Polystyrene backing
You can choose this material for noise insulation, it has good characteristics, it eliminates up to 70% of the resulting noise. Polystyrene consists of expanded polystyrene and aluminum foil coated with a thick layer. One of the positive qualities of such a coating is that it does not change under the weight of furniture. But given the long and complicated installation, it also gives it a negative quality and is quite expensive.
The quality of polystyrene is quite dense and strong. Laying it under a hard surface would be ideal. Nowadays, it is used as a substrate on a concrete base and also retains thermal insulation properties.
extruded polystyrene foam
Another name for this material is foam. The thickness of the substrate is 5 mm, strong, durable, does not change its thickness over time, provides vapor barrier, and has low thermal conductivity. It is better to lay it on a perfectly even base, since one of its drawbacks is the inability to hide defects in the rough base.
Extruded polystyrene foam
Duplex underlay
Tuplex has a three-layer sound insulation. It is made of a layer of film and a layer of polyethylene with soft balls located between them. A layer with balls from 2 to 8 mm is designed to provide the required thickness of the substrate. Its advantages are in a constant thickness, it has high-quality vapor barrier, increased strength and low thermal conductivity. The only downside is its high cost.
Substrate Duplex
Floor screed
The most suitable base for laminate flooring is a concrete screed. But such work takes a lot of time, and because of the severity, it is not always possible to install it. Drying takes from two weeks to a month.
The draft base is created under the beam ceiling. The main advantage is that it does not take time to dry. The backfill layer is carefully leveled with slats. This layer is necessary so that the load lies evenly. After that, slabs of chipboard or gypsum are laid. Gypsum fiber boards are glued together and laid in the next layer, shifting, forming locks. Glue is applied to the locks and fastened with screws.
To determine which sound insulation is more suitable for you, you should take into account the main coating, as well as calculate your strengths and capabilities.
PE foam backing
The most common sound insulation made of polyethylene foam. It is sold in rolls from 25 to 50 meters. The thickness of the layer is up to 6 mm, but the most suitable size is 2-3 mm. Rolls are 1 meter wide.
Polyethylene foam substrate (isoflex, isolon) The positive qualities of such a substrate, it well hides all the shortcomings of the draft base, has low thermal conductivity, a large selection of sizes, the most common material, has a low price.
The disadvantages are a small level of sound insulation, the substrate is not installed under the warm floor. Under the weight of the furniture, the coating will begin to compress, which will lead to unevenness on the floor surface, the laminate will begin to break and crack, and if the base is uneven in some places, it will begin to creak. If you still settled on such material, then it should be bought as the thickest.
