The Ocean House: In which we use a Revolutionary New Product!!

Greg and I have spent the last month either in stores, doing online research and ordering of tile, bathroom fixtures, floor coverings, etc. or working at the building to really start the process of building the apartment. We have actually purchased all the tile for the three different bathrooms and the tiles for the kitchen. Finally found carpeting that both of us like and we think complements the overall vibe we are going for in the space. I think renters will be pleased with the results.

As I have mentioned before, we are trying to figure out the best way to sound proof between the first floor of the building and the apartment. After doing a lot of research online, I found that one of the only products that will work well for us is a "revolutionary new product!" Of course it is......Essentially a 1/8" 3-layer foam that one can simply staple to the floor, the product is called Thermoquiet and it has the same sound deadening qualities as homosote.

I ordered 1 roll, enough to do 500 square feet. It arrived in the mail and we were dumbfounded and figured it wouldn't work. We can play catch with the roll it is so light....

and thin....Where the heck do you put the three layers??

There is one layer for sound, its the gray layer that goes against the floor...there is a middle layer that is a fire retardant, and then the blue upper layer, which has an R value of 3.01....not a lot, but enough to help seal the floors, and almost about as much as an inch of pink insulation (3.14) all in an 1/8". All that AND it acts as a vapor barrier.....I was beginning to be a believer.

Greg got excellent advice from their tech when he called before install. One thing this project has taught us is always ask for advice when unsure of something. The tech said that with a 3/4" mortar bed, one can tile right over the foam. We didn't want to put that thick a bed of mortar under the slate, so we decided to put down a layer of 1/4" hardie backer board down and then use a thinner medium bed for the tile. It seems to have worked as the voices below are muffled rather than seemingly right next to us when we are in that first floor space.

So off we went! I didn't get a photo of just the thermoquiet on the floor, but it

What is good about the product for us is that it can go on top of the subfloor and underneath the finish layer, be it carpet, tile, or hardwood. We wanted to keep the first floor ceiling open to the beams, so we knew we would run into some expense soundproofing from above. This product runs just under a $1 a square foot and we'll use it throughout the first floor under the carpeting pad in the living areas and under the porcelain tile in the kitchen!

While Greg was laying out all that, I was sealing the slate tiles and laying them out. I like to seal slate tiles before putting them down because they are so porous that the grout just gets sucked into the tiles and it won't come out. The sealer helps keep the tiles clean when grouting. getting errant grout and haze off the tiles is so much easier. What we have enough of is time, so we can afford to do things this way. If we had to pay someone to do all this, it would be far too expensive. But, we also want the apartment to be worthy of a stay, and what I have learned is beds and bathrooms have to be really good and renters will return again and again.

there were tiles everywhere! We need somewhere around 93 or so for the bathroom floor, more because Greg likes to lay them out on the bias.

Greg spent a few hours making notes and measuring and futzing around with designs for the floor. This is where his training as a pattern maker and designer shine through. He was also able to come over to my slate sealing studio and make piles of like tiles. (HD tiles are notorious for their color differences between tiles, which we like a lot, but which most people don't like at all.)

Then he started laying out. Note the nice wall color...it changes with the light.