The walls, ceilings and partitions in residential high-rise buildings of the Soviet and modern buildings, unfortunately, are often too thin. Therefore, it so happens that the owners of apartments in such houses are sometimes hindered by neighbors. In order not to hear other people's conversations, loud music or, for example, the stomp from the top floor, the walling in your home should be soundproofed. You can do this yourself if you wish.
How should sound insulation of walls in an apartment be performed? Reviews about modern technologies for protecting homes from extraneous sounds, as well as materials used for this purpose on the Internet, are mostly good. But of course, sound insulation of apartments, including with their own hands, should be performed correctly.
What materials are best suited
There are only two types of noise that prevent apartment owners in high-rise buildings from resting:
In this case, for example, loud music and conversations coming from neighboring apartments can be attributed to the first type. Vibration noises - it is a loud tramp from above, blows to building envelopes, etc. Depending on the types of annoying sounds, you should choose protective material for your home.
What is best suited for soundproofing the walls of apartments? Reviews on modern materials of this variety of almost all varieties on the Web are mostly good. But most often, to protect apartments from noise, their owners still use:
Mineral wool reviews from apartment owners
It is such material that is considered the best for soundproofing walls in an apartment. Reviews of mineral wool from property owners in this regard earned just excellent. It is with its use that today most often they perform soundproofing of walls in an apartment. Consumers have a good opinion of this material primarily because it is capable of trapping up to 95% of noise types. In particular, it protects such a room insulator from their shock variety. But airborne noise can also hold mineral wool well.
The sound insulation characteristics of basalt slabs are explained primarily by the fact that they consist of long fibers that can absorb vibrations. In addition, this type of soundproofing is also very inexpensive.
Reviews about Isoplat
The use of such plates is another excellent way to perform high-quality sound insulation of apartments. Reviews about the modern material of this variety on the Web are also mostly positive. Internet users, like mineral wool, praise Isoplat, primarily for its versatility. You can use such an insulator to protect the premises from both shock and airborne noise.
This modern material is based on wood fibers. In addition to universality, the advantages of Isoplat are environmental safety, ease of installation, and long service life. Some of the disadvantages of this type of insulator, according to property owners, are the high cost and the fact that it can sometimes be difficult to find on sale.
Soundproofing apartments: reviews on modern materials of other varieties
Polyurethane foam in residential premises is usually used only to protect against vibration sounds. This material is also considered one of the best for soundproofing walls in apartments. Responses from apartment owners in this regard have earned very good polyurethane foam in this regard. Beats this material, as noted by netizens on specialized forums, can jam well enough. To protect against airborne noise, such stoves, like any other foamed ones, are not recommended. The sense of polyurethane foam in this case, most likely, will not be too much.
Experienced apartment owners are also advised to use cork and penoplex to protect their homes from shocking extraneous sounds. It is believed that with the use of these materials it is possible to make a sufficiently high-quality soundproofing of the walls of the apartment. Reviews cork and penoplex earned from property owners are not bad, including for the relative ease of installation.
To protect the premises from sounds transmitted through the air, in addition to mineral wool, owners of apartments and houses recommend the use of special soundproof membranes. Such material is usually included in the “pie” of the walls when they are insulated or sheathed with gypsum board, fiberboard, etc.
Can GKL be used?
In some cases, drywall can also be used to protect rooms from extraneous sounds. As the soundproofing of the walls in the apartment, this material reviews from property owners, however, has earned not particularly good. The thickness of the sheets of this variety are usually not too large. Accordingly, they can hardly delay the noise. However, it is still worthwhile to use GCR for soundproofing walls only as a sheathing material in a complex, for example, with mineral wool, membranes or polystyrene foam.
Core technology
How is the sound insulation of the walls in the apartment from the neighbors? Reviews from consumers have earned good many materials designed for this purpose. But of course, choosing the most suitable insulator to protect your home from extraneous sounds is not enough. In order for the sound insulation to turn out to be of high quality, it must, among other things, also be correctly made.
There are several techniques to protect premises in a high-rise building from extraneous sounds. But in most cases, the walls in such houses are soundproofed using one of the following technologies:
Sometimes in apartments, in addition to walls, floors can also be soundproofed. To protect the bottom floor in this case, it is recommended to use floating technology. It is impossible to fasten sound insulators of walls and floors. Otherwise, the selected materials will not effectively protect the room.
Before performing the sound insulation procedure, the enclosing structures in the apartment should be carefully prepared. At the same time, wallpaper is removed from the walls and ceiling in the rooms, the paint is scraped off, and so on. In the building envelope, all small cracks and gaps are closed. Also, before performing basic work, sockets are soundproofed. To do this, they are first dismantled. Then the nests are filled with soundproof fireproof material. Next, the sockets are installed in place.
Soundproofing apartments: features
Real estate owners praise the frame method of soundproofing apartments primarily for ease of execution and low cost. In this case, the frame profiles are pre-mounted on the walls. Further between them the soundproofing material itself is installed. The undoubted advantages of this technique are the owners of apartments as the reliability of finished structures, and their long service life.
The owners of apartments also consider, first of all, ease of implementation as a plus for gluing sound insulators. For example, on the Web, among other things, there are good reviews about cork sound insulation of walls in the apartment. Even such expensive enough material can be glued on the walls and simply with their own hands. In addition to cork, by this method, in apartments, for example, polystyrene foam, polystyrene and other similar materials are also often installed. Real estate owners consider the need for strict observance of all the rules for installing the insulator to be a certain disadvantage of this technology. In case of violation of technology in this case, the coating in the future from the walls can simply move away.
The main disadvantage of such protection as floating floors, apartment owners consider the complexity of their installation. You can install such a coating yourself if you wish. However, the installation of floating floors has some of its nuances, which the owner of the apartment, who decided to use this method of sound insulation, should be aware of. The real advantage of this type of coating is that landlords consider it highly effective in absorbing sounds.
Soundproofing the walls of the apartment: frame technology
Using this technique, walls, ceilings or floors can be insulated. According to apartment owners, this technology is easiest to apply for fairly soft materials. Sound insulation of rooms using a wireframe technique is usually carried out as follows:
on prepared walls marking under the profile of the frame, using the building level;
the profiles themselves from the side of the wall, so that noise can not be transmitted through them later, is glued with special insulating tapes;
the profile is screwed to the walls according to the marking with screws;
fibrous insulation material is inserted between the profiles.
The step between the profiles during their installation is made so that it is less than the width of the insulator by 2-3 cm. In this case, the slabs will stand in the frame in the future completely. Additionally, fixing fiber insulators to the wall is usually not required. After the mineral wool is mounted in the frame, the walls are sheathed with drywall, fiberboard or MDF.
Walling of building envelopes
Thus, it is also possible to produce sufficiently high-quality soundproofing of the walls of the apartment. This technology received good reviews from those apartment owners who decided to use foam materials to protect against extraneous sounds. In this case, the walls, floor or ceiling are also carefully prepared beforehand. Further, the insulating material itself is glued to them. For fastening such plates to building envelopes, special dry mixes are used. Such adhesives are usually pre-diluted with water in a consistency recommended by the manufacturer. Then apply pointwise on the plate.
At the next stage, the sheets are pressed tightly against the wall, held for a while and released. Additionally, foam insulator boards can be attached to enclosing structures, for example, on plastic wall plugs, fungi. In most cases, 6 pieces are used per sheet of such elements.
Reviews frameless wall insulation in the apartment from web users has earned good. However, such protection can only be effective if the sheets of foamed materials on the building envelope are staggered. In any case, in one place, the four corners of such sheets should not converge. As soon as the glue under the insulator plates dries, using this technique, they usually begin to plaster the walls. Previously, the seams between the foamed sheets are glued with a paint net using putty. Then the walls are primed, and then proceed to the actual plastering.
Floating floors technology: milestones
Judging by the reviews, sound insulation of walls in the apartment with foam, mineral wool, cork, etc. can be quite effective. But sometimes in a house you have, among other things, to isolate from extraneous sounds and floors. In this case, apartment owners usually use the so-called "floating" technology. Since this technique is used by property owners in addition to soundproofing walls quite often, we will also consider its nuances below in the article.
In the execution of this technology, according to property owners, can be considered quite complex. For installation in apartments of floating floors, their owners usually hire specialists. But if you wish, such a soundproof coating, of course, you can try to do it yourself.
They install floating floors in apartments, usually in several stages:
Floating floor mounting technology
Collect such sound insulation in several stages:
a layer of backfill (for example, expanded clay) is applied to the concrete coating;
glue the walls of the room below with strips of fibrous sound insulator (around the entire perimeter);
placed on top of the backfill plate soundproofing with an offset in the rows (without the use of glue);
stack the second layer of plates so that they overlap the seams of the bottom;
concrete slabs are poured on top of the slabs in such a way that in no case does it touch directly the wall material;
after the concrete has hardened, the laminate substrate is laid on top of the screed.
At the final stage, using this technology, the actual finishing material itself is mounted according to the standard method.
The sound insulation layer laid in this way will not be in hard contact with the enclosing structures - walls and floor. As a result, it will turn out to be floating. That is, it will be easy, quick and effective to dampen any shock vibrations.
Instead of a conclusion
Most of the modern materials for soundproofing walls in an apartment, reviews from consumers, therefore, have earned good both for work efficiency and for ease of installation. However, sheathe enclosing structures in homes using polystyrene foam, mineral wool, etc., must be followed with the exact observance of all the required technologies. Otherwise, such a sound insulation will not work. Accordingly, the money spent on protecting the apartment from extraneous sounds will simply be thrown away.