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Advice regarding bamboo flooring type

7 years ago

So I have finally decided on a bamboo floor which I will have throughout my hall, living room and kitchen.
I live in an upstairs flat. Do the same rules to noise apply with regards to floating solid or engineered flooring if it is bamboo and not wood?
Obviously I will be getting the best underlay for noise reduction. Thanks

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Comments (5)

kmizzlee
7 years ago
Hi Teeps,

If the terms of your lease require you to have carpeted floors, then if you use bamboo flooring laid it will need to have acoustic underlay. If it's not a requirement, then it would certainly be a good neighbourly matter to do so. Some managing agents are very strict on this, and necessitate acoustic floating floors to be installed to ensure it has the same dB separation as the carpet and original underlay. It's definitely worth checking before installing, or (at worst case) they might make you remove it or carpet over.
teeps74
Original Author
7 years ago
Agree and will make it as soundproof as possible as I do not want to be a noise nuisance hence the question as to whether solid or engineered bamboo better for this. If it was wood I'd go engineered but not sure about bamboo.

Freeholders aren't bothered with anything here. I'd say 75% of my neighbours on ground floor, mid floor and top floor have ripped out carpets and have wooden flooring so to be honest if I'm instructed to remove mine I'm taking them down with me!!!

I have no pets or children and work 12 hour shifts so I think I will make far less noise than they do.
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kmizzlee
7 years ago
Hi Teeps,

I'm no acoustician, but I would suspect that the difference in impact sound rating between engineered wood and bamboo sheet would be very small. Lots of diy store have acoustic layers for under timber flooring, but they aren't hugely effective - although they do help! The more acoustic 'padding' you install, the greater the change in your floor level, but the greater the improvement in sound separation.
When we did it we used a product called Monarfloor deck 9 which was 17mm thick under our wood floor - but our managing agents were a total nightmare, so we had to do a very thorough (and rather costly) job!
It depends on your floor substrate, but lots lots of options out there!
Good luck :)
PRO
User
7 years ago
I am both a Freeholder and a landlord with several properties. If the lease says carpet, it means carpet! You have a duty to ask the Landlord ( it's quite specific in most leases ) if you wish to change specific things in the flat or house. It will stipulate in the lease what you can and can't do without asking. It will also say that the Landlord must be reasonable with his decisions to allow or disallow. If you go blindly ahead without asking first you will be breaking the terms of your lease. We do say yes to our tenants requests most of the time, as we take the view that it is their home and we getting rent for that, however, we do occasionally say no but try to be fair.
teeps74
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks kmizzlee! I Want to do as good a job as possible.

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