Your guide to quiet floors
Jingle bells, carols and the chatter of friends and family gathered around the table, these are of course the sounds of Christmas. But with guests arriving, the thump of footfall through the dining room and the screech of chairs being moved around will be too. So what can you do about it now?
There is still time to get your floors sorted out with noise-reducing flooring. With that in mind here’s a quick guide to what you need to know:
Transit or reflective?
When it comes to flooring, there are 2 main types of noise that can put a dampener on your festive cheer. Reflective noise is the sound of your own feet walking across your floors. Transit noise is the sound of someone walking in the room above you – a particular bugbear if you live in a flat. There is a solution for both: acoustic underlay.
If you’ve got carpets anywhere in your house, you’re probably familiar with underlay, that bouncy foam that adds an extra layer of softness underfoot. But underlay isn’t just for carpets. And in fact acoustic underlay for laminate flooring is quite different from the underlay used for carpets – it is firm rather than bouncy.
So if you want the natural look of wood or stone without the upkeep and expense, then laminate flooring 
with acoustic underlay is the way to go. It comes in a range of materials and thicknesses to suit different budgets, such as foam with polyethylene and polyurethane with aluminium foil. Kronoswiss and Quick Step are good places to start to explore your options. Keep in mind how much footfall the room you are flooring gets; in general the more intensively used the room, the thicker the underlay needed.
Acoustic flooring also comes with the added benefit of improved thermal insulation for added comfort underfoot as well as a way to smooth out unevenness in the floor beneath.
Look out for the Quiet Mark
Quiet Mark accreditation is an international award given to companies to recognise excellence in the production of quiet products, from everyday appliances and machines, as well as flooring. Quiet Mark has so far only awarded 2 flooring companies with their sought after accreditation, including Karndean, specifically highlighting their Korlok luxury vinyl tile.
All you need to do now is add flooring to the very top of your Christmas shopping list. Get those floors down this month and enjoy all the festive sounds of Christmas.
