3mm Acoustic Underlayment IIC 78/STC 77

[swiftshift]

I am wanting to change my hardwood flooring at my current residence.
However there are some rules and regulations which I need to meet in order to change the floor.

I am required to use 3mm and 73 IIC or greater for the under laying.
I've looked at some local websites but most need to be ordered in and also start at 0.49c/ sqft.

I'm wondering if anyone knows any local stores that retail this exact and what is a reasonable price to pay or find the best deal yet holding the same quality standards..

Thanks in advance.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by swiftshift

I am wanting to change my hardwood flooring at my current residence.
However there are some rules and regulations which I need to meet in order to change the floor.

I am required to use 3mm and 73 IIC or greater for the under laying.
I've looked at some local websites but most need to be ordered in and also start at 0.49c/ sqft.

I'm wondering if anyone knows any local stores that retail this exact and what is a reasonable price to pay or find the best deal yet holding the same quality standards..

Thanks in advance.

You're lucky that your strata only requires IIC ratings and not FIIC which is much more stringent.

When we purchased our flooring from King of Floors last year, we were offered an underlay that exceeds the standard that your strata requires. They charged about 70 cents/square foot if I recall. If you buy flooring from them, they knock off about 10-20 cents per square foot for the underlay.

However, our strata required something that was FIIC rated which is a higher standard. There are few products on the market that offer this standard, but one of them that is Canadian and available locally is Durason. We looked on Craigslist and found a few local suppliers of this underlay. It was around $1/square foot. There's nothing higher rated from a sound insulation standpoint on the market and if you're willing to spend a bit more, it's guaranteed to be approved by your strata.

[swiftshift]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

You're lucky that your strata only requires IIC ratings and not FIIC which is much more stringent.

When we purchased our flooring from King of Floors last year, we were offered an underlay that exceeds the standard that your strata requires. They charged about 70 cents/square foot if I recall. If you buy flooring from them, they knock off about 10-20 cents per square foot for the underlay.

However, our strata required something that was FIIC rated which is a higher standard. There are few products on the market that offer this standard, but one of them that is Canadian and available locally is Durason. We looked on Craigslist and found a few local suppliers of this underlay. It was around $1/square foot. There's nothing higher rated from a sound insulation standpoint on the market and if you're willing to spend a bit more, it's guaranteed to be approved by your strata.

Hey, thanks for your reply
Will look into it this weekend.
$1 sounds a bit expensive though

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by swiftshift

Hey, thanks for your reply
Will look into it this weekend.
$1 sounds a bit expensive though

It is expensive, particularly if you're doing a large area. However, if you're planning on doing laminate, as opposed to engineered hardwood, you will want something thicker anyway to provide more cushion.

This is the way I look at it though: you could always do the bare minimum, or you could be a good neighbour and do a bit more to minimize the chances of a noise complaint in the future.

[swiftshift]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

It is expensive, particularly if you're doing a large area. However, if you're planning on doing laminate, as opposed to engineered hardwood, you will want something thicker anyway to provide more cushion.

This is the way I look at it though: you could always do the bare minimum, or you could be a good neighbour and do a bit more to minimize the chances of a noise complaint in the future.

Need roughly 220/sqft
Regulations as per strata requires these specifications

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by swiftshift

Need roughly 220/sqft
Regulations as per strata requires these specifications

Our flooring project involved a 300 square foot area. 50 cents per square foot for something better shouldn't make or break your project considering the size, IMHO. You're going to be spending at least 3K on your project with materials and labour. In my experience, you'll want quality underlayment, especially if you're in a concrete building as there's absolutely no give with a concrete subfloor.

[Koflach]

I recently helped my father get some new hardwood floor in his 1000 sq/ft apartment in a seniors only concrete building in white rock. As they are only seniors who live there they typically have nothing better to do than complain about their noisy neighbors. Because of this, their strata has really tight regulations regarding the sub floors they are allowed to use. I work for a local Moulding, Door and flooring company and was able to get all the info from one of our suppliers as to what material would meet/exceed the requirements of the strata and was even able to get a sample of it from our supplier.

My suggestion is contact a company and challenge them with what you require and see if they are able to assist you in finding a resolution.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by swiftshift

Need roughly 220/sqft
Regulations as per strata requires these specifications

That's not a lot of area to worry about. Sure $1.00 is double the price of the $0.50 stuff, but you're only spending $100 more overall.

[melloman]

Economy Floor Supplies
2351 Simpson Rd #1, Richmond, BC V6X 2R2
PH: (604) 270-4029

I just redid my flooring (laminate) and got the underlayment from them.
Home Depot had the underlayment I was after, they had a comparable product for less than half the price of Home Depots. (Exact same IIC and STC ratings)

[swiftshift]

Originally Posted by melloman

Economy Floor Supplies
2351 Simpson Rd #1, Richmond, BC V6X 2R2
PH: (604) 270-4029

I just redid my flooring (laminate) and got the underlayment from them.
Home Depot had the underlayment I was after, they had a comparable product for less than half the price of Home Depots. (Exact same IIC and STC ratings)

Thanks,

I purchased from Mikes Carpet and Flooring | Carpet | Laminate | Hardwood | Vinyl | Cork | Tiles | Flooring | Floors | Burnaby | Coquitlam | Professional Installers in Burnaby
Costed about 0.68 cents / sq ft.
I needed only 220 to cover the area.
Project is under $2500

[Ferra]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

Our flooring project involved a 300 square foot area. 50 cents per square foot for something better shouldn't make or break your project considering the size, IMHO. You're going to be spending at least 3K on your project with materials and labour. In my experience, you'll want quality underlayment, especially if you're in a concrete building as there's absolutely no give with a concrete subfloor.

Originally Posted by swiftshift

Costed about 0.68 cents / sq ft.
I needed only 220 to cover the area.
Project is under $2500

Why are you guys spending that much on laminate flooring...? ($10/sf?)
You can find a good quality laminate <$3/sf
Underaly $0.50-$0.85/sf
Trims & moulding $0.50/sf
Labor $2.0/sf?

$6-$7/sf is already on the upper end for laminate floor...
$10 could get you a pretty nice engineered wood floor installed.

Btw, most IIC rating are bs.
Different manufacturer uses different method to test their underpad..
some do it with 6" concrete slab, some with 8" slab, and some even do it with a drop ceiling...the same underpad could get a 55IIC on 6" concrete slab, and 70+ with a drop ceiling. (They are kinda like LCD monitor advertised spec for grey-to-grey response time...)

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Ferra

Why are you guys spending that much on laminate flooring...? ($10/sf?)
You can find a good quality laminate <$3/sf
Underaly $0.50-$0.85/sf
Trims & moulding $0.50/sf
Labor $2.0/sf?

$6-$7/sf is already on the upper end for laminate floor...
$10 could get you a pretty nice engineered wood floor installed.

Btw, most IIC rating are bs.
Different manufacturer uses different method to test their underpad..
some do it with 6" concrete slab, some with 8" slab, and some even do it with a drop ceiling...the same underpad could get a 55IIC on 6" concrete slab, and 70+ with a drop ceiling. (They are kinda like LCD monitor advertised spec for grey-to-grey response time...)

Our project at 300 square feet was about 3K. We bought clearance engineered hardwood at King of Floors at $3/sq.ft, but because it was a clearance product, we had to buy a bit more since there were likely to be more imperfect boards. On top of that, we had to pay for the removal of the old carpet and the leveling in addition to the baseboards and labour for the floor installation. If you have a really bad floor, you'll have to spend more on concrete to level it. It can add up really fast, especially if you want to buy something that is from Germany or somewhere else in Europe, as opposed to China.

I agree though that IIC ratings are arbitrary. It's probably why our strata requires a more stringent FIIC rated product.

[Hondaracer]

Lol @ $10/sq foot laminate, is it gold leafed?

There was hand scraped engineered flooring at the home show with these fancy ass ship lap type bow ties which join the panels. That's about at niche as I've seen and it was $11

Costco has great flooring, 15mm solid core laminate. The only thing with 15mm is you've got to watch your door frames/casings etc

Oh and the Costco stuff is like $2.11 a sq foot lol