Salespeople for floating wooden floors will confidently tell you that the few millimetres of rubber backing will stop all noise. Of course it does almost nothing.

Ordinary carpet and underlay are remarkably effective in stopping noise, especially footsteps.

To effectively stop noise through wooden floors, floating or normal, you need two types of insulation: double-density pink batts for the TV noise; and dense plasterboard for footsteps. So a quiet floor costs more than a cheap floating one, and takes longer to install.

Good noise consultants are good value: use them whether you are a victim seeking quiet, or a responsible person wanting a wooden floor. I write as a happy client.

Excellent summary… even for us down here in Vic.

Being an owner of an apartment where is sounds like upstairs have put a wooden floor this information is excellent.
The current tennant above isn’t too bad (usually only there Mon – Fri)… but I dread to think what the noise would be like if a large family or worse yet uni students moved in.
We get noise from most “heavy” foot steps, along with the constant moving of furniture.

hi
just a comment on your wooden flooring column last week.
i am a unit owner , the block i reside in is in the south west of sydney and was built in approx 1979. i have owned this unit for 10 years & I am top floor position, we are 42 units total.
i put in a request in June this year for information( to find out the rules and regulations ) to change my carpet floors to floating floorboards, the response was that there were no set rules or regulations on whether or not i used underlay or what type of underlay was the minimum requirement, also the exec committee had no say over my flooring (it was not considered a strata / exec issue!!! )
But was informed that if the downstairs neighbours constantly complained about noise factor, that i could be forced to put rugs over the flooring (not reinstate carpet…)
me being a considerate person asked the flooring company (Decorug) who were doing my installation, what they would reccomend , giving them all the details , now they said i had to have a minimum noise reduction underlay, but that standard was not deemed good enough, so they (as you would imagine suggested more expensive underlay) , which is what i ended up putting in, as in 10 years i have never had a noise complaint made against me , and do not intend for it to start now that i changed the flooring,

so a set standard of underlay for hard flooring from the strata board for all strata title homes would be a great idea would be a great idea , as it may save a lot of innocent people from unintentionly being a ‘nuisance’.

i love to read your column each week it is one of the first things i turn to in Domain section, keep up the good work,
particulary on Illegally Parked Cars in an owners car space and Tow Away rules , these rules really need to be implemented immediatley, as strata is not at all compliant on these issues.

Deborah

I thought it important to provide details of an experience in which an upstairs person removed carpet and put down a timber floor over a 2 bed apartment including the bedrooms. I agree that the BCA code is useless on this and people should refer to the Acoustic Engineers table that compares various timber floors with carpet – very illuminating in that it is difficult to get a timber floor to the same acoustic level as carpet.

To cut an unfortunately long story short, it required getting a specialist solicitor, an acoustic engineer and putting a case to the CTTT that the timber floor be replaced with carpet under By-law 14. The CTTT made orders that the floor be ‘rectified’ – rather ambiguous, but at least a favourable ruling. There was an appeal against the Orders because the timber floor complied with the minimum BCA standard as well as medical reasons for not having carpet. This appeal was rejected, and then because the floor was not ‘rectified’, a request for a fine to be imposed. The upstairs person argued that they had put down rugs to mitigate the noise. This third hearing completely rejected this argument and confirmed the original Orders in which it was made clearer that rugs and wearing soft sole shoes was insufficient. A fine of $600 was imposed plus legal costs of $1,200. A few weeks after this hearing the timber floor was taken up and carpet with insulating underlay put down.

Subsequently, it was put to an AGM of the strata Owners Corporation that a new By-law be put that would ban timber floors from units on an upper floor where there is a unit below. This was passed unanimously.

It is a sad reflection on the primitive state of our strata laws and BCA code that somebody has to take long expensive legal action to obtain peace and quiet from an inconsiderate and belligerent neighbour. Unless a timber floor can achieve the same acoustic rating as a carpet with good underlay, this type of hard flooring should be banned.

If you would like more details on this case I would be happy to assist. This is a significant issue that requires the government to act given the shift towards apartment living. The closer people live together the more critical the design of the building.

Jimmyt Writes: Gary is pretty much spot on. The simple fact is that a)floors are common property and b) they are supposed to insulate your downstairs neighbours from anything but the loudest occasional noise between apartments and c) you are not allowed to disturb your neighbours “peaceful enjoyment” of their home. Whichever way you put it, whatever laws or by-laws are involved, the simple truth is that anyone who installs a wooden or tiled floor with no regard for their neighbours and is only concerned about their lifestyle and the cost of achieving that deserves to be told to rip it up and put carpet down. And the sooner strata law reflects the realities of apartment living and addresses this, just so no one is in any doubt about what they should and shouldn’t do, the better.

Thanks Gary.
I am on the exec committee at our complex, and brought up the noise caused by those above me.
I was assured that they have used the appropriate underlay… (great confort isn’t it).
The committee were unwilling to go any further on the matter… It turns out that a number of them have installed wooden floors in the past few years.

I think my next steps are:
1. Approach the owner and highlight the problems I am having.
2. Ask the owner to put mats down. ( I think they have one of those stupid Wii Fit things up there adding to the noise).
3. Seek legal advise.

JimmyT writes: If the underlay doesn’t stop the noise then it’s not “appropriate”. Whether or not it was approved is a different matter. Don’t let your self-interested EC members prevent you from exercising your legal right to enjoy peace and quiet in your home. Before seeking legal advice, you could pay your $60+ and go to Fair Trading and ask that this person be told to abide by Strata law and any relevant by-laws. Garry’s comment gives me great hope that things are changing in relation to floor boards at the CTTT. And as far as the approval of underlay goes, if the EC approved it, all that means is your neighbour can sue them for compensation if the CTTT demands that he rip it up.

Thanks Gary for the offer of more details. It is a very rel;evant case study that no doubt will be referred to often. I look forward to the CTTT references or details you can onforward.

We are in a similar situation to the one listed above where a investor bought the unit above ours to renovate and on sell, commenced renovations including installation of floorboards without permission. I suspect didn’t put any underlay under the flooring to make it cheaper. The noise is incredible; in addition to all the general noise from footsteps/tv/talking etc we can hear our upstairs neighbour (a tenant) urinate when we are in our living area and bedrooms because the timber flooring for some reason acts as an amplifier to the noise from the toilet (our layouts are identical).

It is over 16 months since this situation commenced and proceedings are underway with the CTTT (the owners corporation is pursuing the legal action). I honestly feel there is no room for floorboards in apartment buildings; as they absolutely are louder than carpeting regardless of the underlay used. I also think the penalty for undertaking renovations without the EC permission should be so severe that it is so prohibitive – even unscrupulous people wouldn’t think of risking a penalty- especially those who have no interest in being part of the strata community and just want to flip units for profit.

My advice to those who are in a similar situation is to act swiftly and firmly to protect your interests; and pursue legal advice as to how to rectify the problem. You never know who the next person to live in the unit may be – so any agreement re rugs/mats or shoes off that you make with the current occupant will need to renegotiated with any future owner. Unfortunately you cannot chose your neighbors, and the only way to guarantee that the problem won’t arise in the future is to get the upstairs to insulate their flooring appropriately . I am awaiting the outcome of the CTTT ruling in our case – fingers crossed the situation will be rectified in the next 6 months.

Are tiled floor permitted in units? i will look into insulating them, however i dont want to be told to rip them up as they are expensive tiles.

I don’t know whether to go through the BC as i have been told they give you more grief than required?:

Debbie

JimmyT writes: Check your by-laws. If your “BC” is likely to give you grief, it isn’t going to be any easier if you go ahead and install tiles without their permission when you need it.

Jimmy