Acoustic Carpet Underlay

Acoustic Underlay FAQs

What is the best carpet underlay for noise reduction?

If you’re looking for a sound-deadening carpet underlay to help reduce the noise of footsteps on floors or stairs, the best underlay for soundproofing insulation will have a decibel rating of at least 40dB. On average, human footsteps range from 35dB to 45dB, depending on the person’s footwear, speed, and weight.

Our collection of noise reduction underlay for carpets includes foam and sponge rubber options in various thicknesses, which all have decibel ratings of 36–40dB.

Among these products, there are several that we would recommend as the best acoustic underlays for sound reduction, including Wilsons Plushwalk 12mm, SU LuxWalk 11mm, and Tredaire Colours Red 11.4mm. 

Click through to read more about the best soundproof underlay for carpet in our blog, or if you would like more recommendations from our team, get in touch!

How does acoustic underlay work?

While you can opt for a sound-absorbing carpet material, even a thick carpet won’t provide enough insulation on its own to dampen the sound of people or pets moving across the floor. A sound-insulating carpet underlay provides the extra layer needed underneath the carpet to absorb the impact noise of footsteps.

This cushioning layer between the subfloor and flooring acts as a buffer to reduce noise transmission, preventing sound waves from travelling through the floor and reducing sound waves that scatter through the air from impacts to the floor.

Foam underlay achieves this with an open-cell structure that absorbs sound energy and converts it to heat, which also provides thermal insulation, while sponge rubber underlay follows a similar process, but with a denser closed-cell structure.

Generally, the thicker the underlay, the greater the level of sound reduction. Our products range from 8.3mm to 12mm thick, making a 10mm acoustic underlay a happy medium – but Plushwalk 12mm often delivers the best results.

What is the best acoustic underlay for laminate flooring?

We currently only stock acoustic carpet underlay in this collection, which isn’t suitable for use with laminate, vinyl, or engineered wood floors.

However, if you’re searching for an LVT acoustic underlay, our LVT underlay offers sound reduction up to 15dB, while we have several options that offer noise reduction for laminate and wood flooring in our laminate underlay collection.

These include Duralay Timbermate Excel, which offers impact sound reduction up to 23dB, and Duralay Silentfloor Gold and TimberHush Excel, which both reduce impact noise up to 24dB. All of these products can be used as acoustic underlay for wood flooring as well as laminate floors. 

When it comes to acoustic underlay for hardwood floors specifically, it’s recommended to use a rubber underlay, and these are all composed of sponge rubber.

If you have more questions about any of our acoustic underlay products, please contact us, and the Simply Underlay team can offer further advice.