Why Multi Unit Buildings Care About Your Floor
When a townhome or condo unit sits above another living space, footfall noise travels through the structure in a way that a detached home never has to account for. This is why many condominium corporations and some townhome developments in London include flooring requirements directly in their governing documents, specifically targeting hard surface floors like hardwood, laminate, and tile rather than carpet.
These requirements are not arbitrary, they exist because impact noise from footsteps, dropped objects, and furniture movement is one of the most common sources of neighbour complaints in stacked or attached housing. A building that skips this consideration in its bylaws often ends up dealing with disputes between units later, which is exactly what these rules are designed to prevent before they start.
Understanding IIC Ratings Without the Jargon Overload
The rating you will most likely encounter is called an Impact Insulation Class, or IIC, and it measures how well a floor assembly blocks impact noise like footsteps from transferring to the space below. A higher IIC number means better sound blocking, and many condo corporations set a minimum IIC requirement, commonly somewhere in the 50 to 55 range, that any hard surface flooring installation must meet.
The hardwood itself is only part of this equation, since the acoustic underlayment installed underneath the wood typically does the majority of the sound blocking work. This means the specific underlayment product matters just as much as the hardwood you choose, and a beautiful floor installed over the wrong underlayment can still fail to meet your building's requirement even though the visible wood looks identical to one that passes.
What to Actually Check Before You Order Flooring
The first step before any hardwood purchase in a townhome or condo is pulling your building's declaration, bylaws, or renovation guidelines to find the exact IIC or STC requirement, since this number varies from one building to another and is not something to assume. Many corporations also require documentation or a certificate confirming the installed assembly meets that number before final approval is given, so this is worth requesting in writing rather than relying on a verbal confirmation from a contractor.
Once you know the required rating, the acoustic underlayment can be matched to it specifically, since underlayment products are typically tested and rated for a known IIC improvement when paired with a given hardwood thickness and subfloor type. This is a very different conversation than choosing carpet padding for comfort, since here the underlayment is doing a defined acoustic job that your building may formally require proof of.
Where This Catches People Off Guard
The most common issue homeowners run into is choosing their hardwood first and treating the underlayment as an afterthought, only to find out later that their preferred underlayment does not achieve the rating their building requires with that particular wood thickness. Working through the acoustic requirement before finalizing the hardwood selection avoids this entirely, since some combinations of wood thickness and underlayment perform noticeably differently from others.
It is also worth noting that these requirements typically apply specifically to hard surface flooring rather than carpet, since carpet with a standard pad usually exceeds most IIC requirements without any special product. This is simply a difference in how sound moves through different materials, not a reason to rule hardwood out, since the right underlayment can bring a hard surface floor well within range of what most buildings require.
Getting the Paperwork and the Floor Right Together
A hardwood floor in a new build London townhome or condo is very achievable within most sound requirements, it just takes confirming the number your building requires before the underlayment gets chosen rather than after. Getting this sequence right the first time avoids a failed inspection, a rejected renovation application, or having to pull up a freshly installed floor to swap the underlayment underneath it.
Sacwal Flooring Centres works with homeowners across Chatham, ON, London, ON, and Sarnia, ON who are navigating condo and townhome renovation approvals, and we can help match an acoustic underlayment to your building's specific requirement before your hardwood order is finalized.
If you are planning a hardwood installation in a townhome or condo and need to meet a building sound requirement, bring us your building's documentation and we will help you plan around it. Visit any of Chatham, ON, London, ON, Sarnia, ON, and Windsor, ON or contact us to talk through your engineered hardwood project across Chatham, ON, London, ON, and Sarnia, ON.
