“When birds sing outside the window, this is normal. When Patsy Kline is no more. The noise of cars outside the window is already unpleasant. And Chopin's piano concerto in D minor won't make it any easier."
From "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk.
Every resident of a high-rise building is familiar with the problem of noise. We have to put up with neighbors playing music, loud voices behind the wall, children's games, trampling and other annoying sounds. Meanwhile, doctors are sounding the alarm - noise pollution is no less a problem than air poisoning with greenhouse gases and climate change. Constant noise in the apartment negatively affects the quality of sleep, the health of the nervous system, the ability to concentrate and relax. Acoustic comfort in your own home is not a whim. Soundproofing an apartment from neighbors is not a luxury, but a vital necessity and the first thing to take care of when purchasing a home or planning repairs.
Step one. Studying the enemy
In order to reliably protect an apartment from noise with the help of sound insulation, it is necessary to classify the main volume of the sound load. After all, noises are of different nature and also propagate in different ways. This means that different technologies and materials are required for their absorption.
Homeowners in high-rise buildings most often suffer from:
- Airborne noise, that is, conversations of neighbors, barking dogs, music and other sounds propagating in space and penetrating through walls, floors and ceilings without sound insulation;
- Structural noise transmitted through the materials of structures and partitions of buildings is the noise of construction work and repairs from neighbors, the vibration of walls from public transport passing nearby or the movement of an elevator.
- Impact noise, which is a special case of structural noise. Such noise includes stomping, sounds from falling objects or moving furniture, spreading along the ceiling and walls.
The comfortable level of external noise should not exceed 40 dB during the daytime, and 30 dB at night. The maximum level of intermittent noise that can be called tolerable does not exceed 60 dB. To achieve such indicators, experts recommend making soundproofing according to the "room in the room" principle. This technology is able to protect almost all surfaces, and will make friends even with the most active, noisy and "repair-loving" neighbors.
Step two. Choosing materials for soundproofing in the apartment
For soundproofing walls, ceilings and floors in an apartment, materials with an open porous structure are a reliable solution with proven effectiveness. The best option would be a special acoustic mineral wool. The porous structure of mineral wool allows the sound wave to more easily penetrate the material and dissipate in its thickness, quickly losing energy due to friction.
In addition to sound insulation, it also reliably insulates the room, and in the summer heat it protects the room from overheating. This environmentally friendly and fireproof material is of natural origin. Compact and lightweight mineral wool solutions can be installed at any stage of renovation. Soundproofing with mineral wool does not exert excessive load on the supporting structures. If you have certain building skills, laying soundproof materials will take no more than one working day.
To obtain the maximum effect of protection from noisy neighbors, it is recommended to alternate porous soft materials with dense ones. Therefore, an integral part of soundproofing is a drywall construction, which performs several functions at once:
- Dampen vibrations with gypsum fibers, increasing the overall effectiveness of noise protection.
- It can serve as a supporting structure or partition.
- It is decorative in nature, allowing you to decorate the interior of the room in the chosen style.
Step three. We protect ourselves from airborne noise - soundproofing walls
As a rule, internal walls protect the apartment from unnecessary noise: inter-apartment and inter-room. To create a comfortable environment, several options are available:
- Slabs for soundproofing walls in an apartment made of mineral wool ROCKWOOL ACOUSTIC BATTS and ROCKWOOL ACOUSTIC Standard. They are used both for soundproofing in a solid partition in an apartment on a steel frame, and as insulation at a distance from the existing wall (such a solution is called cladding).
- The premium degree of sound insulation with mineral wool is provided by ACOUSTIC BATTS PRO 50 mm thick. The plates have the highest sound absorption class "A", and they are recommended for installation in rooms with increased requirements for acoustics. For example, if there is a noisy public institution behind the wall of the apartment, or the homeowner wants to arrange his own home theater that will not disturb not only neighbors, but also family members who are relaxing in other rooms.
- Plates Acoustic ULTRA-THIN allow you to create soundproofing of a room in an apartment, and at the same time preserve the usable area of the room as much as possible. With a material thickness of only 27 mm, its soundproofing properties are comparable to solutions with a thickness of 55 mm or more. Acoustic ULTRATHIN material is used to create framed soundproof linings with plasterboard or gypsum-fiber materials.
All presented solutions are marked with EcoMaterial 2.0 environmental safety mark of the Absolute category (environmentally friendly material). And this means that sound insulation with ROCKWOOL mineral materials is odorless and does not emit hazardous substances into the surrounding space.
Step four. We think about the neighbors and do the soundproofing of the floor
If you want to create complete soundproofing and protect not only yourself from neighbors, but also neighbors from noise in your apartment, you can make a floating acoustic floor. High-quality soundproofing of the floor in the apartment will allow you to dance until you drop, play sports and arrange toy car races - a neighbor in the apartment on the floor below will not hear a sound. But this is possible only in the case of properly selected soundproof materials and compliance with the technology of their installation. A proven option is ROCKWOOL FLOOR BATTS rigid boards. These are insulating boards that will reduce the level of impact noise to a comfortable 38 dB.
When installing an acoustic floor, it is important to consider the following points:
- When installing a floating floor made of FLOR BATTS boards on a base in the form of a monolithic screed, it is necessary to provide a layer of waterproof material. It will prevent the solution from getting between the plates.
- There should be no rigid connections between the supporting structure of the building and the acoustic floor material. That is why the design is called a floating floor.
- So that vibrations are not transmitted along adjacent structures, the floor covering should not be adjacent to walls and partitions closely. It is worth leaving a gap 1 - 2 cm wide, which is also filled with elastic materials - wood fiber, polyurethane foam, mineral wool.
In addition to noise protection, additional useful features of acoustic floor materials are:
- Leveling the base of the floor, on which it will be convenient to mount the finish coating - laminate or parquet.
- Additional floor insulation due to the low thermal conductivity of mineral wool.
Thus, the installation of floor soundproofing allows you to achieve maximum comfort and coziness in any room and get rid of not only noise, but also cold.
Step five. We protect ourselves from impact noise - we make a room in a room
Soundproofing an apartment from noise of a structural and impact nature is much more complicated than the options already mentioned.This is due to the high speed of sound propagation in denser materials of supporting structures. It is especially difficult to deal with impact noise from upstairs neighbors. The most effective way to get rid of noise from above can be a floating floor installed by the neighbors on the floor above. But often this method is not available.
However, insulating walls and ceilings with acoustic materials can reduce the noise level in an apartment to a comfortable level. For this, modern soundproofing technology "room in a room" is used. It involves the creation of an isolated space indoors using plasterboard structures. It is better to install structures at a distance of 1 cm from the walls and ceiling. In this interval, the impact noise will turn into air noise, which is handled with high efficiency by mineral wool cladding. Such a solution will almost completely protect against annoying external noise.
When creating soundproofing using the "room in a room" technology, attention should be paid to the following points:
- The use of drywall sheets and gypsum fiber significantly reduces the overall noise level. The effect is achieved due to the different density between the materials of the supporting structures, the sound insulation layer and the facing materials.
- A high soundproofing effect will help achieve maximum tightness of the entire structure. The absence of joints and gaps between the materials will significantly increase the level of sound insulation of the partitions being erected.
- To dampen vibrations and increase the soundproofing properties of the structure, a vibration-absorbing foam tape should be used, which will absorb vibrations transmitted from the walls and ceiling to the structure profile. Vibration-resistant dowels are also used to fasten the structure.
Good soundproofing is much easier than it seems. Therefore, it is worth taking care of yourself and loved ones and turning the house into a real calm and quiet family haven.
