Vinyl Plank and noise for upstairs units

[Chris Grenzig]

I have a 16 unit I'm renovating and looking at installing vinyl plank definitely in the downstairs units, but unsure about upstairs units due to noise. I had flooring guy recommend the plank glue down with an acoustic underlay or Clic Plank with an underlay attached to the boards. 

Aesthetically and from a maintenance standpoint, I would prefer one of the vinyl options over carpet, but I just had to deal with noise complaints that had carpet in the upstairs unit already, so I am nervous to spend the money and install either vinyl option and the sound is even louder than with the carpet. When I peeled back the carpet on a different upstairs unit, the padding underneath seemed fairly thin, but I'm no expert. Property is 2 story construction, 1965 built in Jacksonville, FL with plywood subfloors.

Anyone install vinyl in upstairs units and/or have any feedback or advice? 

[Joe Splitrock]

Originally posted by @Chris Grenzig:

Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:

Originally posted by @Chris Grenzig:

I have a 16 unit I'm renovating and looking at installing vinyl plank definitely in the downstairs units, but unsure about upstairs units due to noise. I had flooring guy recommend the plank glue down with an acoustic underlay or Clic Plank with an underlay attached to the boards. 

Aesthetically and from a maintenance standpoint, I would prefer one of the vinyl options over carpet, but I just had to deal with noise complaints that had carpet in the upstairs unit already, so I am nervous to spend the money and install either vinyl option and the sound is even louder than with the carpet. When I peeled back the carpet on a different upstairs unit, the padding underneath seemed fairly thin, but I'm no expert. Property is 2 story construction, 1965 built in Jacksonville, FL with plywood subfloors.

Anyone install vinyl in upstairs units and/or have any feedback or advice? 

 I would stay with carpet. There are several grades of pad you can buy and I would spend the money on the heavier grade. It will absorb the noise better and it results in longer life on the carpet. 

I have seen several posts here in these forums of people who went with vinyl plank and tenants below complain about hearing every step. 

That's what I had heard and would think, but trying to see if anyone has used the acoustic/sound barriers and found any success with that. Even the heavy duty stuff, most likely going to need to replace every 2-4 years whereas plank will probably cost way less going forward on turns. It's also what I see most often on 2nd+ floors on MF, but just seeing what others have experienced hopefully.

 You shouldn't need to replace carpet every 2-4 years. That is not at all my experience, even on C- multifamily I used to own. Granted that property had Berber style carpet. It steam cleaned up great between turns. The hallway in the multifamily was 30+ year old carpet. Where you can run into issues is pet urine.