The good news is that vinyl floor products often ship with attached cork underlayment.
Cork flooring for sound reduction.
There s an important issue to look into before buying underlayment for vinyl flooring.
When it comes to soundproofing materials cork is certainly an option to consider if you want to get the most bang for your buck.
In fact cork has many wonderful properties that make it an excellent addition to any soundproofing project with that in mind i hope to make this article a complete guide to cork its acoustic properties and the many ways we can use it.
Foam backed quality vinyl flooring has a cushioned flexible surface making it a good choice for a.
Carpets are considered the go to flooring choice for apartments because the biggest complaint has always been about heavy footsteps.
Otherwise cork will provide even more noise reduction.
To put a more exact number on how good cork is at soundproofing we can look at its noise reduction coefficient score which is a measure from 0 1 of how efficient a material is at sound absorption.
Carpet is one of two surfaces that reduce footsteps to zero.
Just a 3mm layer of cork flooring could reduce sound by more than 10 decibels this is much better than any comparable material can achieve.
A good example of a sound control underlayment is qep 72003q 1 4 inch 4 25 foot cork underlayment.
Solid rubber flooring is the other.
Carpets only reduce foot falls.
100 square feet of coverage to help improve noise reduction and floor heating.
With an stc rating of 52 for a 6 concrete floor or an stc of 60 for a 6 concrete floor with a suspended ceiling it is a great way to reduce sound transfer and.
Many manufacturers won t honor warranties if additional underlayment is used.
In addition to the obvious benefit of sound reduction cork flooring adds natural warmth to rooms and a slightly springy give that makes it comfortable and easy to walk or stand on and may even save dropped objects from breaking on impact.