The laminate floors in houses that I have seen are also easily heard. Walking on them or dropping something on them makes a lot of noise. Are there types of laminate floors that are as quiet as old fashioned (real) wooden floors?
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The laminate floors in houses that I have seen are also easily heard. Walking on them or dropping something on them makes a lot of noise. Are there types of laminate floors that are as quiet as old fashioned (real) wooden floors?
Cork tile or planks. Pricey but quiet and - I think - very very nice. Otherwise NO.
Sam
In today's market there are a variety of floors and/or underlays that quiet things down. Just finished shopping for floor. 10 - 12mm with a backing is pretty quiet. If that's not enough, there are additional backings. check the specific floor you have in mind as too much extra stuff underneath can void the warranty. they had a nice little demo rig at a Floor and Decor (sp?) with golf balls on strings that you could lift up and bounce off the different floor types; very revealing.
The premium underlayments help, but keep in mind the surface is essentially formica, so you will always have contact noise and the floor reflects sound very well so you can get echo effects if there isn't anything else in the room that absorbs sound or limits reflection. If you want a quieter floor and also want the ease of floating click-lock installation, look at engineered wood designed for floating installation and put it over 1/4" cork underlayment. But as Glenn said, there are many options today so shop around at good flooring specialty shops.
I had real 3/4" oak strip flooring in my previous house. I don't know about noise, but dropping anything real heavy would dent it. I would prefer noise over dents.
My present house has particle board on top of plywood so I could not do nail down flooring. I ended up with carpet.