with a hard wood floor on top of it.

Pour the concrete over one or preferably two layers of 6 mil polyethylene to give a good moisture barrier.

 

[Dale Pitcher]

We first used the expanded urethane with mineral fill in a project in Kentucky. It worked wonders for the foot fall problem, as well as noise transmission issues. It may well be that closed cell foam would work better.

Later on, we started putting on layers of blown in celluose fiber over the top of the foam. Contractors spray this on metal ceilings in warehouses to dampen noise and provide thermal insulation. Two or three inches of this really cuts back on sound transmission.

Under listening rooms one of the primary considerations is floor rigidity - you don't want the floor to be a sounding board. Prior to spraying the mineral filled urethane or the celluose, we screwed in cross-bracing across the joist area every 12". In some instances, we put in floor jacks under the floors - especially directly under the speakers.

Regards,

Dale