Wood Underlayment

This 10 mm thick black rubber pad is our under-bamboo soundproofing. It's also from Sound Isolation Company. Wood floor soundproofing requires different materials and since our subfloors are ply wood and not concrete, we need a thicker pad than someone might use in a new high-rise condo. The pad is made from 93% post-consumer waste like as tires and old dodge balls. It's extremely heavy. One 4' x 25' roll weighs over 200 pounds, and we'll use close to 5 rolls. That's half a ton of soundproofing on our kitchen and living room floors.

Thanks to Matty Cat for lending us his heft this evening. Matt and Justin lugged these things up unfinished deck stairs and it was precarious, if not somewhat dangerous moving the behemoth rolls of rubber. We'd also like to thank Matt for his help a few weeks ago hanging insulation in the basement bedroom ceiling. (That too, was a soundproofing project.) Matt and Karen have been a huge support to us through this project and we'd be filling our milk with tears without them.

Fresh Tile No Traffic Until Tues Thanks

Today, Rude (pronounced "Rudy" for those calling him "rude," which he rarely is) planned and set the bathroom floor tile in place. We're using 3/8" thick Brazilian Black Slate which appears to be considerably strong given that it's stone, not ceramic. Rude tells us that stone tile normally ships in thicker grades.

The fuchsia wall coating is a waterproofing membrane that goes on a bit like liquid plastic. Once it's dry, it'll form a watertight barrier behind the tile. Water that does get behind the tile will run down to the floor tile and, with luck, either evaporate away or evacuate the room through the floor drain.

Tile Underlayment

Yesterday and today we've spent some time installing a layer of sound isolation barrier, which goes on top of the subfloor and beneath the finished floor. Since we have living space in the basement, we're hoping to keep noise isolated in each space. In the ceilings on the first floor we used spray foam insulation to keep noise from going through the ceiling into the upstairs bedroom. Given the foot traffic we'll have on the first floor, we are adding the additional layers of underfloor material.

For tile we're using a 3 mm thick styrofoam-like composite material with an adhesive backing, made by Sound Isolation Company. Our good friend Rude (of Portland Cement Co. and who's laying our tile and pouring our countertops) tells us that this stuff is great to work on and that it takes thin set (the mortar mix used to hold tile in place) as well as Wonderboard does.