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Treating Floor in New Construction - Reducing Footfall and Vibration

Looking for some good ideas/solutions to treating my new dedicated music room's floor.  The room will be fairly large at 22w x 29L, built on the main floor of the new house with a basement below.  My current room is in my basement with concrete floors so footfall is never an issue.

I have asked the engineering firm to give me some recommendations on making the floor stronger structure wise; not sure what they will suggest, maybe floor joist on more narrow centers, say 12 inch vs 16.  

Have you tackled this issue?  What about mass loaded vinyl (MLV); would a layer of heavy vinyl between the OSB floor boards and carpet pad help?  Use two layers of OSB flooring and glue them together?  Ideas?

stickman451
paladin's avatar
paladin
211 posts
 
Carpet? Carpet pad? Your're thinking wall to wall carpet right?
I did cork flooring in my basement listening room @ $3.29 PSF from Lumber Liquidators + installation (you can do it yourself in about a day).
I laid a black moisture barrier over the cement floor & then the cork flooring.
1,000 SF cost me around $5K with tax, delivery & moisture pad- Wall to wall carpeting would have cost me around $3K & I would probably be replacing it now.
It's soft, quiet, very durable (25 year warrantee) & wont have to be replaced every 5-7 years.
It's also a "green" product.
BTW - It looks fantastic!
stickman451 OP
529 posts
 
Actually I am considering putting hardwood on the front (speaker end) ten feet of the room and carpet on the remaining 19 ft.

I have considered taking a hard look at cork; what brand/type did you use?  I have read that cork has good sound characteristics but that it is very soft and hence easy to damage.

mitch2
1,911 posts
 
Making floor joists deeper than necessary for the span, and/or shorter, will do more to increase stiffness than adding more joists, although 12 inches oc will not hurt in your listening room since there would be less opportunity for speakers and heavy equipment to not be fully positioned over joists.  Proper lateral bracing is also important.

let us know what your engineer says.

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