Big project - where to start and what is the best insulation to use between floors?

Kathy N
by Kathy N
We had a flood in our laundry room – which is upstairs – and now need to fix the ceiling downstairs and reinsulate between floors, put in new flooring in the LR and a bathroom (upstairs) and the landing, etc. Where do we start? What is the best insulation to use?
  2 answers
  • 3po3 3po3 on Jan 28, 2012
    My understanding is that insulation is not required between floors, and it won't make much difference in terms of heating and cooling bills. Some insulation may make a difference in sound transfer depending on your flooring. As for where to start, it seems like the ceiling should be a priority -- get rid of the old, wet stuff and get a new ceiling in there. That should be relatively inexpensive, too. After that, I guess I would go in order of necessity. If it's a rarely used bathroom, it can probably wait for a new floor, as long as it is structurally sound now.
  • First off I hope you contacted your insurance company. You should be covered for this type of accident. Before you restore your ceiling you want to do a few things. 1. Install a new overflow pan under the washer, or make the entire laundry room a water proof floor with drain in center. Be sure to place the drain so you can see it and its not covered over by the machines. A small curb about one inch high is all that is needed to keep any future floods from getting out of the room. 2. Make sure everything is dry before putting anything back. If the floor on the lower level was damaged by water and your replacing it. Remove the old damaged floor and allow the sub floor below to dry. 3. No need to do any insulation as Steve said between the floors. What was there did little to lower the sound if any was coming through the floor in the 1st place. 4, Check the wall area if the laundry room was on an outside wall. Water going down this wall can mess with the insulation and require it to be removed and replaced. So start drying things out. Then overflow pan or new tile water proofed floor, then check outside wall for moisture and repair if needed. Then replace the ceiling and paint. Floor on lower level should be last.