I live at The Arbor at Halley Rise, a new apartment building in Reston.  The management company is Kettler and the builders are Akridge and The Meridian Group.  This is podium construction which means the upper 5 floors are wood-frame and not separated by concrete slab; my understanding is that it is cheaper to build podium construction than to pour concrete between every floor.  Kettler chose NOT to install carpet on the apartment floors because it also is cheaper to turn over an apartment if you don't have to replace the carpet.  Because the WDU apartment on the top (7th) floor was already leased, I foolishly accepted a unit on the 6th floor believing that a newly-constructed apartment building would surely have adequate sound insulation to compensate for the lack of carpet; that was a big mistake.  The materials that comprise the floor above me are 3/4 in. plywood subflooring, 1/2 in. Gyp-Crete (which is required for fire protection not sound insulation), 1/4 in. Acousti-Mat, and then the laminate flooring.

I can attest that 1/4 in. of sound insulation is NOT adequate.  I have a noise diary that I will be happy to share.  The resident above me has a 40-pound dog that they allow to run and jump every day multiple times a day.  No one in the extremely expensive Northern Virginia apartment market should have to play Russian roulette as to what kind of "neighbor" will live above them.  This is NO way to be forced to live.  And it could have been prevented if the builders and Kettler had provided better sound insulation between the floors of the building by either pouring concrete slab between every floor, installing carpet or using thicker Acousti-Mat; Maxxon makes 3/4 in. Acousti-Mat.

Please, please, please change the Virginia Building Code to require adequate/better sound insulation between floors in podium construction.