Soundproofing Solutions

Soundproofing for Elephant Feet

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Hello there, 
I just moved in to a lovely 22 year old concrete high-rise apartment in Vancouver and was all excited for this until my very first day living there when I realized I could hear every footstep that my neighbor above me makes (and every chair scrape, etc.).  I tried to resolve this in a friendly face-to-face way with her but quickly got nowhere and have since complained to my strata who are dealing with it by writing her letters.  She has vowed to "fight me every step of the way" (pun intended) and that she has good wood floors with underlay and walks in her bare feet so the noises couldn't be coming from her.  She also refuses to put down any area rugs or wear slippers to help deaden the noise.  So this leaves me with very few options.  If the strata does nothing more than write letters and my neighbor continues to ignore them, I am stuck living beneath "elephant feet" for a long while.  I love my apartment otherwise and have no intention of moving from it after just moving in.  So, I am investigating my options for soundproofing my ceiling and found your company's name on a noisy neighbors forum.  I am hoping you can help me by letting me know what options are available to me in this respect?  Please note that I am in no way handy and would have to use drywall contractors, etc. to install any soundproofing in my ceiling.  I am realistic and not looking to obliterate the noise completely, but to dull it so it no longer bothers me would be nice!  I am interested in the best option for this particular problem both in terms of sound control and overall cost/ease of installation.  In addition, ideally I do not want to lose too much of my ceiling height in the process.

Please rescue me from "elephant feet" by pointing me in the right direction!

Many thanks & Regards,
Jane

Jane,

Don't you just hate it when that happens? - You've been invaded by a 'heel-walker'.

You should get the strata to make her reveal what kind of underlayment that was used. Chances are it was one of those cheap, thin foam products that quickly crush out and lose their effectiveness.

If the strata does not have the clot to do anything about it, yo will have to address the problem from below. if you are prepared to use drywall contractors, the product that we would suggest is the GenieClip sound isolator. The clips would be installed on your concrete ceiling so a new layer of decoupled drywall can be put in place. These clips provide transmission loss and impact isolation which is important for this application. The rubber element in the clip effectively isolates the drywall from the structure, making it difficult for the bothersome sound to transfer through.

You can view our installation video for the GenieClip on YouTube.com to get an idea of how they are used. The video shows the clips being installed on a wood stud wall, but the layout pattern and methods are very similar for ceilings - either wood frame or concrete. There are a few measurement details that are different for ceilings, but we can go over that information on the phone - Our toll-free number is 1-888-625-8944.

 Fear not! You can conquer the evil 'elephant feet'

Don Wilkinson
Partner - Wilrep Ltd.
AcoustiGuard^TM