Hard surface flooring policy for residential condominiums

Abstract

A majority of the residential condominiums in the USA were originally constructed with wall to wall carpet flooring in the living rooms, bedrooms, and hallways. Removing the carpet and replacing it with various types of hard surface flooring is a recent popular trend. Converting these areas from carpet to hard surface flooring will result in a significant increase in impact sound transmission to the floor below as well as adjacent living units on the same floor. Unfortunately, some condominium homeowner’s associations do not have a written policy for accepting these modifications. Those that do often set the floor acceptance criterion as a field tested FIIC (now called AIIC) rating (typically in the 50 to 55 range), tested after the hard surface flooring is installed. This can result in significant financial impacts to the homeowner installing the flooring if final testing reveals that the floor does not meet the criterion set by the homeowner’s association. This presentation will discuss the complicated issues facing all three parties (homeowner, neighbor, and HOA Board) and presents a recommendation for a written policy that is fair to all.A majority of the residential condominiums in the USA were originally constructed with wall to wall carpet flooring in the living rooms, bedrooms, and hallways. Removing the carpet and replacing it with various types of hard surface flooring is a recent popular trend. Converting these areas from carpet to hard surface flooring will result in a significant increase in impact sound transmission to the floor below as well as adjacent living units on the same floor. Unfortunately, some condominium homeowner’s associations do not have a written policy for accepting these modifications. Those that do often set the floor acceptance criterion as a field tested FIIC (now called AIIC) rating (typically in the 50 to 55 range), tested after the hard surface flooring is installed. This can result in significant financial impacts to the homeowner installing the flooring if final testing reveals that the floor does not meet the criterion set by the homeowner’s association. This presentation will discuss the complicated ...