One of the urgent problems of residents of apartment buildings is insufficient sound insulation. Interfloor ceilings allow you to clearly hear loud music, noise when moving furniture or when objects fall on the floor. Residents are involuntarily forced to listen to the details of family scandals from neighbors, and repair work in adjacent apartments using powerful tools completely destroys the comfort of the home. High-quality soundproofing of the ceiling and walls will help solve this problem so that in the future you do not suffer from noisy neighbors, and the sounds from your apartment will not spread to adjacent rooms.
Most of the noise is transmitted through interfloor ceilings. It is not every day that walls are drilled or something is hammered into them. But they walk on the floor every day, voluntarily or involuntarily lower various objects on it, move furniture. How to soundproof the ceiling and is it possible to do this work without serious financial costs with your own hands? Quite, especially since often the increase in sound insulation is combined with the solution of another problem - ceiling insulation.
What materials are used for soundproofing?
By the nature of their action, all elements to ensure sound insulation of the entire apartment and the ceiling in particular can be divided into two groups:
- Sound reflective materials. As a rule, these are trim elements that have a significant mass.
- Materials that absorb sound due to their porous structure. Due to the high air content, they have a small mass, so fixing them to the ceiling of an apartment with your own hands does not cause any particular difficulties.
Experts advise using a combination of these two materials for soundproofing in order to prevent the appearance of secondary noise due to the rocking of the material by a sound wave. In this design, absorbent materials are inside and are covered with sound-reflecting trim elements. An example of such a layout can serve as well-known sandwich panels.
Do-it-yourself soundproofing on the ceiling of an apartment can be made of the following materials:
- Mineral plates. The main disadvantage is that when using them, the ceiling height of the room will decrease by 15–20 cm.
- Mineral wool. Most often found in the form of rolls. Very light, does not burn, does not shrink, but is afraid of moisture, therefore it requires careful waterproofing.
- The sealing self-adhesive tape will take up a minimum of space, is easy to install with your own hands, and is made from environmentally friendly materials.
- Soundproof panels, made of various types of wood, attract with their noble appearance and environmental friendliness.
- Natural cork allows you to create a unique interior in the room, as it does not require an additional finishing layer.
The market offers a huge selection of soundproofing materials. As already mentioned, many heaters also have noise-absorbing properties. Therefore, from an economic point of view, it is beneficial to combine the process of thermal insulation of an apartment with an increase in its sound insulation.
Types of soundproof structures
To soundproof the ceiling in an apartment, one of three options is mainly used:
- The frame of soundproofing boards is attached directly to the ceiling.
- Soundproofing materials are placed in niches behind sheets of drywall, hemmed to a metal or wooden frame.
- Noise-absorbing elements are placed under the surface of the stretch ceiling.
The first two methods are the most popular, as they are easy to do with your own hands. To install a stretch ceiling, you will have to call a team of specialists.
Fixing the sound insulation layer to the ceiling
In apartments with a low ceiling height, it is undesirable to use a suspension system. It can significantly reduce the size of the room. Therefore, noise-absorbing materials are attached directly to the ceiling plane with glue and construction fungi.
The adhesive is not applied to the entire surface of the slab or panel. Five points are enough: four are located in the corners, and the fifth is in the middle of the element. Building fungi perform an insuring function. But you can do without them, especially when installing sound-absorbing panels that are inserted into each other according to the tongue-and-groove system.
Finishing, if necessary, is carried out after the final drying of the adhesive.
Suspended structures on the ceiling
Drywall sheets or soundproof panels are attached to the ceiling on a specially erected frame made of wooden bars or metal profiles. A layer of sound-absorbing material is placed in the formed niches between the frame elements. It is not difficult to assemble such a structure with your own hands.
- Using the building level, the perimeter of the structure is marked on the walls. Its height depends on the thickness of the sound-absorbing material used and the section of the bars or metal guides used during installation.
A gap of 1 mm must be provided between drywall and soundproofing boards. Soundproofing should be attached tightly, but not wrinkled.
- If necessary, brackets are attached to the ceiling surface for attaching the frame and a special membrane is glued.
- Mounted from bars or profile frame. The distance between the elements of the frame lattice depends on the dimensions of the material used and the finishing coating. A step in the range of 40–60 cm is considered optimal.
If it is planned to use mineral wool slabs as sound insulation, then it makes sense to make the distance between the guides a little narrower than the width of these slabs. This will make it easier to glue the soundproofing to the ceiling: its elements will be inserted into the frame cells with little effort, and they will not need to be supported until the glue dries.
- Sound-absorbing material is glued into the frame cells.
- The finishing layer is attached. When using drywall, the joints are glued with reinforcing tape, the seams are sealed, and finishing is performed. When using decorative panels, these operations are not required.
Stretch ceilings and soundproofing
Soundproofing using stretch ceilings has only one, but very significant, drawback: it is unlikely that it will be possible to completely do all the work with your own hands. For fastening and stretching the canvas, you will need not only specific skills, but also special expensive tools. So the call of a team of specialists cannot be avoided.
The very design of stretch ceilings provides a certain level of noise absorption due to the damping of vibrations by the stretched canvas. Recently, a material has appeared that has increased sound-absorbing properties due to a large number of micro-holes.
Additional sound insulation is placed under the surface of the stretch ceiling.
Noise insulation can be attached both to the ceiling surface and to the frame cells. Finishing is not required, as the stretched canvas will hide everything.
When carrying out soundproofing, one should take into account the possibility of such an unpleasant event as leakage from neighbors from above. Most materials, if exposed to moisture, will lose their properties and require replacement. Therefore, in such premises it is better to use a more expensive, but moisture-resistant material, such as natural cork. It is hardly reasonable to soundproof the ceiling in the kitchen using mineral wool.
It is not always enough to confine oneself only to the reconstruction of the ceiling for good soundproofing of an apartment. If necessary, carry out soundproofing of walls and floors. But doing all the work with high quality with your own hands is quite realistic, and the costs are more than offset by comfortable silence in your apartment.
