Soundproofing my rabbit room floor?

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Dragonrain

Dragonrain

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, New Jersey, USA
Hey,

I live in an apartment and have three rabbits. The rabbits live in their own room, it's small - around 7.5 ft by 9.5 ft roughly measured. The 'room' was listed as a walk in closet on the paperwork we signed when we started renting the apartment, but it's a good size for the rabbits. They have a cage in the room, but also have free range of the room at all times. None of them really spend much time in their cage, they're almost always out in the room.

The flooring in our unit isn't that great. In most of the apartment, including the bunnies room, the floor is just sheets of linoleum laid over plywood. We've never had any of the tenets below us complain about noise, but I have a feeling they can probably hear sounds from us in their apartments. I know when the people below us watch TV or listen to music or argue, we can hear them through the floors.

Since the bunny room is pretty small anyways, I was thinking about maybe trying to soundproof the floor better. But I don't want to spend a ton of money, and I can't alter the floor in anyway that would be perminate. That way the bunnies can run around like maniacs, and I don't have to worry about whether or not the noise they make is annoying the neighbors.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I could put down on the floor? I have a bunch of area rugs in there now, because one of my rabbits completely refuses to walk on the slippery linoleum. I was thinking of buying foam padding, or something like this...
http://stores.ebay.com/kenmissyr
To lay over the linoleum flooring, then I would cover those with the area rugs. Do you think that would do anything to keep sounds down for the people below us? Or have any other suggestions, keeping in mind that I'm on a budget.

Would it even help to insulate just the floor? Because there's nothing I could really do about the walls - and the room doesn't have a door either. It's just an open walkway that I close off with a baby gate. So I know the mats wouldn't keep the bunnies from waking me up at night, but would just covering the floor more keep the neighbors from hearing them??
 
I would love to know this, too! Mostly for when my boy gets annoyed and thumps -_-' I have the EXACT SAME issue with hearing my neighbors... they haven't complained yet, but they're the type who would probably run right to the landlord to get us booted if it becomes too regular, so I'm rushing. Would foam "puzzle pieces" work?? I feel like "thumping" is too powerful to stop with just that, though..... Thoughts?
 
Layering would probably do the best job. Since it's a small area, I would pick up a used piece of carpeting (raid a dumpster behind a flooring store) and then put some 3/8" plywood on top of it. If the rabbits will leave the carpet alone, skip the plywood.
 
When I go to the basement I can hear everything from my apartment, including my hamster rolling around on the floor in her ball! The already mentioned items are a good idea, but you could also look for material used for soundproofing in cars and recording studios. A place that does car audio might have some scraps of soundproofing material, or you might be able to get it cheaply.
 
I was looking online this morning at this foam that apparently is used in sound proofing things like recording studios, but it was kind of pricey. Over $100 for a sheet of it and with the size it was, I think I'd need two sheets to completly cover the whole bunny room floor. I don't really want to spend that much.

But that's what made me think of using those foam puzzle piece mats. I was thinking of laying those down then covering them with the area rugs I already have.

One of my rabbits is a thumper too! He'll thump at every little tiny noise he hears, especially at night.

My rabbits don't chew on the area rugs they have now, but they are low pile area rugs. I don't think I'd want regular rugs because I'd probably be harder to clean...one of my guys doesn't have the best litter box habits. The low pile rugs are pretty easy to clean though, so no matter what I put down on the floor I'll probably just keep using the area rugs as the top layer.


 
I am glad you posted this. I live in a multi level home now and can hear my buns and cats running around. I am moving to an apartment on the second level and am worried about the noise. I swear when Chase runs, she sounds like a herd of cows. I can hear her coming way before she makes it to the basement.
 
Any more ideas?

Does anyone have those foam puzzle pieces? Can you tell me if they seem to cushion the sound at all? I'm still thinking of using those - in one or two layers, then covering them with low pile area rugs.
 
I know some people use them as bunny floors because they're soft and non-porous. Some bunnies chew on them, but that doesn't sound like a concern for you. I don't know about how they are for sound-proofing but I bet they would be good.
 
I got two sets of the foam puzzle piece mats yesterday. I'm hopefully going to put them down today - I'll post again and let you know how they work!
 
I was looking on Kijiji ( a canadian form of craigslist) and someone was asking for egg cartons, so I opend it up and he said it was to sound proof his room. So then I saw this thread, and thought that maybe you could get some, and then put plywood on top (because there are so many pockets.. it wont collapse) and the rugs ontop of that.
:)
 
for most soundproof rooms i find that carpet is the best way to go, or in your case for non-permanent, area rugs. i'm looking for one now. most area rugs are too flat for bunnies to get their teeth in to pull the threads out. iid say to look on kijiji, but kijiji is a canadian e-bay lol
 
Thanks for all the replies - I actually put down the foam puzzle pieces and then put my area rugs on top of them - So you can't see the foam at all anyways, and I have the added layer of the rugs to hopefully help block sound better.

I already had area rugs in the room - and I like the foam puzzle mats because they weren't too expensive. I wasn't looking to spend a ton.

It seems to be working out okay. If nothing else, the floor is a lot softer now which I imagine the bunnies appreciate.
 
i have the foam puzzle pieces ..tons of them..i could prob connect all of them and do my whole 2 car garage floor...toys are us is where we got them...and yes they would prob help with noise...i use them under the tray of my dog crates that i use to house a couple of my buns in...when the buns jump down off of their shelves onto the plastic tray its not so loud...it made a horrible noise cuz i have bamboo flooring so the plastic tray just banged against the floor..not now its a good cushion in between....
heads up they also sell the garage puzzle foam pieces that are wayy bigger pieces at Big Lots .and they are gray in color instead of multi crazy colors..
 
Thanks for the info Lisa. I think I will check out the garage ones at Big Lots. I would think that would be cheaper.
 
Also check hardware stores and Walmart. The mats around here usually cost $14.99 for a set of 4, but can go on sale for $9.99. The industrial ones at Rona cost more, but have 6 mats. If you want boarders, make sure that the ones you but have them as not all do.
 
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