How to create the right soundproofing in your apartment.
Noise is one of the factors influencing the choice of a place of residence: when buying an apartment, we are always looking for a quiet place and quiet neighbors. But even if we are lucky, we have to think about sound insulation one way or another: the sounds of highways, construction projects, elevator shafts and loud sounds from neighboring apartments annoy in any case, and the question immediately arises – how to create a comfortable space in your house?
First you need to understand that the sounds reach the apartment in three «channels»: firstly, we perceive airborne noise (voices, crying of children, music from behind the walls, this can also include the noise of a busy highway outside the windows); secondly, percussion noise prevents us from living (stamping, clattering of heels, moving furniture, hammering and the notorious hum of a drill or hammer drill); and thirdly, structural noise, a kind of impact noise, it spreads to all floors through ceilings and load-bearing walls: when you can not only hear, but also feel that repairs are underway five floors higher.
Dry construction technology will be able to protect the inhabitants of an ordinary apartment from all three types of noise using plasterboard and gypsum fiber sheets. These materials allow not only to speed up home repairs, to bring design fantasies to life, to make redevelopment and to zone the space, but also to help in the fight against noise. Few people know that dry construction is also an acoustic ambulance for residents of high-rise buildings. So, let’s consider constructions based on these sheets from the point of view of sound insulation.
Soundproofing in the apartment with plasterboard and gypsum fiber sheet.
From minimal sound protection to complete acoustic comfort
* Almost decoration
A hollow partition with a single-layer cladding, without mineral wool filler, rather solves design problems when it is necessary to zone a room. In addition, the design reduces airborne noise by 15-30 dB. Therefore, you can fence it off, for example, an office in the living room, if the living room is not too noisy. Such partitions are also erected in offices between workplaces..
Soundproofing in an apartment – how to achieve comfort?
* Lightweight and quiet
For more significant sound insulation, Knauf partitions with gypsum plasterboard cladding and mineral wool filler are suitable. An important point is to avoid «acoustic bridges» a damper tape should be glued to the frame guide profile. Such a partition reduces the airborne noise level by 45-50 dB, which means that it is suitable for arranging the same office, library, quiet living room or dining room not far from a noisy kitchen. It is able to get rid of the noise of the refrigerator or air conditioner, the ticking of the clock or the hum of the air in the ventilation pipe..
Sound insulation in the apartment: protection against noise of different spectrum.
* Protection against noise of different spectrum
However, you will get more effective sound insulation if you use gypsum fiber sheet (GVL) as wall cladding and partitions. This material not only lowers the decibels of sound. Its structure and density allows you to cut off noise of all types and different frequency ranges.
It is especially worth considering if the rumble of the elevator, the noise from the garbage chute, the ringing voices of the neighbors’ children and conversations behind the wall are heard in the apartment. In this case, you will need to fill the partitions with mineral wool and make a sheathing from gypsum fiber board. Such a wall or partition with a cladding in one layer reduces the noise level to 54 dB.
Like «sandwich» suitable for separating the entrance hall from the private part of the apartment, the bedroom from the living room, the living room from the nursery, fence off utility rooms or bathrooms, or sheathe walls adjacent to the staircase.
Soundproofing in an apartment – how to achieve comfort?
* Double protection
If there are noisy neighbors, active children behind the wall – make a double cladding on a steel frame made of gypsum fiber board filled with mineral wool. Tested to reduce airborne noise by up to 58 dB and handle all frequencies in the audio range..
Partitions of this type are good for cozy bedrooms in apartments located in noisy places near motorways or railways, or in the vicinity of an elevator shaft, technical rooms, shops or offices. With the help of such a partition, you can also distinguish between a noisy kitchen and a bedroom, a nursery, removing all annoying factors, since there will be a long-awaited silence in the room.
For maximum sound insulation (up to 60 dB), the partition, and in fact the wall, is made on a spaced steel frame with double sheathing of gypsum fiber sheets on both sides and a double layer of mineral wool inside. The output is a wall with a thickness of 15.5 to 25.5 centimeters. It is ideal, first of all, for a children’s room and bedroom (extraneous noises will not disturb even the smallest child’s sensitive sleep). Such walls are good for multi-room, communal apartments, dormitories – behind them, the inhabitants of the rooms will feel much calmer. In terms of sound insulation, these partitions are superior to walls made of bricks and foam blocks.
Shockproof shell when organizing competent sound insulation in an apartment.
* Shockproof shell
Having overcome the noise behind the walls, don’t stop. Overlapping, or rather, neighbors from below and above, are powerful sources of irritation for many. It is possible to remove sound from below using a floor system based on a dry prefabricated screed with a layer of gypsum plasterboard sheets, this German technology has been used for 10 years by Russian builders, who call it «super floor». It protects not only against airborne noise (up to 56 dB), but also against shock (and with maximum efficiency – up to 60 dB).
After wall cladding «around the perimeter», installation of the correct partitions and a sound-absorbing floor will only have to install reliable double-glazed windows – and the soundproofing work will be completely completed. And the resulting walls and floors, thanks to the exceptionally flat surfaces, will be an excellent basis for absolutely any finish. It is also a contribution to the new quality of typical housing: spending money once, you can get a real oasis of peace in a modern apartment, with a unique sound climate and possibilities. The owners will be able to maintain the comfort of the household and fill the house «by their» sounds without disturbing any of the neighbors. Or, on the contrary, to achieve real healing and solemn silence, which all residents of high-rise buildings dream of.
Written by Anna Levina.
