Here at MP Global we take pride in our products and we listen to feedback from our customers closely. A customer wrote this article based on an experience they had with our QuietWalk Luxury Vinyl Underlayment. We noticed their article and reached out to them asking if we could feature it on our blog page. This is the experience you can expect to have with our products.

Removing the old carpet

As a self-proclaimed handyman, I’m often called upon by many family members to help them “get started” on their do-it-yourself projects.  The latest was my sister’s basement flooring.  When she asked me to help her husband install some of the new vinyl plank flooring, I said “No problem, I’ve done it before”.  Little did I know what lay below her ragged carpet.

We cut the old carpet into sections and pulled it out of the house, then started in on removing the carpet pad . . . not so easy.  The old pad was glued to the concrete around the room perimeter and at the seams. Remnants of the pad stayed stuck to the floor, so we sharpened up our scrapers and removed what we could. In addition, the tack strip around the perimeter also had to go. There were nails holding them to the concrete. As we pried them up, chips and chunks of the cement came up with them

Uneven subfloor

What we thought would be a nice, smooth concrete subfloor, was now a rough surface that would surely telegraph through to the face of the flooring. The vinyl planks had a thin pre-attached backing, but it wasn’t enough to absorb the protrusions and dips on the floor.

Rough Subfloor

QuietWalk underlayment for luxury vinyl floors

We elected to purchase an underlayment called “QuietWalk LV” at the local Menards store.  I’ve used that well-known brand of underlayment with laminate floors in the past, but this one was specifically branded with an “LV” for Luxury Vinyl floors. We rolled the underlayment out with the vapor barrier facing up, and joined the seams with the built-in lip and tape system. Immediately I sensed that the fibrous pad would do a good job of covering up the imperfections of the subfloor, and the attached vapor barrier could also protect the flooring from any of the leftover nasty adhesives from the old carpet pad.

Rough Subfloor

Conclusion

The results were great! The QuietWalk LV underlayment allowed the vinyl planks to lay flat with no hint of the rough subfloor we had covered up, and the cost was much more reasonable than renting equipment to smooth the surface. It made for happy customers.

 

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  • There it was Labor Day weekend 2018 and I laid awake at 3 a.m. exhausted and awake in my friend’s downstairs apartment unit.  I was visiting a friend in Chicago for the long last holiday weekend of the summer as I was helping her adjust in her new living space there. Of course, as we have all done at some point in time, I crashed on the couch for the weekend for my make-shift bed.  I suppose some of my lack of rest was being on the rickety couch at 3 a.m. but what really had me stirring was the baby crying in the unit above. Rushing parental footsteps to the nursery and the sound of the chair rocking back and forth that seemed to last over an hour.  I could hear voices but could not make out the conversation. As much as I tried to ignore it, the more in tuned to the upstairs activity I became, leaving the long fun visiting weekend without much quality rest.

    The apartment building was older, no doubt, but it is because of those old buildings and their lack of sound control emphasis in the 1950’-1960’s that developed more mainstream standards for sound deadening for wood floors in multi-family structures today.  There was not much structural insulation between the ceiling in my living room unit where I was resting to the floor of the nursery above.    A sound deadening underlayment for the wood floors above would have definitely helped the pitfalls of the older construction home.

    Sound Suppression

    There are two main class types of sound that are primarily considered and tested for in today’s residential market.  Impact Isolation Class (IIC) and Sound Transmission Class(STC).  IIC measures noise created by collisions with the floor, such as walking, jumping, etc.  STC measures ambient airborne sounds, such as talking, electronics, etc.  When installing new wood or hard surfaced flooring, investing in quality acoustical grade underlayment will help against unwanted noise from levels above and below.  Underlayments like QuietWalk Plus help with the sound deadening for wood floors.  The higher the test number for either class of sound, the more the underlayment and structure contributes to overall noise reduction to the floor.  QuietWalk Plus has some of the better industry tested sound numbers with an IIC 71 and STC 66.  In many cases when comparing underlayments side-by-side, a 2-point increase in the sound numbers can be quite a lot in translation of how much sound has traveled to the room below.

    Density

    There are many underlayments on the market that tout acoustical suppression.   Materials the underlayment is made from is an important consideration.   Moreover, the thickness and density of that underlayment composition can be a determining factor of sound abatement of a good underlayment as well.  In order to understand both and how they correlate together, it’s worth defining  each.  Density is the amount of material “stuffed” into a given thickness.  Density is measured in pounds per cubic foot.  It measures the relationship between weight and volume of an item.  The denser the underlayment, the more supportive it is to the joints of the wood and laminate floor planks and better it will be at controlling sound from traveling to other rooms, especially below.

    There are a variety of acclaimed sound dampening compositions on the underlayment market, many rely on the heavily built up structure of the floor-to-ceiling assembly to improve sound numbers.  Polyfoams and other crosslink blends of polyfoams are quite popular for economics and do help to contribute some noise reduction but do a basic to marginal job for noise reduction at best by themselves.  Many of these foam based underlayments are under 3 mm thickness  with a density equal to or less than 5lbs per cubic foot.  Compare that to the density of a different composition made from recycled fibers in QuietWalk Plus at 11.52lbs per cubic foot – double that of top end foams –  and it becomes apparent that the product material has a lot to do how it controls and dampens sound in wood floors.  Choosing dense, supportive underlayments will deaden sound from traveling to other rooms and help the wood floor perform better.

    Conclusion

    Hearing your neighbors at 3 a.m. in the morning is not a desirable trait to multi-family residential living but having beautiful refinished wood floors in the unit can be.  Ensuring that having a quality sound deadening underlayment for wood floors is the difference of good neighbors and unrestful night’s sleep.

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  • The answer to what kind of underlayment for vinyl plank flooring really depends on what benefit you want to achieve for your space. Do you want good sound absorption, moisture protection and a great insulation value to keep your feet warm? In this article, we will discuss why QuietWalk Luxury Vinyl underlayment offers all three and is our top choice for underlayment for vinyl plank flooring.

    What are your goals for underlayment for vinyl plank flooring?

    Sound Absorption

    Having an underlayment that is built/designed to absorb the sound is critical for home-owners and condo associations since they don’t want to disturb their neighbors. The fibers in the QuietWalk luxury vinyl underlayment is bonded together (patented process) in a way to help absorb the sound waves from traveling through. With a Delta IIC score of 28, we are the only underlayment manufacturer to achieve that score. If you want to know what Delta IIC represents, you can view this article here.

    Moisture Protection

    Installing luxury vinyl plank directly on concrete can cause detrimental effects on your new investment. The reason why is concrete can emit moisture in lbs. over a certain amount of time or help push the chemicals through and attack your new flooring. There is chemicals present (added during the hardening of the concrete) no matter how many years have passed. Most flooring manufacturers in the installation instructions stat to install a 6-mil vapor barrier underneath your new flooring. This is the bare minimum to install, which our MoistureBlock is the 6-mil vapor barrier they are talking about.

    6 Mil Vapor Barrier

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    The QuietWalk luxury vinyl underlayment has a built in vapor barrier that blocks the moisture and chemicals from attacking your floor. The other benefit is our recycled fibers has the built in exclusive dri-wick technology. This feature absorbs the moisture and allows it to evaporate on the sides. This insures the moisture doesn’t get blocked underneath and allows the floor to breathe.

    QuietWalk fibers and dri-wick technology

    Insulation Value

    Another benefit of our underlayment is the fibers provide R-Value of 0.34 which is above average for underlayments. This will limit the coldness from concrete and make you more comfortable underfoot.

    Our Conclusion:

    QuietWalk Luxury Vinyl Underlayment – Designed and Built for Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

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    If you want the extra benefits such as noise reduction/sound absorption, moisture protection and insulating value for your floor, we recommend the QuietWalk luxury vinyl underlayment.

    Minimum: Install a 6-mil Vapor Barrier

    At minimum, you are going to want to install a 6-mil vapor barrier underneath your luxury vinyl plank. This will stop all moisture from reaching your floor and causing havoc.

    6 Mil Vapor Barrier

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