In apartments, noise doesn’t just travel through walls—it also moves through floors. Footsteps, dragged chairs, dropped objects all echo into the flat below. Underlays and rugs can quietly reduce this.
An underlay is a layer placed under flooring or carpets to provide cushioning and sound absorption. In homes with wooden or laminate floors, a good underlay softens step noise and reduces that hollow tap-tap sound.
Even if your floor is tiled or stone, area rugs with thick backings or added rug pads help. They absorb impact and reduce both airborne noise and vibration travelling into the slab.
Place rugs in high-traffic zones: hallways, living rooms, kids’ play areas, near beds and around dining tables where chairs constantly move.
For multi-storey homes, stairs can be particularly noisy. Stair runners—carpet strips running up the middle—can make movement quieter and safer.
These solutions don’t make your home silent, but they create a softer sound environment for you and kinder noise levels for neighbours.