1

I am rebuilding the floor of a living room/dining room and am down to the plywood subfloor. I want to reduce noise transmission to the basement while keeping a low maintenance, low-ish budget solution. I have read a number of ways to do it, but I was thinking of adding (on top of existing plywood), in order from bottom to top:

  • Mass Loaded Vinyl
  • 19/32 OSB
  • Quietboard
  • LVP

I was thinking of floating the 19/32 OSB and Quietboard, is this okay? Should I add a simple moisture barrier anywhere in this layer to prevent potential water transmission to the OSB?

One solution below was proposed for a studio; I'm not looking for a studio grade solution. I also believe studios would be generally better maintained and be less likely to deal with spills and other accidents, so they use less low-maintenance materials.

isherwood
  • 158,133
  • 9
  • 190
  • 463
Mark S
  • 203
  • 1
  • 5

1 Answers1

1

This guy has the best advice on sound proofing.

Do not use MLV when soundproofing

Most applicable to you is likely the floating floor.

How to build a budget floating floor

I have done two sound resistance floor/ceiling assemblies before this guy's videos were around.

Assembly 1: (2x10 dimensional). Floating Laminate / underpad / 2" concrete floor / 5/8" plywood subfloor / closed cell spray foam 2" / roxul 6" batt insulation / 5/8" drywall ( pot lights).

Assembly 2: (10" ijoists). Floating Eng hardwood / low R value rubber underlay / 3/4 plywood sleepers / high R value underlay / 5/8" subfloor / roxul 6" batt insulation / hat-track genie clips / 2 layers 5/8 drywall with green glue (no potlights).

Both assemblies muffle voice enough that you think they might be outside but you can still hear people ( similar to someone talking loud 10' away from a closed double pane window ). Very hard to get the details 100%. Both assemblies block the higher frequencies of music. Low frequency bass tones, foot falls, impact noises pass though though much less than a creaky floor on an uninsulated floor assembly where you can participate in the conversation.

I'd say both perform similar. Assembly 1 suffers from some areas that connect the two floors (walls/chimney/un-concreted portions of floor/pot lights). Assembly 2 suffers from a bad green glue job and not very good detailing on the ceiling to wall isolation.

They both probably work 50% as well as the budget floating floor and cost 4 times as much. I'd guess your assembly with work slightly worse than mine. You can probably do an STC / IIC for your assembly to get some kind of comparison against the budget floating floor.

Pliq also makes a genieMat FF if you have extra cash. I bought their sound isolation clips and hat track.

HomeRenovision youtube also does some sound proofing videos if you want some more 50% assemblies for higher cost.

Fresh Codemonger
  • 14,459
  • 3
  • 24
  • 57