Room guide 7 min read

Best Flooring for Flats and Apartments

Part E figures, the lease, and why the underlay decides: how to choose a hard floor for a flat without the neighbour below hearing every step.

Guide type

Room guide

Reading time

7 min

Airborne minimum, Part E

45 dB

Impact sound, EPLF minimum

14 dB

In a flat the floor is shared. Every step, chair leg and dropped key travels through the structure to the ceiling below, and a hard covering carries that sound further than the carpet it replaces. Choosing a floor for a flat is therefore a sound decision before it is a style decision, and it turns on two things that have nothing to do with colour: what the building already does, and what the underlay adds.

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Two things to settle before the floor is chosen

The lease

Leases of flats commonly carry a covenant about floor coverings, often requiring carpet or the freeholder's consent for a hard floor. Read yours before ordering and, where consent is needed, ask for it in writing. A freeholder who is asked beforehand is a different conversation from one who hears about the floor from the neighbour downstairs.

The Building Regulations

Part E of the Building Regulations covers dwelling-houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes: requirement E1 is sound from other parts of the same building and from adjoining buildings, E2 is internal walls and floors, and E3 is the common internal parts of buildings containing flats. Those requirements describe how the separating floor itself is built. Swapping a carpet for a hard covering is not what the testing regime was written for, but it is exactly what the people below will notice, and it is the reason the underlay matters more in a flat than anywhere else.

What the numbers mean

Approved Document E sets two figures for a separating floor. Airborne sound insulation, written DnT,w + Ctr, is a minimum: the higher, the less of the television downstairs you hear. Impact sound insulation, written L'nT,w, is a maximum: the lower, the less of your footsteps they hear. For purpose-built flats the floor must reach 45 dB airborne and stay at or below 62 dB impact; for flats formed by a material change of use, a converted house for instance, the figures are 43 dB and 64 dB.

L'nT,w is the weighted standardised impact sound pressure level. It condenses a measurement across the frequency bands into one number using the rating method of EN ISO 717-2, and it is measured in the finished building, not in a laboratory. In a new-build block that measurement is part of the construction: pre-completion testing on site, or a design detail approved by Robust Details Ltd in place of the test. Either way, the floor was tested with whatever covering the developer specified. What you lay on top afterwards was not part of that test.

The underlay is the decision

A floor covering can only make the impact sound better or worse than the bare structure, and the amount is measured. The impact sound improvement of a covering is the weighted reduction in impact sound pressure level it achieves over a bare reference floor, calculated from laboratory measurements made to ISO 10140-3 and rated to ISO 717-2. So a figure on a datasheet is a reduction measured in a laboratory over a standard floor, not a promise about your ceiling. It is useful for comparing two products; it is not a guarantee.

For underlays under laminate, EN 16354 sets the test methods, impact sound among them, and the EPLF's technical bulletin says the ISLam value should be at least 14 dB, tested with the reference floor covering the standard describes. Any higher figure on a datasheet is that manufacturer's own declaration for that product. The practical rule follows from this: ask for the figure, ask which standard it was tested to, and treat it as a comparison between products rather than a number your neighbour will hear.

Rigid-core vinyl

The BML floors in the range are listed with the underlay backing included and are laid floating with a click joint. What you get is the backing on the datasheet, so ask for its impact figure rather than adding a second layer that the fitting guide does not allow.

Laminate

Laminate floats by design, and it needs an underlay with a stated ISLam value. Keep it out of the bathroom: the standard for laminate excludes areas subject to frequent wetting.

Engineered wood

Engineered oak floated over an acoustic underlay carries the underlay's figure; glued down it does not, because there is no underlay layer. In a flat, floating is the usual answer unless the fitter specifies a bonded system for another reason.

Porcelain tile

A porcelain tile adds no impact improvement itself; whatever reduction there is comes from the layer beneath it and from the structure. It is also the heaviest of the options per square metre, which is a question for the floor construction as much as for the neighbour.

Room by room in a flat

Hallway

The most footfall and the most grit, and often the room directly over a neighbour's bedroom. A textured rigid vinyl or a matt laminate with a rated underlay.

Living room

The room where the covering is chosen for how it looks. Engineered wood floated on an acoustic underlay keeps the look and the figure.

Kitchen

Open-plan kitchens run into the living room in most modern flats, so the floor is usually one floor. Rigid vinyl listed as waterproof handles the sink end without a change of material.

Bathroom

Vinyl or tile, not laminate. A tiled bathroom in a flat usually sits on the same structure as the rest, so the mat under it is doing the sound work.

Bedroom

Any of the above, and the one room where carpet often stays for the same reason the lease prefers it.

What to ask before ordering

Whether the lease needs consent, and from whom. What the separating floor is made of, because a concrete slab and a timber joist floor in a converted house behave differently under the same covering. The underlay's impact figure and the standard it was tested to. Whether the covering floats, so that the underlay is actually in the build-up. And the total build-up, because doors and thresholds in a flat are the first thing the new floor meets.

Common questions

Can I put wood flooring in a flat?

Usually, with two conditions. The lease may require consent for a hard floor, so read it first. And the floor should be floated over an acoustic underlay with a stated impact figure, because a glued board has no underlay layer and carries footfall straight into the structure.

What does the impact figure on an underlay mean?

It is the reduction in impact sound the covering achieved over a bare reference floor in a laboratory, measured to ISO 10140-3 and rated to ISO 717-2. It compares products; it does not predict what a particular neighbour will hear, because that depends on the structure the floor sits on.

Does a thicker underlay mean a quieter floor?

Not on its own. The figure that is measured is the impact sound reduction, and thickness is not that figure. The EPLF's minimum for an underlay under laminate is an ISLam value of at least 14 dB; a thin dense underlay can reach it and a thick soft one can miss it.

Do the Part E figures apply to a new floor covering?

They apply to the separating floor as it was built and tested. Changing the covering does not change that test, but it changes what is heard, which is why the covering and the underlay are chosen together in a flat. Where the work goes into the floor structure itself, the building control body is the place to ask.

Flats are a larger share of the housing in some of the towns we deliver to than in others, and the age of the block says a lot about the floor beneath the floor. Browse by town and region.

What the published standards say

Each entry is quoted from its source and linked to it. The full set is in the standards reference.

Approved Document E — what it applies to

Part E of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010, which Approved Document E supports, covers dwelling-houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes (E1: sound from other parts of the same building and from adjoining buildings; E2: internal walls and internal floors), the common internal parts of buildings containing flats or rooms for residential purposes (E3), and school buildings (E4). Requirement E2 is expressly disapplied to an internal wall containing a door, to an internal wall separating an en-suite toilet from its bedroom, and to existing walls and floors in a building subject to a material change of use; E3 applies only to corridors, stairwells, hallways and entrance halls giving access to the flat or room.

“Dwelling-houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes shall be designed and constructed in such a way that they provide reasonable resistance to sound from other parts of the same building and from adjoining buildings. Requirement E2 does not apply to—(a) an internal wall which contains a door; (b) an internal wall which separates an ensuite toilet from the associated bedroom; (c) existing walls and floors in a building which is subject to a material change of use.”

Source: The Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 1, Part E - Resistance to the passage of sound (legislation.gov.uk)

Approved Document E — the performance standards

Approved Document E sets minimum airborne sound insulation (DnT,w + Ctr) and maximum impact sound insulation (L'nT,w) values for separating floors and stairs: 45 dB airborne and 62 dB impact for purpose-built dwelling-houses and flats, and 43 dB airborne and 64 dB impact where dwellings are formed by a material change of use. Separating walls must reach 45 dB (purpose built) or 43 dB (material change of use) airborne; no impact value applies to walls.

Purpose built, separating walls, airborne DnT,w + Ctr (minimum)	45 dB
Purpose built, separating floors and stairs, airborne DnT,w + Ctr (minimum)	45 dB
Purpose built, separating floors and stairs, impact L'nT,w (maximum)	62 dB
Material change of use, separating walls, airborne DnT,w + Ctr (minimum)	43 dB
Material change of use, separating floors and stairs, airborne DnT,w + Ctr (minimum)	43 dB
Material change of use, separating floors and stairs, impact L'nT,w (maximum)	64 dB

“Purpose built dwelling-houses and flats Walls 45 - Floors and stairs 45 62 Dwelling-houses and flats formed by material change of use Walls 43 - Floors and stairs 43 64”

Source: Approved Document E - Resistance to the passage of sound, 2003 edition incorporating 2004, 2010, 2013 and 2015 amendments (Table 0.1a)

ISO 717-2 — rating impact sound insulation

EN ISO 717-2 is the rating standard that condenses measured frequency-band impact sound data into a single-number quantity; the quantity used in UK building regulation for a completed floor is the weighted standardised impact sound pressure level, written L'nT,w, in decibels. Measurement is carried out to BS EN ISO 140-7 (since superseded by BS EN ISO 16283-2) and the rating to BS EN ISO 717-2.

Symbol of the weighted standardised impact sound pressure level	L'nT,w dB

“Values in the tables are the maximum permissible weighted standardised impact sound pressure level L'nT,w dB. This is measured in accordance with BS EN ISO 140-7 and rated in accordance with BS EN ISO 717-2.”

Source: Building Bulletin 93: Acoustic design of schools - performance standards (February 2015), paragraph 1.4.1

ΔLw — the improvement a covering provides

The impact sound improvement of a floor covering is the weighted reduction in impact sound pressure level that the covering achieves over a bare reference floor. ISO 717-2 defines the single-number quantities for the impact sound reduction of floor coverings and floating floors, calculated from laboratory measurements made in accordance with ISO 10140-3.

Measurement standard (laboratory)	ISO 10140-3
Rating standard (single-number quantity)	ISO 717-2

“defines single-number quantities for the impact sound reduction of floor coverings and floating floors calculated from the results of measurements carried out in accordance with ISO 10140-3; specifies a procedure for evaluating the weighted reduction in impact sound pressure level by floor coverings on lightweight floors”

Source: ISO 717-2:2020 - Acoustics - Rating of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements - Part 2: Impact sound insulation (ISO catalogue)

EN 16354 — how an underlay’s impact sound value is declared

EN 16354 specifies the test methods for the technical characteristics of underlays under laminate floor coverings, impact sound among them, and sets requirements for marking. Neither the standard nor the trade associations publish a typical impact sound figure: the EPLF's technical bulletin says an underlay's ISLam value should be at least 14 dB, tested with the reference floor covering described in EN 16354, and any higher figure on a data sheet is a product-specific declaration by that manufacturer.

Minimum ISLam impact sound value recommended by the EPLF for an underlay under laminate	14 dB

“The test methods are described in EN 16354 'Laminate floor coverings - Underlays - Specifications, requirements and test methods'. The ISLam value of an underlayment for footstep soundproofing should be at least 14 dB. To express the ISLAM value the reference floor covering described in EN16354:2018 (clause 3.5) has to be used for tests.”

Source: EPLF Technical Bulletin - Underlay Materials under Laminate Floor Coverings - Test Standards and Performance Indicators (English edition 12/2022) · second source

Pre-completion sound testing

Pre-completion testing is the term Approved Document E uses for sound insulation testing carried out on site as part of the construction process to demonstrate compliance with Requirement E1. For new-build houses and buildings containing flats the alternative is to use a design detail approved and published by Robust Details Ltd and notify the building control body, in which case the testing regulations do not apply to that part of the building.

“Sound insulation testing to demonstrate compliance with Requirement E1 should be carried out on site as part of the construction process, and in this Approved Document it is referred to as pre-completion testing. The exception is that, in the case of new-build houses and buildings containing flats, Regulations 41 and 20(1) and (5) do not apply to any relevant part of the building where the design embodies a design detail or details from the set approved and published by Robust Details Ltd; a valid notification is given to the building control body; and the actual work complies with the detail or details specified in the notification.”

Source: Approved Document E - Resistance to the passage of sound (2003 edition incorporating 2004, 2010, 2013 and 2015 amendments), paragraphs 1.2 and 0.2

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