Every person, regardless of his type of activity, needs regular rest. For many people, the main vacation spot is an apartment, which, unfortunately, is not always able to provide an appropriate level of comfort. The reason is simple - in most apartments, the insulation of extraneous sounds is at such a level that there is no question of any rest. Repairs, a party or a child crying - the sounds are heard so clearly, as if they were heard not from your neighbors, but from your own apartment. In such situations, additional sound insulation of the apartment, especially the ceiling and walls, usually saves the day.

Soundproofing in an apartment should be carried out comprehensively, if you ignore at least one small area, extraneous sounds can easily penetrate through it into your home.

Where to start

Any serious work always begins with careful planning. First, you need to decide on the available budget that you are willing to allocate for soundproofing measures. After this, you need to decide what exactly you will work on: the entire room or its separate elements(for example, ceiling and walls).

Soundproofing the floor

It is best to start soundproofing a room from the floor. First, try to find all the holes and cracks that need to be carefully caulked. They are not difficult to find - they are usually located at the joints of the plates. Fill the gaps with soft soundproofing material (for example, mineral wool).

Next comes the installation of timber logs on the floor, the cells of which correspond to the size of the mineral wool slabs. A technical cork gasket is placed under the logs, and mineral wool slabs about 45-50 mm thick are placed in the resulting mesh.

Floor soundproofing diagram

Then chipboard slabs are laid on the created coating and screwed to the joists using self-tapping screws. This is followed by either laying carpet or pouring a concrete screed (do not forget about impregnating the beams with special protective compounds). At this point, the process of soundproofing the floor can be considered almost complete. The gap between the walls and joists is carefully filled with mineral wool and should not be more than 20 mm, otherwise extraneous sounds will be able to penetrate through these holes into your home.

Soundproofing walls in an apartment

The process of soundproofing walls is somewhat similar to soundproofing a floor, but there are still some differences. First of all, you need to get rid of all the defects and irregularities that are present on the work surface. In addition, sockets, cracks, gaps between pipes and ceilings require careful insulation. To work with pipes, you can use an elastic sealant.

Scheme of soundproofing walls using plasterboard and using a Knauf vibration profile

After completing this stage, you can begin the main work. To begin with, a frame made of wooden or metal profiles, to which plasterboard slabs will later be attached. Mineral wool is laid between the plasterboard and the main surface, and a thin layer of soundproofing material is laid under the profiles.

Soundproofing the ceiling in an apartment

High-quality soundproofing of an apartment is not complete without work on the ceiling. Many people believe that in such cases it is best to use a suspended ceiling, but in reality the best result will be achieved tension structure. In this case, fiberglass or mineral wool slabs should be attached to the main ceiling, which will further enhance the effect. On my own suspended ceiling capable of absorbing up to 38 dB.

Ceiling sound insulation diagram

Naturally, in addition to mineral wool, you can use any other sound-absorbing materials, which today are extremely diverse.

1. Isoplat. Material produced in the form of slabs from tree fibers coniferous species. No adhesive or chemical additives are used in its production.
2. Izolon. It is foamed cross-linked polyethylene, that is, the molecules form a single lattice. As a rule, it is produced in the form of rolls, which are used as a backing for wallpaper.
3. Isotex (softboard). The basis of this material is slabs made of soft fiberboard. It belongs to the category of environmentally friendly materials, since only components of natural origin are used in its production. It perfectly absorbs any noise, which allows it to become an excellent material for almost all soundproofing work.
4. Ecowool. The composition of this sound insulator includes about 80% cellulose (waste paper and special additives that improve the quality of the material). Ecowool is not afraid of rodents and fungi, so it is ideal for insulating walls and ceilings.
5. Penotherm. In the manufacture of this material, foamed polypropylene is used, the quality of which is improved through the use of special additives. It has excellent impact sound insulation properties, making it excellent for floor sound insulation.

Read also

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The main mistakes when soundproofing an apartment

Unfortunately, no one is immune from mistakes, and during soundproofing work people can sometimes make very annoying mistakes that nullify all efforts.

Electrical sockets

One of the most likely sources of noise from neighbors entering your apartment may be a regular socket, the installation of which was on the inter-apartment wall. The reason is that some reinforced concrete wall slabs, even at the time of production, included through holes where electrical accessories would be installed.

In such cases, builders simply need to install sockets in two adjacent apartments, while leaving a through channel, which will be the source of extraneous noise.

Here it is recommended to dismantle the electrical outlet and installation box (observing all safety rules, of course). It is likely that during the process you will see the bottom of the wiring box of another outlet. A layer of mineral wool, basalt cardboard or asbestos fabric must be placed in the hole. After this, the hole is carefully sealed cement mortar or plaster putty (remember to leave room for later installation of your electrical outlet). When carrying out this work, it is advisable to seek the help of a professional electrician.

Remember that it is highly not recommended to use polyurethane foam to seal the hole without further plastering it, since this flammable material is not a sound insulator.

Electrical installation boxes

Mounting boxes, which are designed to connect electrical cables, are in most cases located in the central part of the inter-apartment walls under the ceiling. Usually they are hidden under the wallpaper, so they can only be found by “tapping”. In addition, installation boxes are often placed in through holes in the walls, covered with thin plastic covers.

Soundproofing of mounting boxes is carried out using the same technology as electrical outlets. In this case, the help of a specialist electrician will already be prerequisite, since it is highly not recommended to carry out this work yourself.

Heating and water supply system risers

In accordance with building codes, risers of water supply pipelines should be laid through using vibration-insulated sleeves. To do this, you need to install a metal pipe in the ceiling, the diameter of which is larger than that of the riser. The gap between the pipes is filled with non-flammable sound-absorbing material, additionally sealed with a non-hardening sealant.

But in reality, these works are sometimes not carried out - the use of mineral wool or sleeves is simply forgotten. As a result, after several years of operation, gaps form between the floor slab and the riser pipe, which are sources of not only extraneous noise, but also unpleasant odors.

To solve this problem, two methods can be used. If the riser passes through the coating in the sleeve, then you need to carefully seal the gap between the riser and the sleeve using heat-resistant silicone sealant. If the riser passes directly through the ceiling, then next to the pipe the damaged layer of cement mortar should be thoroughly cleaned and removed to the maximum depth, preventing it from entering someone else’s apartment.

After this, the base of the pipe is wrapped in soundproofing material and the damaged area is cemented. Excess sound insulation is removed, after which the joint is sealed with silicone sealant.

Joints between the floor and walls

In those areas where the floor covering is adjacent to the walls, the formation deep cracks, as a rule, is not uncommon. The main reason is poorly executed joints and leveling floor screed low quality. Cracks that appear after a certain period of use become an excellent conductor of sounds from neighboring apartments.

To fix the problem, first of all it is necessary to dismantle all the baseboards around the perimeter of the room. If you can, then use a hammer and chisel to make a seam in the floor (along all walls), the width of which is about 30 mm over the entire depth of the screed. Then this seam must be filled with a cement-sand mixture. As soon as the cement mortar has dried, the joints are treated with non-hardening silicone sealant.

In the event that partial dismantling of the screed is impossible, for example, due to the presence of parquet, the expansion joint is filled with silicone sealant. After this, you need to attach the skirting boards in place.

Joints between wall-to-wall and wall-to-ceiling slabs

In most cases, long-term operation is accompanied by the formation of deformation cracks located between the floors and reinforced concrete slabs. Basically, these cracks are located under the wallpaper, so it is not always possible to notice them in time and determine the source of extraneous noise in the apartment.

First you need to remove the old wallpaper and embroider the joints between concrete panels. The resulting voids are filled with cement mixture or gypsum putty. When the putty dries, all joints are thoroughly coated. acrylic sealant. Excess sealant is removed, and the room is covered with new wallpaper.

Windows

Windows can be a source of penetration into your home not only of traffic noise, but also of the sounds of a music system from a neighboring apartment. Replacing old wooden windows with modern metal-plastic window structures will help eliminate this problem. However, it should be noted that certain noise from indoor sources may become more obvious, which occurs as a result of the lack of masking of these sounds by street noise.

Modern plastic windows quite reliably solve the problem of the penetration of extraneous noise from the street into the apartment

In this case, it is necessary to carry out the following steps:

• Replacing existing 4 mm glass with thicker models, for example, 5 or 6 mm, will help increase the quality of sound insulation of an old window.
• Before installing new glass, the window sash mounting points around the entire perimeter should be thoroughly coated with transparent silicone sealant. Then the glass is pressed tightly into the silicone “roller” formed in the sash. After this, the beads are installed and excess silicone is removed.
• Along the contour of the ledge in each window sash, a rubber seal is attached, which has a cross-section in the shape of the letter “D”. If as a result of this the window becomes harder to open, you need to seek help from a carpenter.

Leveling is not recommended window slopes using sheets of plasterboard, since resonance phenomena formed in air cavities can cause a decrease in the sound insulation of the window. In these cases it is best to use cement-sand plaster, which is ideal for finishing slopes.

Entrance doors

Increased sound insulation front door, unfortunately, cannot always be a reliable guarantee of reducing noise that occurs as a result of the operation of an elevator winch or cabin (since these sounds are propagated through building structures). But, with it, you can easily get rid of many everyday noises, for example, the clicking of heels on the stairs or the noise of closing elevator doors.

To get rid of this problem, entrance group The apartment should be equipped in the form of a vestibule. Inner door can be made decorative, but the external one must be equipped with anti-burglary qualities.

Soundproofing diagram of the entrance door

To ensure higher sound insulation, various cracks and holes that are located in the adjacent areas should be completely eliminated door leaf to the box when the door is closed. To do this, it is necessary that the door frames must have a threshold, as well as a sealing gasket along the entire rebate, for which it is best to use profile rubber seals.

In most cases, the installation gap between the doorway and the door frame is filled polyurethane foam, which in no way prevents extraneous noise from entering the apartment. In such situations, it is necessary to completely remove the polyurethane foam and then fill all voids cement mixture. After the cement mortar has dried, the abutment areas door frame To wall structure are carefully processed using silicone sealant, which will further avoid the formation of deformation cracks.

For a comfortable stay in your apartment apartment building The walls in the apartment must be soundproofed. I hope that those who read this article are familiar with the “delights” of living in high-rise buildings and this topic is close to them.

A noisy company, a neighbor, a student pianist with rather boring scales (or a trumpeter, or a violinist, or...), “seizing power and establishing a new order” in the neighboring family territory, or a “nighttime bed” conversation between a couple behind the nursery wall... All this is enough good reasons to care about soundproof fencing.

High-quality soundproofing of walls with your own hands (or with the involvement of qualified specialists) will allow you not only to press the “Mute” button on the “acoustic” wall bordering the neighbor’s apartment, but also to deprive them of the “pleasure” of learning your apartment “news”.

How to soundproof a wall? Let's understand the basics...

Functional purpose of sound insulation

Soundproofing functions:

• Sound absorption;
• soundproofing.

What's the difference?

Sound insulation is aimed at ensuring that sounds emanating from a nearby “source” are reflected from a special coating (material) and do not reach your ears.

Sound absorption- the process is reverse. The sounds in your apartment will be absorbed by a special soundproofing environment, and your neighbors will remain “deaf” in terms of involuntary “wiretapping” of the apartment.

Types of household noise in apartments

Based on the nature of noise in apartments and their source, they are distinguished:

• air noise,
• acoustic noise,
• impact noises,
• structural noise.

The reason " airborne noise"maybe just someone's loud conversation or screams, music or loud TV.

“Acoustic noise” is more familiar to you under the name “echo”. Such noise, as a rule, occurs in empty rooms and is eliminated by the arrangement of furniture and other interior items of the apartment.

For “impact noise” to appear, it is enough to hammer a nail into the wall, hit the wall with your fist (or head), and it can also be the “elephant” (sorry for the comparison) gait of the neighbors above. The pinnacle of skill in extracting impact noise is working with a hammer drill, although it can also be classified as a source of temporary structural noise.

“Structural noise” “live” thanks to the presence of elevators, pumps, ventilation and other systems in houses.

Some “subtleties” of soundproofing walls in an apartment

The best soundproofing of walls in an apartment can be done by your neighbors. But we very much doubt that you will be able to agree with them on such a comprehensive reconstruction of the walls in their apartment.

The second option remains - install a sound-absorbing layer on the side of your home.

Before soundproofing a wall, it is necessary to analyze the current condition of the wall and its integrity. All existing holes, cracks, crevices (especially in panel houses) must be carefully plastered.

Attention! Pay attention to the socket boxes installed on the walls adjacent to the neighbor. Very often, to make installation easier, builders make through holes for sockets, “forgetting” to at least block them off inside the wall. soundproofing material.

After this, having studied the “market” of soundproofing and sound-absorbing materials, you need to choose the ones that are suitable for your room, taking into account the need for “protection” from various types of noise.

Remember! Each additional layer of sound insulation means a reduction in the usable area of ​​your apartment. And... More...

Carrying out interior work It must be remembered that it is advisable to choose materials for soundproofing walls taking into account environmental safety, especially for children's rooms and bedrooms.

Since soundproofing walls in an apartment requires a complex of works, their final stage (except for cases of using solid soundproofing decorative panels) is the final decorative finishing of the surface of the room’s wall.

Notice! This operation also affects the remaining usable area of ​​the room and the cost of soundproofing work.

Also, “channels” for the transmission of sounds from neighboring rooms can be water supply and sewerage communications, pipes central system heating. Due to violations of the rules for installing such pipes during construction, it is necessary, if possible, to soundproof them yourself or, at a minimum, eliminate cracks around them.

Methods for soundproofing walls in an apartment

Several methods are used to soundproof walls in an apartment. Let's look at some of them.

Pay attention! Such heat insulating materials, like polyethylene, expanded polystyrene, polystyrene foam, cork ARE NOT effective soundproofing materials.

Consider this fact before performing work, and not after finishing, counting the money spent only on reducing the usable area of ​​the apartment.

Plasterboard sound curtain

Wall or ceiling frame under plasterboard is made from wooden slats or profile.

A special feature of the installation of such a frame are special anti-vibration pads or brackets (for suspended mounting), which prevent structural noise from “penetrating” into the room.

Attention! Attaching fasteners directly to the wall and then installing them on a drywall profile can, on the contrary, only amplify the sounds coming from outside the apartment.

Optimal soundproofing material in in this case may be mineral acoustic wool or material in the form of slabs with a high sound absorption coefficient. The installation of sound insulation must be done very carefully, since remaining flaws can negate all the work done.

The outer layer of drywall is also a good additional soundproofing material. Drywall joints are glued with mesh, puttied, followed by painting or wallpapering.

Soundproofing from prefabricated panels

Soundproofing panels are not a new thing, but today’s “representatives” of such materials offer maximum ease of installation with their effective functionality.

Such panels already have groove-tenon end connections, which make it possible to obtain high-quality “monolithic” soundproofing and decorative finishing(paper or fabric) surface.

Such slabs, despite their low weight, are easy to install and are optimal for soundproofing not just one wall, but the entire room.

Pasting the wall with sound-absorbing material

This seemingly simple method of organizing sound insulation by gluing soundproofing roll material to the walls has two main disadvantages - a lower degree of sound insulation compared to previous methods (up to 60%) and a significantly higher cost.

This option is the best way soundproofing the walls in the apartment if you rent it.

It is up to you to decide which material and method of sound insulation to choose. The main thing is that you get the desired effect for the money you are willing to spend!

Sound has a significant impact on our psyche, emotional and physical state. If even the slightest noise accompanies you at work, rest or leisure, this leads to stress, decreased perception and premature fatigue. Therefore, soundproofing a house from street sounds and noise coming from neighboring apartments when arranging the interior is perhaps the most important task homeowner. Anyone can ensure the proper level of acoustic comfort in their own home. And for this it is not at all necessary to use the expensive services of specialists in the field of sound insulation. It is enough to study the properties of the materials that are used for these purposes, after which all that remains is to select the best option for your situation and begin to implement it.

What you need to know about noise?

It is highly advisable to deal with the issue of sound insulation at the stage of repair or arrangement new apartment. If you missed this moment for one reason or another, you will still have to return to it over time. But it will cost much more, since the repairs will have to be done all over again.

Soundproofing is a very expensive pleasure, but it is not at all necessary to seal the entire apartment. It is enough to isolate rooms where silence is vital. This is the bedroom, children's room, living room and other rooms in which you sleep or relax.

There are three types of noise:

1. Air

Airborne noise pollution occurs when sound waves are emitted into airspace. Reaching an obstacle - walls, partitions or interfloor covering– the sound causes them to vibrate and is transmitted to the rooms located on the other side of the building structures.

"Airborne" noise load

1. Shock

This type of noise is formed when various objects fall on the floor, walking or other actions that cause vibrations of building structures.

1. Structural

Sound has the property of spreading through the structural elements of a building. A classic example of structural noise is the renovation of your neighbors, which you, by the will of fate, have to hear, as a rule, at the most inopportune time.

This differentiation of noise load allows us to talk about three types sound insulation:

• original- educated building structures;
• additional- achieved through some modifications of the building frame elements;
• special– provided by a range of sound-absorbing and sound-reflecting materials.

Types of soundproofing materials in the photo

The most important thing when arranging soundproofing at home is to set your priorities correctly. Otherwise, it may turn out that, despite all your efforts and expenses, the noise coming from the street or from your neighbors’ apartment will continue to mercilessly poison your life.

Sound insulation and sound absorption: what is the point?

Any building material, be it brick, wood, concrete or metal, has soundproofing properties. In addition, any object in the room can also absorb sound. This is the main difference between the concepts of sound insulation and sound absorption - the first means the ability of a material or structure to reflect sound without absorbing it.

The more massive the wall of the house is, the more noise it can reflect. However, if you increase the thickness of walls or other single-layer building structures in order to improve sound insulation performance, this will significantly affect the consumption of materials, the load on the building foundation and the free space inside the room (if sound insulation is done from the inside). That is why it is advisable to use lightweight multilayer materials for acoustic insulation. An example is the combination of plasterboard, which is used to level the walls, and mineral fiber (mineral wool), laid between it and the main building structure.

There are other soundproofing systems - sandwich panels, acoustic plasterboard, external soundproofing sheathing, joint fillers, etc., which, however, are still not able to give 100% results. By the way, this needs to be addressed special attention when arranging or repairing premises. After all, what’s the point of paying more if the result will differ slightly from what was achieved with less expensive materials?

On the other hand, it is still worth looking for a more effective option in terms of sound insulation. But it depends not only on the properties of the materials used for this. To do this, it is necessary to understand the nature of sound, as well as the mechanism of its propagation in building structures and the voids between them.

Exterior walls and windows

Massive external walls of buildings, which perform a load-bearing function, have good rates of reflection and absorption of sound. However, they may not be sufficient to provide an adequate level of comfort in interior spaces.

You can improve the sound insulation performance of external walls in various ways. The main thing to remember is that they largely depend on the area and windows of the structure window frames. So, if the latter have a rectangular shape, they provide a tight closure around the perimeter and do not contain ventilation valves, then they are a more than reliable acoustic screen. At the same time, when purchasing windows, you should check the availability of quality certificates and the reputation of the manufacturer - often the same design for a number of reasons (profile material, glass thickness and air space between the inner and outer glass, etc.) has significant differences in soundproofing parameters.

Even if the windows you purchased have normal acoustic insulation, this in itself will not provide a normal sound background in the apartment. The essence lies in the method and quality of their installation.

Modern technology for installing window frames involves the use of mounting anchors and foam, which is a fairly weak sound insulator. Thus, even if you have expensive windows, noise from the street will make its way into your apartment. Effective solution To solve this problem, seal the internal and external slopes, which will hide the layer of polyurethane foam and, in addition, provide additional thermal insulation of the opening. Finally, covering the outer plane of the wall with foam plastic or other insulating material can significantly improve its sound-absorbing qualities, which will once and for all rid you of street noise in the apartment.

Sound insulation in panel and block buildings

Block-type buildings have much more low performance sound insulation than in brick or brick-concrete houses. Despite the fact that the acoustic indicators of building structures are regulated by law, in most cases they turn a blind eye to their compliance when putting a facility into operation. The reason for this is the ambiguity and complexity of measuring the permissible noise level in premises.

Effective sound insulation of adjacent sections of a block-type building is ensured by the arrangement of an expansion joint. It is carried out from the foundation to the roof ridge and filled with material with high sound absorption rates, such as mineral wool. The wall between sections, equipped with an expansion joint, can reduce the noise level to 50 dB. This is quite enough to not hear neighbors or, at least, significantly reduce the noise load in the room.

A distinctive feature of panel buildings is the presence of cracks and gaps between partition and floor slabs. By the way, residents often encounter this problem. brick houses. The solution in both cases is the same - before installing soundproofing boards, you should seal the cracks and gaps through which sound travels. You should also pay attention to the zones electrical switches and sockets - here the wall design is narrower, which allows unwanted noise to enter the room. Therefore, it is highly desirable to replace all built-in electrical equipment with one with an open type design.

Among other things in sound insulation in panel house There is an urgent need for any planning elements made from lightweight building materials. These include walls made, for example, of aerated concrete, as well as wooden partitions, panels of frame building structures, etc.

Internal partitions and ceilings

Getting rid of noise entering your apartment through walls or ceilings from neighbors on the side, above or below is not so easy. Isolating it alone may not bring results due to the peculiarities of sound wave propagation in building structures.

As a rule, soundproofing rooms is not limited to capping the wall or ceiling that you share with neighbors. Remember that sound does not penetrate to you through the brick or other material from which the building structure is made, but through the cracks and joints between other elements of the building frame. That is why you will most likely have to soundproof not only the walls, but also the ceiling and floor in the room. Often this is done using frame cladding with sheathing, under which sound-absorbing material is laid. But before this, it is necessary to carefully seal the visible cracks and joints between the walls and ceilings with cement mortar.

It is noteworthy that most of the complaints from the owners of neighboring apartments concern the noise that penetrates them through the interfloor ceilings. Therefore, if you want to ensure normal acoustics in the premises of your apartment and do not want to become a source of irritation for your neighbors, you should think about installing a floating floor and additional soundproofing of the ceiling.

Arrangement of a floating floor in the photo

The surface covering and screed of a floating floor must not come into contact with the side walls. Otherwise, sound bridges will form and all efforts aimed at providing sound insulation will be useless.

Finally, for additional sound insulation, you can install a suspended type soundproof ceiling. It will reduce the energy of reflected noise while absorbing it, which will significantly improve the acoustics in the room being finished.

High-quality sound insulation separate rooms apartment or private house can only be done correctly taking into account the properties of sound waves and building structures. In fact, there is nothing complicated about this - just make the appropriate inquiries and choose materials suitable for ensuring normal acoustics in your home.

At first they just talked in a raised voice, then they started shouting at each other. Then, it seems, they threw dishes and furnishings and clapped as hard as they could interior doors. At the end, the neighbor loudly and clearly called his wife a complete fool ( in fact, not quite “round”, but I substituted a synonym so as not to shock you), hastily got dressed and slammed the front door to the apartment so hard that the shaking on the floor set off the fire alarm. More and more often, neighbors were sorting things out in the middle of the night right behind our bedroom wall. Each time I wanted to do one of two things more and more. Either go out and kill them to death, or do good sound insulation. After weighing the pros and cons of each option, I decided to go with the second one. It seemed much cheaper to me. And then at one fine moment I found myself standing in the department building materials large OBI store on the outskirts of Moscow. Now I’ll tell you what I learned from the experts, and then I’ll show you how you can make an inexpensive slotted spoon with your own hands.

A little theory about sound propagation

Before we begin to build a great the Chinese wall in your apartment, it is worth understanding some features of the nature of sound.

1. Sound is a wave

If it hits a wall, it is reflected, but gives up some energy to the wall. The wall, being made of solid materials, is not an ideal sound insulator. So we can hear perfectly loud sounds from a neighboring apartment. However, the wall significantly weakens sound waves. If along the way the sound encounters another wall, then for the residual waves it will become an almost insurmountable obstacle. In other words, the sound from the neighboring apartment will hardly bother us if we simply go to another room that does not have common walls with our neighbors.

2. Sound is a wave

Do you think I wrote this again by mistake? But no. Now I will say one more unpleasant thing about waves. If there is at least a small hole in the wall in the path of the sound wave, then the sound passes through it perfectly, only slightly reducing the volume.

A simple example: the TV is on in the room, try to go into the next room and don’t close the door. What happened? That's right, almost nothing has changed. Close the door. The sound will still leak through the crack under the door. Try covering the gap with a blanket - it's better, but not ideal. Not ideal because it's not airtight.

3. Sound is a wave...

Again? Well, what can you do if it really is a wave that spreads much faster and better over solid structures. Remember: when one of the neighbors starts drilling something, it feels like they are drilling right in your apartment. And it doesn’t matter that the renovation was started 8 floors higher or lower. It will be completely impossible to stay at home.

That is why a specialist from the building materials department immediately said that there would be no salvation in any case from the slamming of doors, the crash of dishes against the sink, which is rigidly mounted on the wall, or the sound of closing cabinet doors, which are also hanging on the wall. All these sounds spread with lightning speed across all the nearby walls, floors, and load-bearing columns.

However, sounds such as conversations behind the wall, music from the TV, or the grumbling of a washing machine can be muffled a little.

To do this, we need to proceed according to the following scheme.

The first step in creating soundproofing: Seal the cracks in the walls

Our efforts can bring much more best result, if before starting active actions we carefully check our walls for the presence of through gaps to our neighbors. It happens that the house shrinks, foam concrete blocks peel off from the supporting columns, forming cracks.

Don't worry - the house most likely won't fall apart. But various troubles can penetrate into the resulting holes. For example, if your neighbor smokes right in the room, then cigarette smoke can easily find its way into your apartment. I myself suffered from this until I found the unfortunate loophole for the smoke. Even if they get stoned now, the smoke will no longer penetrate me... at least until the house is in once again will not turn his back to the forest, his front to me.

In addition to smoke, the sounds of neighbors' activities will penetrate through the cracks in the walls. I have an apartment behind the wall that is for rent. I've heard a lot of things:(. In modern buildings, audibility is excellent. Especially on the upper floors, where the walls are thinner. And then there are these cracks.

In a word - don’t be lazy, you need to carefully “walk” along the joints and check if there are any holes there. If there is, you can seal it with simple foam or sealant.

Step 2. Measurements and calculation of the amount of material

To avoid buying extra materials for sound insulation we need to properly measure the wall, or walls that require our attention. Luckily, I only had one problem wall with my neighbors. Here it is:

It was made of ordinary sand-lime brick, so it conducted sound perfectly. Before going to the store, you need to arm yourself with a tape measure, measure the length and height of the wall, or rather, all the walls that need to be worked with. Can be used household. It is much more convenient and faster to work with than with a tape measure. Especially if there is no assistant who could “hold” and “step on”. Moreover, some rangefinder models themselves calculate the area of ​​the wall. A very useful thing for home handyman. I've been looking at it for a long time :).

It is better to write down the measurement results on a piece of paper, otherwise in the store you will painfully remember the numbers. As a result, you can easily buy more or less material required quantity. Both are equally offensive and inconvenient.

Step 3. Purchasing materials for soundproofing

Here everyone will have their own preferences. Let me show you what I bought.

Firstly, it is soundproofing mineral wool Rockwool Acoustic Butts:

A material specifically designed for sound insulation. The fibers of mineral wool are arranged randomly, which makes the material an excellent absorber of sound waves. They simply get entangled in the fibers and gradually fade away, never reaching their destination, that is, your ears.

The same material has a couple of other excellent properties: it does not burn and does not “fall off”, that is, it retains its original volume for many years. It also retains heat and is not susceptible to fungus or rodents. In a word, Rockwool Acoustic Butts- this is exactly what we need.

The package shown in the previous photo contains 10 slabs of material with a thickness of 5 centimeters and dimensions of 100x60 cm. Thus, one package contains 6 square meters material. Knowing the area of ​​the walls that need to be insulated, you can easily calculate how many packages will be needed.

I needed two and a half packs. Naturally, I had to buy three. They cost about 2300 rubles.

In addition to the soundproofing material, we need to provide something that we will put on top of it. After all, we can’t just attach Rockwool boards to the wall and leave them exposed. We need something to cover it up. There are a lot of options here. You can buy plasterboards , Can wall panels type of lining. I chose the second one. Again, knowing how many meters of wall you need to cover, you buy a certain amount packages of panels.

Finally, fasteners and tools: drill, screwdriver or screwdriver, wood saw and knife for “carving” Rockwool boards.

Step 4. We begin to make sound insulation

We tear off the baseboard and carefully examine the joint between the floor and the wall. If necessary, we treat suspicious cracks with sealant or, in particularly advanced cases, with polyurethane foam.

After installing the first row, it becomes clear where you will need to drill to install the first horizontal crossbar. We get something like this:

So we move from bottom to top until we hit the ceiling. There, some of the slabs must be carefully trimmed to prevent the formation of uncovered sections of the wall.

The fact that when working with Rockwool boards, especially when cutting them, a lot of tiny particles are formed deserves special mention. They can dig into the skin of the hands and even be inhaled through the nose, being in the air in the form of fine dust. Hence, it is advisable to work with gloves and a respirator. At least a gauze bandage wouldn't hurt.

Before you begin to attach wall panels to the resulting horizontal bars, measures should be taken to eliminate the rigid connection between them and the panels. After all, the bars are directly attached to the wall, involuntarily becoming conductors of sound.

Therefore, you can stick this kind of tape made of porous material onto the bars. It's a little like tape for sealing windows for the winter.

The most disgusting thing is to install the most last panel. We'll have to tinker. The more accurately you adjust it, the smaller the gap you will leave for noise to penetrate.

Now we put the plinth in place and refine the joints new wall with a ceiling and adjacent walls. You can use the same baseboard for this. I used wooden corners.

If there was a socket in the wall, you can put it on a new wall surface or attach it to the baseboard, which is what I did.

How effective is this sound insulation?

As I already said, it does not save you from noise on structures such as slamming doors. Something more serious is needed here. Nevertheless, now, when neighbors talk to each other, at least we do not hear every word clearly. Yes, the sound still passes through, but it no longer has such an irritating effect.

There is something to compare with: this wall, bordering the neighbors, continues further, in the hallway. That's where everything remains the same. But the task was to make at least basic soundproofing in the bedroom. I think that I succeeded.

Silence in the apartment is the key to healthy sleep and not frayed nerves. But to achieve complete silence in modern apartment building, very difficult. To get rid of noise, you need to carry out a set of works to partially or completely soundproof your apartment, and this requires significant financial costs and time. But if the desire to live in silence is more important to you, then we advise you to read our article, from which you will learn how to isolate your apartment from extraneous noise and what materials to use.

Before we begin soundproofing an apartment, let's understand the types and sources of annoying noise. After all, to get rid of noise, sometimes it is enough to isolate a certain element of the apartment’s structure and not spend money on complete sound insulation.

There are two types of noise:

• Wave noise - transmitted through the air, from the source to the eardrums, using sound waves. Wave noise includes loud music, loud conversations, barking dogs, and so on.
• Vibration noise– transmitted by vibrations along the walls emanating from the source. Vibration noise includes a sledgehammer hitting a wall, the operation of a hammer drill or a washing machine.

Now let's look at the sources of noise:

• Noise from the street comes mainly through the windows. The sound of squealing brakes, the voices of screaming children and grandmothers, the hum of a flying airplane - all this is noise coming from the street. You can get rid of street noise by installing quality windows with triple glazed windows. Curtains made of thick material can serve as an additional soundproofing element.
• The noise from the entrance comes through the front door. In order not to hear the sounds of a working elevator or swearing on landing neighbors, it is enough to soundproof the front door. In addition to covering the door with sound-absorbing materials, it is necessary to install seals between the door leaf and the frame, otherwise noise insulation will be ineffective.
• Noise from adjacent apartments– enters through walls, through sockets and cracks between floor slabs. The noise from the neighbors is the most common cause desire to soundproof the apartment. If there is only one source of constant annoying noise, then it is enough to soundproof the walls adjacent to the source. If you are unlucky and noisy neighbors surround you from all sides, then in this case, you will have to completely soundproof the apartment.
• Noise from your apartment– approaches neighbors in the ways listed above and annoys them. If you often have meetings noisy companies, if you are a musician rehearsing at home, if you have children who love to jump and have loud fun, then for the sake of maintaining good relations with your neighbors, it is better for you to soundproof the walls, ceiling and floor without waiting for the visit of the local police officer.

Soundproofing methods

Soundproofing walls, ceilings and floors is done in three ways:

• • Frame - this method involves installing guides on the wall for installation cladding panels. Sound-absorbing material is placed between the guides, after which sound-reflecting panels are installed. In some cases, for example in recording studios, panels have a sound-absorbing surface rather than a reflective one.
    The advantage of this method is the high quality of sound insulation, but the disadvantages are the high cost of work and the reduction of usable space in the room.

• • Installation of slabs and membranes– in this method, soundproofing material is installed or glued directly to the wall, floor or ceiling. After which the slabs and membranes are plastered or covered with thin panels.
    If the technology for installing slabs or membranes is correctly followed, the quality of sound insulation is not inferior to the frame method, and the financial costs are significantly lower.

• “Floating” - this method is used only for soundproofing the floor. The insulating material is spread on the floor and covered with a waterproofing layer. A reinforced screed is made on top and a floor covering is installed. The advantage of this method is the absence of rigid fastenings, which helps to significantly reduce vibration noise.

Soundproofing materials

Soundproofing materials come in the following types:

Soft insulation

Soft sound insulation includes materials made from different types fibers sold in rolls:

• • Soundproofing membranes– there are self-adhesive and regular ones, made from synthetic and natural fibers. Used for walls, ceilings and floors. Separately, for floor insulation, membranes are produced from bitumen polymers with a layer of polyester felt.

• • Needle Punched Fiberglass Material– Used for finishing walls and ceilings. Insulation is well suited for frame structures.

• • Polyester fabric backing– made specifically for “floating” floors, excellent as a substrate for laminate flooring.

• Mineral wool– simple and affordable heat and sound insulating material, used in frame method isolation.

MaxForte SoundPro

A new generation material created taking into account theoretical developments in the field of building acoustics and practical experience installation work. At minimum thickness 12 mm material provides maximum protection against airborne and impact noise and is indispensable in small apartments, where every centimeter counts! Completely environmentally friendly: does not contain adhesives or other chemicals. MaxForte-SoundPRO - ideal for any premises: apartments, kindergartens, schools. The material also acts as fire protection (completely non-flammable) and thermal insulation!

MaxForte EcoPlate 60

The material MaxForte-ECOslab is made of 100% volcanic rock (without impurities, slag and blast furnace waste). MaxForte-ECOslab has excellent acoustic properties, which makes it possible to successfully use this product for soundproofing the most acoustically complex objects: multiplex cinemas, recording studios, listening rooms, home theaters, etc.

MaxForte EcoAcoustic

Made from 100% polyester (polyester fibers) without the addition of adhesives. Used to give shape innovative technology thermal bonding (melting the polyester fibers themselves). The material is manufactured at modern equipment SIMA (Italy), exclusively primary raw materials are used in production. EcoAcoustic is completely safe for human health: the slabs do not emit or contain harmful substances!

Sealant MaxForte

MaxForte sealant is intended for sealing seams, joints, holes in soundproofing walls and ceilings, as well as in the construction of “floating” floors and floors on joists. Due to its low modulus of elasticity, the sealant has excellent vibroacoustic properties and provides a significant reduction in the vibration load between building structures, acting as a damping layer.

VibroStop Pro

Vibration-isolating mount designed to combat impact noise penetrating floor slabs and walls. The use of VibroStop PRO can significantly reduce the vibration load on the profile and provide additional sound insulation of the ceiling and walls at a level of 21 dB.

MaxForte Shumoizol

The rolls are spread with the soft side on the floor, the edges are placed on the walls. After work, all excess can be easily cut off. The joints between the rolls are coated with MaxForte Hydrostop liquid rubber.

Advantages:

1. Impact noise level reduction 27 dB.
2. The material does not tear or crack during installation, due to the addition of imported plasticizers to the composition.
3. Can be used as waterproofing, the material is waterproof.
4. The material can be used for dry screed and under laminate.

MaxForte SoundPro

Installation is carried out by analogy with Shumoizol, the edges are placed on the walls, the rolls themselves are overlapped by 5 cm, and the joints between them are coated with MaxForte Hydrostop liquid rubber. Next, a construction film is laid, this is done so that the screed solution does not penetrate into the sound insulation layer.

Advantages:

1. Impact noise level reduction 34 dB.
2. Reduction of airborne noise level 10 dB.
3. Rolls are resistant to moisture. Not subject to rotting.
4. Belongs to sound absorption class “A” out of five possible.
5. The material does not attract rodents.

MaxForte EcoPlate 110 kg/m 3

To begin with, MaxForte tape is laid around the perimeter in two layers. The slabs are placed on the floor close to each other and covered with construction film.

Advantages:

1. Belongs to sound absorption class “A” out of five possible.
2. Completely non-flammable material.
3. Does not contain phenol resins.
4. Due to the optimally selected density of 110 kg/m3, the screed does not spring and will not burst over time.
5. Sound insulation at 36-38 dB.

If it turns out that the apartment already has a screed, or it is an old housing stock where the ceiling simply cannot withstand the heavy weight of the screed - effective option This is a floor on joists.

Solid insulation

The type of solid sound insulation includes simple slabs and combined panels made from sound-absorbing materials:

• • Combined panels– represent a structure of two sheets and a layer. Sheets are made from particle board, traffic jams or synthetic materials. Quartz sand and mineral wool are often used as a layer.

• • Basalt slabs– made from basalt fiber. Additionally, the boards can be treated with a water-repellent composition.

• • Polyester fiber boards– synthetic sound insulation, easy to cut the right sizes, is widely used in frame construction.

• • Staple Woven Fiberglass Boards– designed for filling interprofile spaces, insulating suspended ceilings and frames installed on walls.

• • Cork slabs are made from the fibers of the cork tree. Wall panels and cork laminate can be installed without additional soundproofing materials.

• Foam boards- the cheapest and most widely known material for sound insulation. Foam plastic slabs are inferior in sound insulation quality to more than modern materials, but thanks to their affordable price, they remain a popular option for budget renovations.

Handy sound insulation

Few people know that some interior items can serve as good sound absorbers and reduce noise levels by 20-30 percent:

• • A large carpet - placed on the floor or hung on the wall, can significantly reduce the level of incoming or outgoing noise.

• • Furniture wall– installed along a wall shared with your neighbors, will relieve you of loud noise, turning it into a soft hum.

• Curtains made of thick material– are able to muffle sounds coming from the street.

Soundproofing walls, ceilings and floors

Technologies for soundproofing floors, walls and ceilings differ from each other, therefore, we will consider each process separately.

Soundproofing the floor

Floor soundproofing is done to block noise coming from the apartment located on the floor below, or vice versa, so that the noise produced in your apartment does not annoy neighbors from below. To insulate the floor, you can use the “floating” floor method, or make a frame from logs.

In the first option, you need to spread soundproofing material over the entire surface of the floor, then make concrete screed. After this, a laminate or other type of flooring is laid on the screed. In the frame method, it is necessary to make a sheathing from wooden blocks (lags). Insulating material is laid between the joists, the field of this sheathing is covered with chipboard or boards. To reduce vibration noise, it is recommended to place special vibration-damping pads under the joists.
Detailed article.

Soundproofing walls

You can block sounds coming from the apartments of your neighbors on the floor by soundproofing the walls adjacent to them. Please note that insulate all walls in the apartment, including internal partitions, makes no sense.
To insulate walls, you can use self-adhesive soundproofing membranes, combined panels or slabs installed in a special frame. Keep in mind that the thicker the soundproofing layer, the less usable area of ​​your apartment will remain.
One more an important factor In soundproofing walls, there are pass-through sockets; to block sounds coming through them, you need to fill the empty space between yours and your neighbor's socket with soundproofing material, such as polyurethane foam.
Detailed.

Ceiling soundproofing

To soundproof the ceiling, it is better to choose lightweight materials that will not peel off due to their own weight or heavily load the ceiling frame.
If you already have a suspended ceiling installed, then you simply need to remove the panels and install insulation on the main ceiling, then install the panels in place.

Remember the “golden” rule - soundproofing is much easier and cheaper to do before finishing work than after finishing the renovation!