Floating Floors - Right and Wrong 

We're moving into a new place and I'm planning on building a recording studio in the garage. Very glad to hear that I don't need to build a floor, as it'll be all concrete. Thank God!!

So I have just understood that I do not need any floating floor for my rehearsal room. Thank you !!!

This is some pure knowledge for free. Thank You John..

Thanks @John for this video. Very well detailed and clearly explained, as you say it is all about the data the manufacturer provides and how trustworthy they seem to be. I wish this video was watched by many of the Architects, Contractors and Acousticians as well... keep up the good work!

Thanks for sharing the knowledge sir , really appreciated . Love and regards from India 😇

Can't believe I found this just now. Amazing set of info and skills, thank you!

I laid our floating floor over indoor outdoor carpet it worked very well to help soundproof shoe noise. These companies want to sell you foam underlayment but it's not thick enough

Reminds me of Walt from breaking bad. Great video sir.

I have a detached garage with an existing concrete floor. For isolation from neighbors, impact noise, noise from the outside world am I correct to assume I do NOT need a floating floor? This of course is for a recording studio build. I appreciate your time!!!!!!

thanks for this. i really wish i could find a video or photo of one of these floating slab builds done the 'correct' way. i would also be interested to see photos/videos of the rod gervais work-around i've read about, where you lay a 2 inch layer of OC703 and a couple sheets of plywood on top, but then you DON'T build the walls and ceilings on that floor... maybe that could be a topic for a future video? your videos are amazing and informative, i just wish they were more numerous!! we want the knowledge! i understand you're probably jam-packed busy tho. i'm pulling my hair out here trying to figure out floor isolation on the 2nd story of a huge all-concrete building we own... building on the ground floor or basement isn't an option, so i'm stuck with an upper-floor floor build.... anyways back to researching. thanks again.

Next Video: Right and Wrong way for isolating ceilings? That is my biggest problem with DIY studio located in a basement. thanks!!

Thank you John ! :) Great video

I rented a lower level apartment below a family of 6 kids and they had hardwood floors OMG it was so freaking loud and the kids never took their shoes off and the kitchen chairs sounded like the crashing Thunder of God

The basic audio engineer definition "A floating floor has the minimum contact with the existing floor it is FLOATING. Held from the top with rubber/spring hooks and at the bottom NOTHING should be touching the exterior wall. Yes when you do, you're "floating" , you wind up with a swinging box. Now gradually put acoustic anchors to the sides and the inner room till it is steady enough to walk in and out without any swinging. The SECOND you have ANY solid and long material as a rest for the inner room , it is NOT a floating room.

John Brandt is the man !

Excellent video!! Confirmed what I had been thinking about my own studio floors.

Thank you!

Thanks @jhbrandt You mentioned that very high quality carpet padding reduces footfall well. Is there a brand you recommend?

In lieu of a poured concrete slab have you ever encountered the use of “tile” like patio paving bricks to create increase🎉mass

amazing John!

I have a second story timber house and I'm finishing the 2nd floor attic band rehearsal/live room. For DIY, seems like the more affordable option is just to add some gypsum and two 3/4 OSB laters to the floor, maybe some gym mat in between. Am I wrong? This could be done for $1,500 as opposed to hiring a $3,000 consultant, a $3,000 structural engineer to tell me that I can't pour a slab up there. Assuming I can't do a slab, are there many other options? The rubber U-float sounds like a problem waiting to happen (additional resonance). If I take the cheap DIY, my wife may still be able to hear my band rehearsing but ultimately I don't want her to hear my acoustic guitar practice late at night. If I have the money down the road, and my DIY floor is a failure, I could pull up the plywood/gyp/osb floor and consult someone.... appreciate any advice!

Great video

Doing floating floor is so math heavy! Haha! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 for John Brandt!

Hi John, I'm just discovering your channel

My challenge: home studio an attic. Filling existing joists w/ blown in insulation before patching up the partial sub-floor. Then ---- maybe rigid Owens Corning 705 w/ 2 more layers of OSB/chipboard sub flooring to add some mass? I know it won't be 'soundproof', but if it's worth spending a few thousand dollars just on the floor to reduce transmission - any other suggestions?? (modular house built strong, 2x10 floor joists. no, I will not be messing w/ the finished ceiling below).

Thanks so much for this John.

Many thanks, Maestro

Very good information.

What about carpet on a tile floor (raised foundation)? In my uneducated mind that seems like a nice surface for a combo tracking/mix room. (I'm going to convert a bedroom into a writing room/recording/mix for demos. It's 1/2" oak over 3/4"x6" subfloor now. Thinking 1/4" Hardibacker and 5/16" porcelain (12x24) tiles. Cheap Chinese porcelain tiles are very hard and heavy but not too pretty so no worries about covering with carpet or rugs.

Good information. Thanks.

Hello John, Thanks for all the piquant wisdom you've provided over the years, you're certainly one of the "Acoustic Gurus" I refer to whenever thinking about room acoustics. Much appreciated! On the topic of floors in general, we recently moved into a two story house, and the space available for my mixing studio is on the second floor, with a crawl space between the first and second floors. Also, horror of horrors, the floor has carpet on it. The studio has the acoustic panel approaches your and other leading acoustic experts use, so I'm left wondering what I should do about the floor. I suspect that odd resonance will happen based on the structure outlined above. I do notice the bass from 80 down to 20 Hz behaves oddly, although still trying to work out exactly what is going on, I just hear that something is not quite right with reference tracks. (Sorry, I can't be more specific at this point, I need to run some diagnostic signals to get a better idea). The room is mainly used for mixing, and if' I'm composing, most recordings are done via DI guitar/bass/keyboard, so room acoustics won't matter for these since they don't use microphones. However there will on occasion be voiceover/vocals recorded (Vocals are usually done in a professional studio for vocals so not a constant need to do this). What would you suggest given this is the room I have to work with? Also, would placing some kind of sub-floor material on top of the carpet work to get the "natural" hardwood sound you were referring to? Can I get away with mixing with the carpet, or is it that important to have a hard floor? ('I'm imagining you'll say hardwood floor is the way to go, but I don't fully understand exactly why this is, if that makes sense - I know Foley rooms use padding/carpeting, but not mixing rooms generally). (I know there has been such crazy discussions re carpet vs hardwood floors, but honestly I've heard so many different points of view I just need to get an answer that gets to the heart of the best way to deal with this, hence hoping you can shed some light on this from your perspective). By the way, the rooms quite small and no drums will be used in it. It is primarily for mixing - dimensions are just under 13 ft by just under 9 ft. I hope I'm not overstepping asking these questions, however, It'd be great to get to the bottom of this one if possible please. :) Once again, thanks so much for all you have shared over the years John!

Any differences using tile? I'm a tile setter. I have a hardwood floor (a bit squeaky too) on a raised foundation house. I don't have the space to do a floating floor with any reasonable resonance. I'm interested in reducing sound transmission. So would it be reasonable to lay down 1/2" (7/16ths really) Hardybacker board and maybe a 3/8 porcelain tile? Maybe a foam pad under the backer board? Of course I have the old school skills and can float the whole floor for one solid layer of deck mud (cement and plaster sand). That would have to be about 9/16 thick.

Great info!

So if i build a room which is sitting on thick concrete poured right above inerts(earth) , isn’t necessary to go for floating floors right? So i start layering laminate flooring right above it?

I've been reading and reading and reading in preparation for building a home theater in my finished attic which is above my tenant's bedroom. 120 year old house, no way it's going to support the weight of concrete. Everything I've read has talked about pulling up the floor, filling under it with heavy insulation (or rockwool), putting down a subfloor, then a rubber acoustic matting material then floating 2 layers of 3/4" OSB with green glue in between then your floor material. Sounds like that's not the way to go especially if you can't get any data on resonant frequency without building it first. If concrete can't be used, what approach would you recommend? (note 5 of the 6 walls are external, I'm only concerned about my tenant below). I'm making the assumption here that concrete is a lot heavier than a bunch of OSB. I could be wrong but seems logical.

@JHBrandt First off, you are a complete fountain of knowledge. I'm in the process of converting an attached RV Garage to a small live room/rehearsal space at my house. It has a 6" concrete floor, but it drops at a rate of 2" every 12 feet because the local code required this for drainage. I was planning on tapering 2x4s or 2x6s in such a way that they can rest on the concrete and act as level floor joists, then filling the gap with sand. Will this provide a low enough resonance when directly coupled to the concrete? I'd love to pick your brain about this room design sometime...

I want to build a floating drum room only.. I'm not using anything else, just drums. What could I use to help this project work at home.. basically in my master bedroom. I'm no professional at this, so I want to be directed the best way possible please.

If a floating floor is done correctly should you be able to hear booming/thudding when you walk around it or should it sound silent like a slab on grade?

My room is 8ft high..

If I build a room within a room on a floating floor using a Mason spring jack type system, will this make low frequency impact noise coming from an upstairs neighbor practically inaudible at night (assuming its done properly)? I live in a high-rise cast concrete apartment building with 8 inch slabs and I am concerned about noise coming from dragging the furniture on tiles and laminate floor at night coming from an inconsiderate neighbor (I don’t have access to the noise source to treat it there). Thanks a lot!

Hello Mr. Brandt As an Alternatif option, Can use stacked fibrecement as a floor? for example : I use 5 layers of 2cm fibrecement as a floor?. Thanks

When it comes to building a shed for an acoustic set of drums. Would a concrete floor with carpet be a good base, or what do you recommend in that case? I'd like to keep the sound in the shed. It's not so much about recording quality here.

I'm building a studio in my garage, that is attached to my house, on top of the same concrete slab. Therefor I want to build the inner room of my studio on top of a floating floor to fully decouple the inner room from the existing garage. I found a company that builds good springs and rubbers and they asked me for the live load of the room. That is where I am now.. I, somehow, have to calculate the total weight of the floor, the walls and the roof structure that I am gonna build, and on top of that, my gear, including my upright piano and the amount of people that will be in the room. It feels like a crazy job for me to calculate all of this and I wonder if there is any tricks and if there's anything I have to be aware of?

What is a better option for doors. I'm building room-in-a-room, and have 2 doors. Is having a solid core wood door of 40mm thick be better option, or a door with foam inside a sandwiched plywood, with 40mm total thickness. Much appreciated and thanks in advance.

At 4:45 did you mean to say that the mass and spring together creates AT MOST half of the resonance of the base floor? Instead of at least. So you wouldn't want the floating floor's resonance to surpass half of the base floor's resonance?

John, great videos thanks! I'm about to build my room on a slab, and thus no floating floor for me - I had one question if you wouldn't mind - I'm in a generally cold climate, what is the generally accepted solution when constructing directly on the slab to allow for maximum insulation (and also not building the floor up too much as I have a restricted ceiling height!)

I plan to build a music studio in a basement. The floor will be poured re-enforced concrete. So according to your advice, I won't need a floating floor. Is that correct? But what about critical refraction? Wouldn't sound waves refract along the concrete and then transmit up a connecting wall to other parts of the house?

I want to build a home music studio in my 7'w x 17'l x 9'h. Cold room. Floor concrete. Ceiling no insulation at all. My kitchen is over. Walls poor insulated, I guess that is why is a cold room. How do I get the right information as to how to do the studio in the cold room. Or if should do it at all.

Hey, John just emailed you

Amazing and a wealth of information. I need some advice please. I want to build a drumming room within a Log Cabin. The cabin sits on a concrete bed, the floor of the cabin in on stud filled with insulation (for heat) and then wooden panels as the finishing floor. I was thinking of making a stud floating floor, insulated with Rockwool and then 2 layers of accoustic drywall with a layer of techsound 50 in-between. On of which I would build my walls. What do you suggest I use under the studs that touches the current log cabin flooring? Or am I doing this completely wrong. I really appreciate any feedback you could give, as like everyone else I've got one chance to get this right. Thank you.

hi and thank you for your video. i live in between floors in a apartment. what would be the best way to reduce noise impact on laminated flooring ? rubber, cork underlay ?? any top soultions please ?

John I want to build a drums soundproof box for put in a room , what advice can you let me about the design of floor floating, the walls and the ceiling ideal?. thanks for all

hahaha youre orite with me brother. Good vid

Hey John, great content and thank you for sharing! I am planning on building a studio in the coming months and I am not sure what to do with the floor yet. The space is on the first floor of a bulding so I am only concerned with noise going and coming from upstairs. However, there is a garage underneath me and from what I understand so far from reading and watching your channel that means I will need to float the floor. Is this correct? Thank you in advance!

Hi John, I will be building modular reh/rec studio on top of industrial mezzanine floor in the warehouse unit. Now, after I watched your video, I am little bit concerned about the noise reduction from the floor. I can't pour concrete over it and it seems that the internet options are not the way to go. Any suggestions about it please?

Is it better to build a floating music studio floor to fit the whole room even when planning to insulate and build a 2nd drywall (with a 1" air gap in between)? or to build a smaller floating floor under the 2nd wall's dimensions? only

Great info Mr Brandt(dutch name?). I'm using a spare bedroom upstairs, that has a concrete floor. Was thinking about putting in a flotating wooden floor with the u-boats, but since this isnt the right way what would you suggest? also is a big window 4 x 3.5 m gonna be a problem, or is building some sort of wall/big panel the best option in this situation? my thanks

Hi John, I'm building my home studio in my backyard as a detached stricture. I have 1 100mm thick concrete slab, and have already set double framing for room-in-a-room concept for soundproofing, most details from your examples and others. For the floor, since I have no one below me, and not attached to any other building, would I still need to float my floor, on top of the slab? Or just simple underlay and laminated timber flooring will be enough? I may have to record a drum set or a bass guitar with amp, as low frequencies. Would the noise still go out via the slab? Thanks.

Hi John, I saw you recommend Regupol for a floating floor. I would like to build a soundproof playing room for electric guitar and bass, do you think Regupol on the existing floor with laminate flooring on top would be enough? Thanks

how can i contact you?

Clear it for me brother.

Will just neoprane layers do for the floating room? If so would you know how many? (for cinema in apartment)

Excellent video. Is it practical to build a sound proof drum-room on the second floor of a home? Like over a garage? Thanks, Ryan.

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+JHBrandt hey, great video !! where could I study this subject more in depth ?? Any books you can recommend ??

I've heard good feedback about the Woodglut plans.

John, how can the layman test the floors resonance in a home studio project scenario? Do I have to hire an engineer or can we do it? Thanks

Thought I got a Skype message at 4:25

Hi John, I'm just discovering your channel