Upstairs Condo - Kitchen & Bathroom Floors

I purchased an 2 bd 1100 sq ft condo last year for cash in Sacramento - I love the place though I wish I'd purchased a downstairs unit and had a 3rd bedroom. The one thing I don't love is that there is carpet in the master bathroom and the HOA says that carpet must be replaced with carpet in upstairs units, because of noise downstairs. However, I've been researching cork flooring and think it would be perfect, it is said to reduce noise.

However, I've not been able to locate any info regarding regarding it's noise reduction properties besides simple statements that it reduces noise. I want to some information that I could use to convince my HOA to allow me to replace the carpet in my Master Bathroom with cork flooring.

I've contacted a couple different manufacturers and gotten no replies. Do you all have any suggestions regarding where I can gather information that I can use to make my case to my HOA? I just hate having Carpet in my bathroom!

The guest bathroom/laundry room has vinyl and I want to replace it with cork also.

I also plan to replace and upgrade all the bathroom and kitchen cabinets and counters, because quality is poor on those.

In many ways, cork floors are a good solution to the impact noise control problem. They are relatively inexpensive; squares of cork are available for as little as a dollar per square foot (as of Spring, 2010). Better grades can cost up to five or six dollars a foot, which is no longer inexpensive, but about the same as many other flooring choices. You need to get a cork flooring tile that is thick enough to do the job; 1/2" is a minimum, but 3/4" or 1" is better--at which point it is no longer a very inexpensive floor.


Disadvantages

Cork flooring works reasonably well for impact sound control when it is newly installed, but the floor does not wear particularly well. You may be tempted to improve durability by applying a protective coating like urethane. In doing this you're also reducing the ability of the cork to absorb sound without transmitting it. Cork has an organic open cell structure. This is why it's spongy when you press it, and also why it absorbs sound well. When you put a coating on it like urethane, the liquid, unless the cork is very dense (and therefore very expensive) tends to seep down through the interstices of the cork, both stiffening it and filling the open spaces with what dries to a durable, hard substance. Sellers of cork for sound control purposes will dispute this, but experimental results confirm the lessening of impact sound control. Even wax, which hardens the surface of the cork, reduces its sound-absorbing capabilities, although not as much as urethanes, paints and shellacs.



Read more : http://www.ehow.com/about_6080578_cork-floor-sound-deadener.html

Thank you very much for this information.

Will the cork retain odors from the inevitable splashes and spills (and misses near the toilet) that are common in bathrooms? It's got to be better than carpet in the bathroom.

But didn't you say that you had vinyl in the other (guest) bathroom? So why not in this bathroom?

Tom, not worth the effort, to change the rules you would need agreement with more than half the people in the building as half the people have units above them your chances are "0"
And welcome to the site.

slownsteady said:

Will the cork retain odors from the inevitable splashes and spills (and misses near the toilet) that are common in bathrooms? It's got to be better than carpet in the bathroom.

But didn't you say that you had vinyl in the other (guest) bathroom? So why not in this bathroom?

Click to expand...

I have no idea what its in the guest bathroom and not in mine. I bought the place cash last year the way it is. Stupidity I guess!

I would think that there is a possibility that the previous owner put in the carpet, and not the HOA. If that's true, then you can pull it up.

Another option is to pull it up anyway. You can always replace it later, or when you move, or when there is a complaint.....