My dear old mother in Florida has had a lot of hurricane damage to her condo. She is trying to rebuild with durable materials that will survive the next storm. She thinks she would like ceramic tile floors but needs to put a cork underlayment under the tile to stop sound transmision. The question is, will the cork swell if (when?) it gets wet and ruin the floor? Carpet is so easy to tear out and replace maybe it is the better option.
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It's hard to imagine that a resilient material like cork would be good anywhere under tile. Tile wants a rigid base--beefy joists, beefy subfloor, minimal deflection. I'd stick with the carpet.
There's some info missing here. Why does she need to stop sound transmission? And to where? Is she on the second floor of a condo?
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Yes. She is on the 6th floor and has 21 noisy grandchildren.
She told me the cork was a requirement of the condo association but she may have that wrong.