Renovate your home floor with parquet, laminate, vinyl, carpet, or tiles. Still, did you think of the underlay?
Though, the choice of underlay is often overlooked just as essential as that of floor coverings. Choosing a quality underlay enables you to take full advantage of your floor ‘s thermal, sound, and acoustic qualities. By way of contrast, the underlaying can be said to be similar to an automobile tyre, if you have a nice car but it sits on shoddy wheels then you won’t be able to completely enjoy its performance. The same applies to covering the floor and to the underlay.
To help you see more clearly, we’ve put together 14 questions that our buyers often ask in stores and here are our responses.
For what types of coverings can an underlay be applied?
For all coatings, underlaying may be used: solid parquet, engineered parquet, laminate, roll vinyl, strip vinyl, carpet and tiles. In some cases, also compulsory (DTU, co-ownership regulations) is necessary. In other cases it is optional but highly recommended, as choosing to instal an underlay improves the acoustic, phonic and thermal properties of the floor.
What is the point of the underlay?
There are two main underlay families, first there is the vapour barrier, whose objective is to insulate from moisture the future floor covering. It is mandatory when laying floating parquet or laminate flooring.
The second sub-layer family has three aims, sound, acoustically and thermally insulating. For certain cases a levelling compound may also be substituted by removing minor irregularities in the surface.
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What is the difference between sound insulation and acoustic insulation?
The purpose of sound insulation is to prevent the noise from spreading to the rooms below. It’s a quality that we search for when there’s a living space below the room we ‘re in. If you are renovating a bedroom floor and another bedroom is situated below, it is highly recommended in this case to use an underlay with strong phonic qualities to attenuate the optimum noise diffusion against the space below.
And if you live in an apartment and have neighbours downstairs, read carefully the condominium regulations, they often impose sound insulation standards. You may be required , for example, to put an underlay that attenuates noise by 20 dB, “dB” meaning “Decibel,” the sound level measurement unit.
Sound insulation has the purpose of enhancing the acoustics of the space in which the floor covering is built. The footsteps are minimised while walking on a parquet or laminate with an underlay with strong sound insulation, and the room is less noisy, which brings real comfort to life.
When should you install a vapor barrier?
The anti-rising polyane film, also known as a vapour barrier, allows the flooring to be protected from humidity * (* manufactured with appropriate thickness and DTU standards). In case of floating laying of parquet or laminate it is mandatory to position it in place. It can then be covered with an underlay that insulates from noise and cold.
There is no vapour barrier in the case of the glued installation of a parquet, rather an eponal anti-humidity barrier is used, it is a resin that avoids the increasing humidity.
Special Parquet underlays offer many possibilities.
Certain underlayments such as Isol’choc make it possible to limit impact noise.
In which case can the undercoat replace a leveling compound?
The ground has to be completely flat while lying floating parquet or laminate. When irregularities of less than 2 millimetres on a 2-meter ruler are discovered, the use of a 5-millimeter thick undercoat makes it possible to correct them and thus prevent a levelling operation.
Which underlay should you choose for a parquet with a glued installation?
You will choose a cork base or an universal underlay (cork and rubber) for a parquet with a glued mount. Remember that a glued installation offers the best acoustic output to the floor.
Underlays: 1st grade wood fibre, Ecolayer, Universelle (cork and rubber), 2 mm cork, 4 mm cork.
Which underlay should you choose for a parquet or a laminate in floating installation?
The first step is that of placing a polyane. Then it is appropriate to test whether the soil is flat to choose its underlay (acoustic, vibration, and thermal). The Isolene 5 millimetres underlay will be selected in case of anomalies of less than 2 millimetres on a limit of 2 metres.
A leveling compound is important when the irregularities are greater than 2 millimetres. In the case of a completely flat floor you can select the Isolene 2.5 mm underlay, a cork underlay, the universal underlay and eventually, if you want to get the best acoustics (i.e. footsteps as much as possible), you have to choose the Isol’choc sublayer.
Underlays for parquet and laminate in floating installation: Isolene 2.5 mm, Isolene 5 mm, Isolene underfloor heating, Isol’choc and Vapor barrier.
Can I use an underlay with underfloor heating?
Yes, a special heated floor underlay is required. This is perforated to allow the heat diffused by the underfloor heating to pass through.
What underlay should I choose for vinyl flooring?
Use a special vinyl underlay to form a vinyl floor. It can be set free or glued and can isolate cold and noise.
Which underlay should I choose for tiling?
Use a bonded cork underlay with the tiling, or a cork and rubber underlay.
What underlay should I choose for the carpet?
Of carpet, there are two major sublay categories: rubber agglomerated underlays and underlays. Underlays are cellular sublays of natural rubber. The use of underlays produces an air mattress underneath the carpet that provides excellent sound and acoustic qualities as well as unparalleled walking comfort. The combination of underpads and spread laying will further improve comfort.
