I live in a top floor condo unit of a triple-decker building. It's an old building that was revamped in 2004 but the contractor didn't insulate the floors. As you can imagine, impact and airborne noise is a huge problem... especially our neighbors bass-heavy music below.

My question is: what is the best way to insulate/soundproof floors? I am thinking about laying down new hardwood floors with a soundproof barrier over the existing floors. Does it make more sense to tear up the existing hardwood and lay down a new floor? Or am I missing something that works even better (i.e. more cost effective)?

Any feedback or guidance would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks!

New flooring will provide little sound proofing compared to adding insulation. First check with your Home Owners Association if you have one since you may not actually own the space below your floor surface.

You could underlay your new floor with this material - should make a difference.

440-SoundBarrier (http://www.homasote.com/products/440-Soundbarrier.aspx)

Or really go for it with this:

4-Way Floor Deck (http://www.homasote.com/products/4-Way-Floor-Deck.aspx)

Riverhead did a nice job, can't give him another greenie just yet until I spread it around. Here's one more Sound Engineered Drywall (SED-AM), Shear Panel, Subfloor Products - by Supress Products (http://www.supressproducts.com/products/) All products mentioned can be applied on top of the existing floor so condo association rules will not stop you.

It is two ways to resolve this proble one is to use QT sound Insulation (QTscu) on the original floors and put the new floors right on to of it and this will give you an IIC Impact Sound Reduction between 50 and 55 db. And the other way is to pu a drop ceiling under your floors using Genie Clip this will take away 9db of sound and it will give you about 50 db of soud reduction. For more information go to htt://www.qtsoundproofing.com