Before you start soundproofing your metal roof, you will need to distinguish what kind of noise you are dealing with. There are different materials and methods to be used depending on the type of noise you are hearing from your roof. Here are the two main types of sound that are likely to come from your metal roof.

Airborne Noise Through a Hardwood Floor

Airborne noise is heard when a sound travels through the air. Airborne noise is not generally an issue with floors, unless the joists are exposed below – meaning you don’t have a true floor-ceiling assembly. But occasionally, you will have airborne noise issues depending on the floor construction and whether it is properly sealed. Examples of airborne noise are people talking, dogs barking, or the TV playing.

Impact Noise Through a Hardwood Floor

When soundproofing a floor you are almost always dealing with impact noise. Impact noise occurs when one object collides with another, creating vibrational energy that travels through the structure and then is heard as sound. When you are walking on the floor, the energy created from the footsteps vibrates through the flooring and travels through to the room below. Examples of impact noise are footsteps, balls bouncing on a floor, or furniture being moved around.

IIC Ratings of Wooden Floors

Multi-family residences that adhere to the international building code will have IIC (impact insulation class) requirements for the floors of their buildings. IIC is essentially a measurement of how effective a floor is at blocking impact noise. Most condos are going to try and hit the the bare minimum for IIC, which is a 50. You’ll still have complaints at 50 though, so a builder that wants to invest in the building and have lower unit turnover will have at least a 55, and probably over 60. The higher your IIC rating is, the better the floor is at stopping impact noise.

Generally, the reason homeowners look to soundproof a floor is to decrease the amount of noise that is traveling through the floor-ceiling assembly. Hardwood floors are stylish and easier to clean than carpet, so many homeowners are tearing up their carpets and installing wooden floors. Where the extra noise ends up mattering is typically in a situation where you’ve got louder noise than people talking (home theater, soundproof music room) or a bedroom (or Airbnb) on the floor below that’s being disturbed.

For a multi-family residence, soundproofing a floor is all about ROI. If the builder planned to fill up the complex, and immediately flip it – you can bet they do the bare minimum. If the builder wants to hold onto the building, they care about turnover rate and likely invested in better soundproofing.

In a remodel, carpeting if often removed and replaced with hardwood floors. This upgrade is awesome for aesthetics, but MUST be accompanied by a floor soundproofing plan or your downstairs neighbors are going to have something to complain about. The new, hard wooden surface will create a lot of impact noise whenever you walk on the floor and without any soundproofing treatments the noise is sure to travel to the room below.

The best way to soundproof a wooden floor is to use a rubber floor underlayment to decouple the wooden flooring from the ceiling below and/or to isolate the ceiling from the structure with sound isolation clips.

Depending on the noise issue and the level of soundproofing needed, we also recommend soundproofing the ceiling portion of the floor-ceiling assembly. In some cases, where you don’t have access to the floor above, ceiling soundproofing will be your only option.

RSIC Clips

We use RSIC clips to isolate the drywall from the floor-ceiling assembly. We prefer these clips because they are used in the most UL rated assemblies, and come in a ton of different varieties to meet any situation. Just install the clips on the joists, snap in 25 ga hat channel, and then screw in ⅝” drywall to the channel. The results are phenominal.

In new construction, we often will utilize both underlayment and isolation clips to meet the IIC and STC rating goals of the architect or builder. For retrofits and home projects, we’d typically recommend picking one or the other based on which project is most feasible in your space.

Reach out to us for more complex projects!

Large projects require more complicated specifications. If you are a commercial builder looking to soundproof wooden floors or you are looking to carry out a large soundproofing project, feel free to get in contact with one of the soundproofing experts at Second Skin. We are always happy to help!