Condo Flooring and Sound Rules in Vancouver: The Law and Your Building's Bylaws

Three sets of rules apply to a condo floor

A new floor in a Vancouver condo is covered by BC strata law, by building regulation, and by your building's own bylaws. Of the three, only your building's bylaws can hold a figure for the sound of footsteps. We found none in the strata law or in the code article we read.

The sections below explain each one.

Strata law: the noise rule and the approval rule

BC's Standard Bylaws deal with a floor in two places.

Standard Bylaw 3(1) says an owner, tenant, occupant or visitor must not use a unit in a way that causes unreasonable noise, causes a nuisance to another person, or unreasonably interferes with the rights of other persons to use and enjoy another unit. The bylaw's test is the word "unreasonable", with no sound level attached. It applies to how the unit is used on every day after the floor is installed.

Standard Bylaw 5(1)(g) deals with the installation. It requires the strata's written approval before an owner alters the parts of a unit the strata must insure, and section 9.1 of the Strata Property Regulation names floor coverings among the fixtures covered when the original developer installed them. Replacing an original floor therefore needs approval first.

The Standard Bylaws are the default. Section 120 of the Strata Property Act lets a strata file different bylaws, and the Province of BC's strata page names "changing flooring" as one thing a building's bylaws may require written permission for. Our strata guide covers the request and the approval process.

The BC Building Code article on sound between dwelling units

The provincial building code has one article that sets sound ratings between homes. Article 5.8.1.1 of the BC Building Code 2024 says a dwelling unit must be separated from every other space in a building in which noise may be generated by one of two things.

The first is a separating wall or floor and the construction joined to it which, together, provide an apparent sound transmission class rating of at least 47. The second is a separating wall or floor that provides a sound transmission class rating of at least 50, with the joined construction built to Article 9.11.1.4. The article sets a higher figure, a sound transmission class of at least 55, for construction that separates a dwelling unit from an elevator shaft or a refuse chute.

A sound transmission class is a rating of how much airborne sound a wall or floor blocks. Article 5.8.1.2 says it is determined from laboratory measurements. Airborne sound is sound that starts in the air, such as voices, music and television. The apparent rating also counts the sound that passes around the wall or floor through the construction joined to it, which is why the code accepts a lower number for it.

These ratings are about airborne sound. The subsection that holds the article is headed "Protection from Airborne Noise". The sound of footsteps is a different kind, which the code's notes call impact noise.

What the code says about footsteps, and where the code applies

On footsteps, the code's own explanatory note is plain. Note A-9.11., which explains the sound section for houses and small buildings, says that section "has no requirements for the control of impact noise transmission". It adds that footsteps and other impacts "can cause severe annoyance in multifamily residences". We found no minimum rating for footstep sound in Article 5.8.1.1 either.

The note names the rating used for footstep sound, the impact insulation class, and the two test methods most often used to measure it. One is a laboratory test and the other is a test in a finished building. This page gives no number for that rating, because the law we read sets none.

One more limit matters for readers in Vancouver. The Province of BC's page for the 2024 code states: "BC Codes don't apply in the City of Vancouver which has its own building bylaw." We were unable to open the City's building by-law when we wrote this page, so we state nothing from it. Ask the City which sound requirements apply to building work in your unit.

For a flooring change, the number you have to meet is the one your own building has written down.

What a building's flooring bylaw can require

A requirement for floors inside the units has to be a bylaw. Section 125(1) of the Strata Property Act lets a strata make rules for the use, safety and condition of the common property and common assets, and the Province of BC's strata page says only bylaws can govern the use of strata lots, the Act's name for the units.

Each building writes its own flooring bylaw, so the contents differ. When we read one, we look for five things:

• A rating for footstep sound that the finished floor or the layer under it must reach, and the test the rating must come from.
• A named product, a minimum thickness or a type of material for the layer under the floor.
• Rooms where a hard floor is allowed and rooms where carpet must stay.
• The proof the council accepts: a maker's product sheet, a laboratory test report, or a sound test in the unit after installation.
• An inspection of the layer under the floor before it is covered.

How to get the requirement in writing

Start with the bylaws. Under section 36(3) of the Act the strata must give an owner its bylaws and rules within one week of a request. Read the flooring clause and any renovation form.

Then send the council a written question for each point the bylaw leaves open, and ask for a written reply. Name the product you plan to use and attach its sheet, so the reply is about your floor.

Ask also how earlier flooring requests were decided. Section 35 of the Act requires a strata to keep the minutes of its council meetings, including the results of votes, and section 36 lets an owner inspect them and get copies. Minutes that record an approved floor show what the council has accepted before.

Keep the reply with your approval letter. If a complaint about noise comes later, those two documents show that the floor was installed as the strata required.

What the layer under the floor does, and what to ask about it

The layer between the structural floor and the new flooring is called the underlay. It is the layer a flooring bylaw is concerned with when it sets a requirement for footstep sound. No source we read states how much any product reduces that sound, so treat every figure as a claim by the product's maker and ask for the test report behind it.

The building code's note gives two facts that help you read such a report. The laboratory test and the building test are different methods, so ask which one produced the figure. And both methods measure a whole floor and ceiling together: their titles describe tests on "Floor-Ceiling Assemblies". A figure from a test on one floor structure describes that structure with that product on it.

The note also warns about carpet. It says adding carpet to a floor will always increase the impact rating but will not necessarily reduce low frequency noise. So a floor with a good test figure can still pass the thud of a heavy step.

Ask the flooring supplier these questions, and send the answers to the strata with the product sheets:

• Which test method produced the figure on the product sheet: the laboratory test or the test in a building?
• What was the floor in the test made of, and how does it compare with the floor in my building?
• Was the test done with the flooring I have chosen on top, or with a different one?
• Can I have the full test report, with the name of the laboratory and the date?
• Does the maker's installation guide require anything at the walls or at doorways that the test relied on?

Floor heights, doors and the joins between rooms

A new floor with its underlay can be thicker or thinner than the floor it replaces. We measure the old floor and the new one before ordering, and we check each place where the difference shows.

Doors come first. Interior doors can be trimmed at the bottom if the new floor is higher. The entry door is different: Standard Bylaw 5(1)(d) requires the strata's approval to alter a door that fronts on the common property, so we leave the entry door as it is unless the strata has approved a change. The same item covers a balcony door, which is a door on the exterior.

Next are the fixed things that stand on the floor or just above it: the dishwasher under the counter, the baseboards, the closet door tracks and the toilet. We check that each one still fits and can still be removed after the floor is in.

Where two floors of different heights meet, for example the new floor and existing bathroom tile, we fit a sloped strip across the doorway so there is no edge to trip on. We show you where each strip will go before the floor is ordered.

The concrete under the old floor is checked for flatness once it is exposed. Low areas can be filled with a thin layer of levelling compound, a cement-based mix that is poured and sets flat. Grinding high areas is a different matter. The structural floor is covered by Standard Bylaw 5(1)(a), and section 6.110 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation lists grinding concrete with power tools as a silica process, which under section 6.112 needs a risk assessment by a qualified person first. We fill where we can and ask for approval before any grinding.

Last, we install the underlay and the floor the way the makers' guides say, and we photograph the underlay before it is covered. The photographs go in your file with the strata's written requirement.

Old flooring in an older building

Have the old floor tested before it is lifted. WorkSafeBC's list of building materials that often contained asbestos includes vinyl flooring, and it says a home built before 1990 is likely to contain some asbestos. Section 20.112 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation requires an inspection by a qualified person before renovation work begins.