When it comes to making your home cosy, you can’t beat a carpet. But did you know that in addition to comfort and a stylish finish, a carpet can also help with soundproofing your space? Sleep is so important for health and wellbeing, especially for the very young or elderly, and carpet is a great sound-absorbing solution if you live close to others. So, if you live in an apartment block, conversion flat or terraced house, have noisy neighbours or surround sounds you’d rather not hear, read on to find out everything you need to know about soundproofing floors.
Experts agree that laying a thick carpet can help to absorb some of the noise impacts in a room to reduce reverberation and echo. Not only does carpet absorb sound really well, it can reduce the sound of footsteps by 25 to 34 decibels, so not quite tap-dancing territory but much better than bare floorboards!
Carpets are effective in reducing both impact noise – the sound of footsteps and movement, water pipes, electrical equipment and lifts in apartment blocks – and airborne noise from outside. Laying a carpet will reduce sound reverberation and absorb ten times more airborne noise than any other type of flooring.
Carpet underlay is another great way to fight unwanted noise – and much cheaper than having your home professionally sound-proofed. If you’re questioning ‘does acoustic underlay really work?’ the answer is yes, it does still work, but not as well. It makes sense to buy the best underlay for soundproofing you can afford.