Sound Proofing Floor with sand

[carlos2126]

Hi all

I have an apartment on the top floor of a two story building, although the floors are made of concrete I can hear foot steps on the neighbours floor below, ive purchased some heavy 15mm acoustic matts to be used as underlay and was contemplating pouring kiln dried sand between the joists?? it appears to work well after conducting a small experiment but before i go-ahead and pour over a 1000kg of sand between the joists i was keen to know if anyone else had experienced any success with this method??

I'll be very grateful for any feed back on this please

Thank you
Carl

 

[HERTS P&D]

It will be too heavy.

Andy

 

[flameport]

the floors are made of concrete
...
pouring kiln dried sand between the joists??

What is the actual construction of the floor?

While sand can be used as sound insulation, just randomly pouring it into a floor or other void will lead to problems.

 

[ladylola]

I've come across sand used in older wooden floor constructions. It was normally poured onto boards inbetween the joists supported by batterns nailed to the side of the joists and normally wasn't more than 3 " thick. As to how effective it was I can't really say although as the process was quite common and can be found in many buildings I'd say that is an indication that it works. Of course back then they didn't have the acoustic materials we have now so it may be a case of "better than nothing".

 

[big-all]

another point to note
you dont need a very big hole for sand to escape so the sand could fall to the room down below from several different pin holes

 

[Tozzy]

another point to note
you dont need a very big hole for sand to escape so the sand could fall to the room down below from several different pin holes

Sorry to dig this up, it's just I'm thinking of doing the same and wanted to reply to this and say the sand would only escape if not laid on plastic membrane shaped like a tray.

Didn't see the point of starting a new thread as doesn't look like these sort of threads regarding soundproofing with sand get much beneficial response - probably because it's an old fashioned method I don't know?

Is there anyone out there who can confirm that this method of laying sand between joists (ok not literally) is successful? Perhaps you've done it yourself and the ceiling is still intact to this day? I've had to change bedrooms due to airborne noise at around 40-200hz. It's really annoying when trying to sleep! It's a room about 12 square metres with solid 1920s joists with plasterboard on the underside of the joists. I understand that there is no way any weight could be added to the plasterboards