Acoustic floating floors control the transmission of sounds and vibration from floor impacts to the surrounding building structure.
The floating floor is often paired with acoustically isolated walls and ceilings, creating what is known as a ‘box-in-box’ construction. This setup helps to control sound and vibration in a safe, controlled way across a single space.
Acoustic floating floors can be installed on any floor so long as the underlying subfloor is structurally sound. No structural work is needed on subfloors so long as they are level. If levelling is required, this can be done relatively easily.
What Does An Acoustic Floating Floor Do?
An acoustic floating floor is a suspended floor structure that sits above a solid subfloor, creating an air gap. The air gap isolates sound and vibration to the floating floor, improving the acoustic qualities of the flooring system.
We specify acoustic floating floors for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is to isolate sound and vibration in a room. Isolating sounds is necessary in areas that see a high footfall, so foot traffic does not cause a disturbance.
Another reason we specify floating floors is to eliminate the cost and complexity of removing an old floor. Old floors made from concrete, and even floors with carpet, linoleum and timber floors, can have a floating floor above them.
Floating floors are also the best solution for acoustic-specific applications like dance halls, drama stages, yoga zones and school halls.
How We Achieve Specific Acoustic Qualities
The beauty of acoustic floating floors is they are highly modular and configurable, so we can finetune the acoustic qualities for different applications.
A typical acoustic floor has the following layers:
- Subfloor
- Formwork
- Concrete pour or particleboard
- Acoustic mastic
- Rubber/foam underlay
- Top surface (e.g., rubber tiles)
The sound and vibration damping effect of acoustic floors is achieved with rubber isolators that extend through the structure, helping to isolate impacts to specific zones on the floating floor. The system itself is comprised of several layers, including metal formwork and concrete wet pour or concrete board.
We can cover acoustic floors in anything from carpet to boards. The most important thing is that the top surface is specified for the intended application. For example, carpet isn’t considered suitable for dancing, but it is for yoga.
If you require an acoustic floating floor for your building, we can size and specify the right system. Get in touch with us for a chat.
