Downstairs neighbour complaining about the noise since having Korlok fitted.

Discussion in 'Vinyl / Impervious floor coverings' started by what?, Oct 9, 2019.

  1. what?

    what? Member

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    Hi I wonder if anyone can help.

    We live in a first floor purpose built flat, with concrete floors. We used to have carpet but wanted to get a hard floor. We looked around and decided on Korlok as it says it's suitable for apartments because of its good sound reduction properties. Now we've had it installed our downstairs neighbour is complaining about the noise, saying she can hear our conversations, and even our mobile phones vibrating.
    Is the difference between carpet and Korlok that massive in it's sound proofing?

    We have just had a baby (10 months), and we think this is probably the real cause of the increased noise perception, as there's lots of noises like him banging and us singing to him etc, which she would have heard if we had carpet or Korlok.
    To show we are taking the issue seriously we have now covered 90% of our living room floor with rubber play matt tiles, and 2 rugs, so surely that must be more sound proof than the carpets with underlay we had before?

    Can anyone recommend anything we can do. I want to avoid having to pull all the flooring up to put underlay underneath, so any other recommendations would be good!

    Thanks for any help.
     
  2. tarkett85

    tarkett85 Well-Known Member

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    It’s 19db of reflection noise not soundproofing there’s a huge difference between the two. No underlay will really help, regupol will help a little but to make a real impact on the sound being transferred requires a lot of work essentially turning it into a sound studio.


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  3. what?

    what? Member

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    Ok, thanks. Do you think the noise can be that different to carpet?
     
  4. tarkett85

    tarkett85 Well-Known Member

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    Carpet defracts and absorbs sound waves, it’s horrendous for acoustics inside the property ie if you play music, do voice work play instruments etc but helps to muffle the sound downstairs. It’s a lower perceived noise than the Korlok due to way the sound waves behave once they come into contact with the flooring, it’s actually the same or similar volume if tested but certain frequencies are more perceptible without diffusion. Sorry for such a long winded post but as a musician as well as a flooring professional it’s something I have had to do a lot of research on over the years.


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  5. what?

    what? Member

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    No that's a great answer!
    That's the main issue here, whether she is complaining about the noise increase from our baby, or from the flooring. So it's good to know that the volume downstairs would be similar, even if she's perceiving it as louder. Having covered up most of the floor now, I find it really difficult to believe that the Korlok is the problem.
     
  6. tarkett85

    tarkett85 Well-Known Member

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    She will be noticing frequencies that could be annoying, you can help by using something like regupol underneath the flooring and rugs will diffuse some of the sound. The only way to properly “soundproof” is to build a false floor, using acoustic insulation, two layers of ply then regupol (and that’s the cheap way to do it) it’s expensive and to do properly is very specialised, you need to do pink noise testing and UKAS testers in.


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  7. merit

    merit Well-Known Member

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    I can’t believe they can hear it through a concrete base! Do they know you’ve had a new floor installed.


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  8. tarkett85

    tarkett85 Well-Known Member

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    You’ll still hear it but I think they’re playing it up a bit.


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  9. what?

    what? Member

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    Yes, they know we've had new flooring. They do like to complain, so I should have seen this coming.
    I was also thinking that if they can all of a sudden hear our conversations, then wouldn't we also be able to hear theirs more noticeably too?
    The neighbour above us also has laminate with underlay, and although we can hear them a little, surely the Korlok as quiet if not quieter than laminate considering it specifically says it's for apartments.
     
  10. merit

    merit Well-Known Member

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    I would say they are playing up. As long as there is nothing to say you can’t have hard floors in your apartment there’s nothing they can do. Some people will moan about anything. We had a customer blocked from having a wood floor in his apartment on the 3rd floor by the tenant below him. We later found out the tenant on the second floor had a wood floor himself.


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  11. merit

    merit Well-Known Member

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    Talk about 1st world problems


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  12. Spacey

    Spacey Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Would have been better of using Karndean looselay fully stuck :rolleyes:
     
  13. Distinctive Adam

    Distinctive Adam Well-Known Member

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    19db should be deemed suitable above head height
     
  14. what?

    what? Member

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    Yes, it's tricky because we obviously want to stay on friendly terms, but also don't want to spend £1000's changing the floor because she's being fussy.

    So in my reply if I state the noise transference is similar to carpet, and since we have put down rubber matts and rugs the impact noise should also be similar to when we had carpets. I think we may end up getting a thicker rug too, but beyond that does that sound reasonable?
    I think the real problem is that we now have a 10 month old, and carpets or Korlok she would have noticed an increase in the noise. It's just unfortunate (and short sighted of me) that both have coincided with each other.
     
  15. Rugmunching

    Rugmunching Well-Known Member

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    Are you on talking terms with her?

    Maybe ask to see if you could sit in there whilst one of you can go on as normal and see for yourself
     
  16. what?

    what? Member

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    Yes we are, and yes that's what we're going to ask. I'm not sure she'll agree thou, as she's quite reclusive.
     
  17. Rugmunching

    Rugmunching Well-Known Member

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    She will probably deny you access because she knows she's moaning about nothing!
     
  18. d'Arcy

    d'Arcy Well-Known Member

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    Can I point out that the rubber floor mats may cause issues with plasticiser migration with the design layer... So watch out for that!
     
  19. what?

    what? Member

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    Oh really! I just googled it. So basically watch out for the foam play matts damaging the floor?
     

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