Many people are told to believe that removing their shoes will improve the lives of the people living under their laminate flooring. This is a fallacy and merely indicates the ineffective policies employed by local councils.
Living underneath laminate flooring is equivalent to having one's home transformed into a drum, albeit a badly played drum.
Removing shoes merely equates to swapping the wooden drumsticks for a pair of woolly timpani mallets.
The thumping and thundering impact noises merely change tone, they do not go away.
People with laminate flooring need to take full responsibility for their noise and install high grade acoustic soundproofing and ensure the flooring is installed properly (without the laminate being in contact with the walls) or not have laminate in flatted properties at all.
Friday, 16 January 2009
Friday, 2 January 2009
Living with laminate flooring noise affects personality
I am a different person when I spend time away from home. I can relax, I can sleep easily, I awake feeling good about the coming day. I can focus on anything I want to knowing I will not be ripped from my own thoughts by loud, harsh noises raining down from above.
Returning to my home I feel the dread closing in, as if I am walking into a prison cell. Even if the noise is not present when I enter, I know that it will come. Almost immediately I feel myself transform into another person - a person who is anxious and fearful, jumpy and depressed. It is like a light goes out inside me knowing that I have to live here until change comes.
The noise did come and it came loud. Three hours and three pairs of outdoor shoes running around all over the property upstairs. Three hours of doors slamming, furniture grinding and random thuds and bangs. It was impossible to find a place in my home, the place that is supposed to be my sanctuary from the world, to sit without noise. Loud noise.
Currently I do not have a bedroom. I sleep in whichever room I guess will have the least disturbance. I don't always guess right.
Life, like the chairs on the laminate flooring above me, grinds on.
Returning to my home I feel the dread closing in, as if I am walking into a prison cell. Even if the noise is not present when I enter, I know that it will come. Almost immediately I feel myself transform into another person - a person who is anxious and fearful, jumpy and depressed. It is like a light goes out inside me knowing that I have to live here until change comes.
The noise did come and it came loud. Three hours and three pairs of outdoor shoes running around all over the property upstairs. Three hours of doors slamming, furniture grinding and random thuds and bangs. It was impossible to find a place in my home, the place that is supposed to be my sanctuary from the world, to sit without noise. Loud noise.
Currently I do not have a bedroom. I sleep in whichever room I guess will have the least disturbance. I don't always guess right.
Life, like the chairs on the laminate flooring above me, grinds on.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Noise Weekend
Yesterday I wanted to spend the day organising gifts, wrapping, writing cards and relaxing with my partner. We planned to do all these things and then watch a couple of classic films we rented.
The noise began - thundering, thumping, vibrations, doors slamming and people running and jumping. I could not sit in our lounge because the noise was so bad and every time I entered the room my heart rate increased and I felt stressed. It is made worse because the owner of the flooring knows that the flooring creates noise and so it seems that we are being bullied by noise. I went to the back of the apartment and I could still hear the bangs and feel the vibrations.
Eventually it got so bad that we left our home. We went to the cinema but there was nothing that we wanted to see, we have seen all the good films recently as we have been driven out most weekends. We found a quite place to eat a meal and we found ourselves killing time so that we wouldn't get home until after 9pm when the children seem to be put to bed and the noise is less than a crescendo.
Unfortunately the noise was still going on. I had nowhere to go. No matter what room I was in I was being subjected to thumping and banging and vibrations. I went to bed feeling stressed out, anxious and depressed. Doors were being slammed after 11pm.
This morning I was roused from sleep by thumping and rattling being force fed into my home and life by someone above me. Three hours later and the noise has not subsided. It is in every room. I feel hopeless and depressed. I look outside at the weather and cannot think of anywhere that I can go to escape this noise. I feel trapped.
There are people running, jumping and banging and what sounds like wrestling above my head, my lights are actually shaking and there is nothing that I can do about it.
The noise began - thundering, thumping, vibrations, doors slamming and people running and jumping. I could not sit in our lounge because the noise was so bad and every time I entered the room my heart rate increased and I felt stressed. It is made worse because the owner of the flooring knows that the flooring creates noise and so it seems that we are being bullied by noise. I went to the back of the apartment and I could still hear the bangs and feel the vibrations.
Eventually it got so bad that we left our home. We went to the cinema but there was nothing that we wanted to see, we have seen all the good films recently as we have been driven out most weekends. We found a quite place to eat a meal and we found ourselves killing time so that we wouldn't get home until after 9pm when the children seem to be put to bed and the noise is less than a crescendo.
Unfortunately the noise was still going on. I had nowhere to go. No matter what room I was in I was being subjected to thumping and banging and vibrations. I went to bed feeling stressed out, anxious and depressed. Doors were being slammed after 11pm.
This morning I was roused from sleep by thumping and rattling being force fed into my home and life by someone above me. Three hours later and the noise has not subsided. It is in every room. I feel hopeless and depressed. I look outside at the weather and cannot think of anywhere that I can go to escape this noise. I feel trapped.
There are people running, jumping and banging and what sounds like wrestling above my head, my lights are actually shaking and there is nothing that I can do about it.
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Laminate Flooring Noise Fragments Minds
Laminate flooring, by its nature, creates a singular canvas for sound. Each board is fitted to adjacent boards so closely that noise transfers without interruption from the point of impact to the outer edges of the flooring. If laminate flooring is installed throughout an apartment it is essentially a one piece sound conductor of every impact sound that takes place upon it. This means a thump in the front lounge can be heard in a back bedroom.
Living under an apartment where laminate was installed without acoustic soundproofing, where the laminate is butted right up against the skirting/walls and where the construct of the building means the upper floor and the ceiling below are one piece means that every sound is force fed into the apartment below.
There is a myth that rugs help but it is just that - a myth.
Impact noise on laminate floors is a unique way to disturb a person's life. It is not a constant noise like a television or a stereo, it is a random noise in pattern, frequency and decibels. One never knows when a footstep is going to fall or if it will be followed by running, jumping or stamping. Once the noise begins, one never knows when the noise will end. One can try to disconnect from the noise, but the longer one is subjected to these interruptions the less possible this becomes.
Living with laminate flooring noise essentially means that ones thoughts become ruptured by other people's noise. Attention to a television programme, or concentration on reading become fragmented as time goes on. In fact that is the best description one has for the longterm effect of laminate flooring impact noise on the mind - fragmented.
Living under an apartment where laminate was installed without acoustic soundproofing, where the laminate is butted right up against the skirting/walls and where the construct of the building means the upper floor and the ceiling below are one piece means that every sound is force fed into the apartment below.
There is a myth that rugs help but it is just that - a myth.
Impact noise on laminate floors is a unique way to disturb a person's life. It is not a constant noise like a television or a stereo, it is a random noise in pattern, frequency and decibels. One never knows when a footstep is going to fall or if it will be followed by running, jumping or stamping. Once the noise begins, one never knows when the noise will end. One can try to disconnect from the noise, but the longer one is subjected to these interruptions the less possible this becomes.
Living with laminate flooring noise essentially means that ones thoughts become ruptured by other people's noise. Attention to a television programme, or concentration on reading become fragmented as time goes on. In fact that is the best description one has for the longterm effect of laminate flooring impact noise on the mind - fragmented.
Friday, 2 May 2008
Noise Injury - Ears, Audiology and Hearing Impairment
Craig Mixon, Ed.D, has published a comprehensive chart/poster called The Symptoms & Side Effects of Force-Feeding Noise into the Domestic Environment. Clicking on that link brings you to a pdf file of the document where you can read, download or print the poster. It is disturbing stuff but it clearly illustrates the possible effects of living with noise in the home.
Is the noise from laminate flooring being force fed?
My opinion is yes - because the victim of the noise pollution has no control over the noise. The persons who control the noise are the persons who do not adequately soundproof the flooring and who are intentionally or unintentionally force feeding noise into someone else's domestic environment.
Semantics aside - the real fact is the people are living in their homes and being subjected to impact noise on a daily basis and they are at risk of developing Noise Injury.
As the chart shows, there are many ways in which noise can injure a person - both physically, emotionally and psychologically. In researching this article I realised that I could not properly cover Noise Injury in one entry and decided to break down Noise Injury into a series of articles covering the various topics. It seems logical to begin with the ears, hearing and auditory injury since this is the most obvious and recognisable route into the body that noise takes.
The Handbook of Clinical Audiology describes three changes in hearing due to noise:
Noise Induced Temporary Threshold Shift
Have you ever noticed the way your ear feels or reacts when someone bursts a balloon close to you? You might experience a sense of your ear filling up, temporary reduction in hearing others sounds and you may even experience tinnitus/ringing in the ears. This is noise induced temporary threshold shift and it is the way the ear deals with some sounds.
In relation to the impact noise created by laminate flooring, a person may experience NITTS many times in a day over a long period of time. The Handbook of Audiology finds that if the NITTS exceeds 20dB* and/or the exposure is moderate but occurs over an extended period of time then recovery may be delayed.
Noise Induced Permanent Threshold Shift
NIPTS occurs when there is a lack of recovery from NITTS and is a slow and progressive condition. It may take years of repeated exposures before the person is aware of any change in hearing ability - by which time the damage is done and it is too late.
Acoustic Trauma
It is unlikely that laminate flooring noise would result in Acoustic Trauma since the range of noise prevalent in causing acoustic trauma is 2000Hz and 6000Hz and is outside the range of documented sound produced by laminate flooring.
Tinnitus
Tinnitus is best described as ringing in the ears when there is no external sound stimulus. It is associated with noise induced hearing loss.
It is not unreasonable to consider the possibility that long-term exposure to the intermittent impact noise created by laminate flooring could result in damage to hearing.
*DEFRA find that noise levels produced by laminate and hardwood flooring surfaces range between 59 dB and 72 dB
Is the noise from laminate flooring being force fed?
My opinion is yes - because the victim of the noise pollution has no control over the noise. The persons who control the noise are the persons who do not adequately soundproof the flooring and who are intentionally or unintentionally force feeding noise into someone else's domestic environment.
Semantics aside - the real fact is the people are living in their homes and being subjected to impact noise on a daily basis and they are at risk of developing Noise Injury.
As the chart shows, there are many ways in which noise can injure a person - both physically, emotionally and psychologically. In researching this article I realised that I could not properly cover Noise Injury in one entry and decided to break down Noise Injury into a series of articles covering the various topics. It seems logical to begin with the ears, hearing and auditory injury since this is the most obvious and recognisable route into the body that noise takes.
The Handbook of Clinical Audiology describes three changes in hearing due to noise:
- Noise induced temporary threshold shift (NITTS)
- Noise induced permanent threshold shift (NIPTS)
- Acoustic Trauma
Noise Induced Temporary Threshold Shift
Have you ever noticed the way your ear feels or reacts when someone bursts a balloon close to you? You might experience a sense of your ear filling up, temporary reduction in hearing others sounds and you may even experience tinnitus/ringing in the ears. This is noise induced temporary threshold shift and it is the way the ear deals with some sounds.
In relation to the impact noise created by laminate flooring, a person may experience NITTS many times in a day over a long period of time. The Handbook of Audiology finds that if the NITTS exceeds 20dB* and/or the exposure is moderate but occurs over an extended period of time then recovery may be delayed.
Noise Induced Permanent Threshold Shift
NIPTS occurs when there is a lack of recovery from NITTS and is a slow and progressive condition. It may take years of repeated exposures before the person is aware of any change in hearing ability - by which time the damage is done and it is too late.
Acoustic Trauma
It is unlikely that laminate flooring noise would result in Acoustic Trauma since the range of noise prevalent in causing acoustic trauma is 2000Hz and 6000Hz and is outside the range of documented sound produced by laminate flooring.
Tinnitus
Tinnitus is best described as ringing in the ears when there is no external sound stimulus. It is associated with noise induced hearing loss.
It is not unreasonable to consider the possibility that long-term exposure to the intermittent impact noise created by laminate flooring could result in damage to hearing.
*DEFRA find that noise levels produced by laminate and hardwood flooring surfaces range between 59 dB and 72 dB
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Lack of Legislation = Lack of Solution
- Start building a relationship with your neighbour
- Have a quiet word about the problem
- Have a stronger word: explain the impact on your family
- Employ mediation services
- Contact your local authority
- Contact abatement societies
- Take legal action
Above is the suggested trail for resolving a neighbour noise problem as posted by Noise Concern. Unfortunately, lack of any legislation regarding laminate flooring and noise means that any and all of these options could be fruitless.
Options 1-3 involve the owner of the flooring being willing to take responsibility for the noise issue. If the owner of the flooring is not willing to do this, has been led to believe an underlay is adequate, or has actually been told by an Environmental Health Officer that their neighbour "is just experiencing impact noise" - then any and all of the following options may be pointless suggestions.
Mediation Services are, by definition, meant to be impartial and unbiased. If people are not required by law to adequately soundproof laminate flooring, mediation appears to be simply a way for local authorities to wash their hands of the problem. The DEFRA study also noted that “Mediation was the most widely attempted mechanism for dealing with impact noise problems however it had the lowest success rating.”
Since it does not appear that any local authority, nor any law, considers laminate flooring noise to be a nuisance, there is little hope of successful legal action. Research for this blog has thus far not found any examples of a case where a successful resolution to a laminate flooring noise problem was procured through the courts.
Essentially the law supports individuals in adversely affecting the health and lifestyle of neighbours, leaving people who live with this noise problem with no hope of a solution.
Laminate Flooring Underlays
The perception that the installation of an underlay equates to soundproofing is flawed - particularly with legacy flooring that has been in place for several years.
DEFRA suggest that manufacturers of laminate flooring and underlays be investigated for their claims regarding noise reduction - “It should be clear to anyone with a basic understanding of building acoustics that these claims are, at best, misleading, but in most cases quite meaningless.”
Whilst the underlay may show in tests that it reduces noise transmission, this is often only regarding the underlay product by itself and does not illustrate the effects of placing a laminate or other hardwood surface on top.
"Many of the underlays when tested in isolation provide very good levels of impact sound insulation, in some cases twice as much a carpet on its own. However, the addition of the hard floor finish drastically reduces the impact performance."
Given the misleading claims of the underlay manufacturers themselves, it is not surprising that owners of the flooring believe that they are not creating noise because they have used an underlay.
Since there is a lack of legislation surrounding the installation of laminate flooring, there is no requirement for persons to use any underlay at all. The author was informed by an Environmental Health Officer that a person could quite legally install laminate on bare floorboards with no underlay.
DEFRA suggest that manufacturers of laminate flooring and underlays be investigated for their claims regarding noise reduction - “It should be clear to anyone with a basic understanding of building acoustics that these claims are, at best, misleading, but in most cases quite meaningless.”
Whilst the underlay may show in tests that it reduces noise transmission, this is often only regarding the underlay product by itself and does not illustrate the effects of placing a laminate or other hardwood surface on top.
"Many of the underlays when tested in isolation provide very good levels of impact sound insulation, in some cases twice as much a carpet on its own. However, the addition of the hard floor finish drastically reduces the impact performance."
Given the misleading claims of the underlay manufacturers themselves, it is not surprising that owners of the flooring believe that they are not creating noise because they have used an underlay.
Since there is a lack of legislation surrounding the installation of laminate flooring, there is no requirement for persons to use any underlay at all. The author was informed by an Environmental Health Officer that a person could quite legally install laminate on bare floorboards with no underlay.
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