How to make a soundproofing floor in an apartment

Are your neighbors below - lovers of loud conversations or night karaoke singing? Is this a problem for your family? Explanatory conversations with neighbors do not give a positive result? Everything is solved very simply. We make slippers for ourselves and the household. Only instead of the sole we take bricks. The most common white bricks. It is possible and red, but they are lighter, the effect will be weaker. As soon as loud sounds are heard from below, we put on “magic hooves” and wander around the rooms. I assure you, a week of such educational work, and the neighbors will moderate their decibels.

And since such shoes will crush your flooring in the trash, we will do the repair. At the same time, we will learn how to make a soundproofing floor in an apartment. In fact, you will not carry bricks on your feet all your life to avenge noisy neighbors.

Before hiring a team of masters, we will consider all options for soundproofing the floor. Even a person who is far from the intricacies of repair can perform most of the work. Having learned all the secrets, it turns out great to save on hiring.

Since you broke the decorative flooring, it makes no sense to repair it. We will lay new. Therefore, you have to shoot everything to the very bottom. That is, to the base plate. At the same time, you will find out what type of work on floor noise insulation you have to do. It all depends on what is under your floor. There are only two options: concrete slab or wooden logs. Do not be surprised, in some old apartments the floors are made of wood. From this we will dance.

Concrete slab

Here you will have to make a noise insulation screed. Do not make round eyes, this is just a long name. A screed is needed, because still sit without a floor. It is of two types, dry and wet. Now let's figure it out.

Dry way. Expanded clay, mineral wool, vermiculite are used for it. First, lighthouses are installed according to the level, then they pour material or lay layers of mineral wool. From above, all this stuff is covered with wood or particle boards. After that, you can install any decorative coating.

For example, everyone so loved laminate flooring. A soundproof foam substrate is placed under it. This creates additional sound insulation of the floor. Or a thick foam-based carpet is also a great addition to the main work. The room will become much quieter.

Just do not strive to make absolute soundproofing of the floor in the apartment. This is not possible at home. After all, there are still walls, ceilings, windows, entrance doors. Will you isolate too?

By the way, beacons at the end of backfill and leveling can not be removed. Only if profiles for drywall were used, it is desirable to exclude their contact with the walls and fill with mounting foam. This will eliminate their explosiveness.

In general, it is recommended that you try to limit its contact with the walls as much as possible with any type of soundproofing screed. Because structural noise is transmitted precisely by the design of the apartments. That is, the screed will not perform its soundproofing function, because vibrations will be transmitted from the walls to the floor.

Tip. Before starting any work on the sound insulation of the floor in the apartment, it is necessary to repair all the holes and cracks in the base plate with vibration-isolating silicone sealant. This will significantly reduce the penetration of third-party sounds into the housing.

Wet way. It requires large material costs, but it allows you to reduce the noise level in the apartment by 38-41 dB. This is enough to feel almost complete silence. To apply this method, you will need:

1. Cement-sand mixture. You can order from manufacturers, you can do it yourself.
2. Thick thick film. It should be intact, without holes, seams or cracks. The size is selected taking into account the floor area plus the lap on the walls to the place of attachment of the baseboard. It is desirable that this was a soundproofing film.
3. Soundproofing material itself. Expanded clay screening, polystyrene foam, special soundproofing plates, rubber plates, cork rolls, acoustic felt, basalt mats. The list is still long. Choose the size of the repair budget.
4. Another film or polyethylene. The size is equal to the floor area, but the presence of small holes or damage is not critical here.
5. Liquid nails and strips of foamed soundproofing material. The width of the strips is equal to the height of the future screed plus 2-3 cm. The length is equal to the perimeter of the room. That is, for a 3 by 4 meter hall, you will need 14 meters of tape.
6. Rule, beacons, naked enthusiasm, gloves, the desire not to hear neighbors and free time.

The order of work. Stripes of foam are glued around the room perimeter with liquid nails. This will prevent the appearance of sound bridges. That is, the screed does not come in contact with the walls.

Then soundproofing plates are laid on a concrete base or soundproofing material is poured. What could pull on the money, then attach. Now a thick film or soundproof membrane is laid on top. The overlap on the walls is attached with masking tape.

Then you can install beacons. Just do not pierce the film through! We need waterproofing. It is advisable to fix them to the walls. Anyway, then delete it.

Next, cement-sand mixture is poured. Incidentally, kneading it yourself is a thankless task. It is necessary to shovel not one kilogram of rather heavy materials. Yes, and the desired density is problematic. We recommend ordering the finished mixture from manufacturers. There is excellent consistency and excellent ductility. In addition, various soundproofing additives can be ordered. For example, screening of slag or expanded clay.

After pouring, you need to level the mixture with the rule for the installed beacons. The next step is covered with a second film to avoid the appearance of cracks and forgotten for three days.

On the fourth day after pouring, the film is lifted and the beacons removed. If left, they will act as sound bridges. After all, they were fastened to the walls, and these are unnecessary vibrations in the future. The notches from under the lighthouses on the finished screed are sealed with cement-sand mortar and leveled with a spatula. Again cover with a film and forget for another 10 days.

After this time, the shelter is removed and the screed is finally matured. In total, the drying time is approximately 25-28 days. This is long enough, but the result will be almost a lifetime.

After all the work, you can engage in decorative decoration of the now soundproof floor. To do this, carefully remove the remaining sound insulation film and foam strips protruding above the finished screed. Preferably - level with the cement floor.

And further. With further laying of tiles, parquet, laminate, carpet, an additional noise-insulating substrate must be laid. At the same time, the decorative coating itself should not touch the walls. Leave a gap of at least 5 mm. Then it is covered with a baseboard, and the sound insulation remains at its best.

Tip. Some people use thick carpets to insulate the floor in the house. No doubt, this coating dampens your steps or the noise from the running of your children. But no carpet is capable of drowning out a loud conversation or the singing of neighbors from below.

Wooden floors

Let’s say you opened the floors spoiled by “miracle slippers”. And instead of the expected concrete slab, you see wooden floors with strong lags. In this case, a wet screed is not suitable for you. Her weight is too much. Here you have to do only dry soundproofing the floor in the apartment.It practically does not differ from a dry screed on concrete, but has its own characteristics.

You will need:

1. Soundproofing material itself. When working with wooden floors, mineral wool, claydite screenings, stone wool have proven themselves best. These materials are breathable and hygroscopic.
2. Wood preservative and sturdy brackets.
3. Vibration-proof silicone sealant.
4. Materials for the final rough coating. It can be sheets of chipboard or new boards.
5. Brush or roller, desire to get rid of loud noise, gloves.

The order of work. First, carefully inspect the wooden flooring for cracks, holes and damage. Absolutely each of them is coated with sealant. While it dries, we strengthen the lags with brackets. Pre-carefully treat them with an antiseptic from all sides.

After the complete drying of both materials between the logs or ceilings, we lay down the noise insulation material. It is advisable to leave as little clearance as possible. It is even better to lay the plates with some effort.

Do not worry, floors will not swell from this. Because after noise insulation, a rough coating is laid on top. It perfectly aligns all the mounds and depressions from the plates. Now you can do decorative flooring.

By the way, here you can not puzzle over how to limit the contact of the walls with the floor for additional vibration isolation. Anyway, the lags directly touch the walls. It is better to look for high-quality soundproof panels. They decompensate vibrational noise and at the same time insulate your floors well.

Tip. Do not use foam or foam materials for soundproofing a wooden floor in an apartment. They do not leak moisture. This will bring many problems in the future.

Useful Tips

1. If after all the work done on a wet screed, you are confused by the gap between the wall and the decorative coating, then it will seem to you that it is blowing from under the baseboard. No, of course there is a foamed bounding strip down there and can’t blow anything. But for your own reassurance, seal up this microscopic slit with vibration-proofing sealant. After it dries, put the baseboard back in place. And now sleep peacefully, no longer blowing.
2. By the way, it is also advisable to fix the baseboard to only one base. Either the wall or the floor. Otherwise, then the vibration of the structure will be transmitted to each other, and the technology will be disrupted.
3. In modern apartments under the floor there are many communications. Before performing noise insulation work, it is imperative to carefully insulate all wires, pipes and corrugations.
4. Instead of a special foamed soundproofing strip, you can use a rubber substrate, pieces of roll cork, stone wool tape. The main thing is that at the junction of the pieces with each other, not even the slightest gap remains.

How to make a soundproofing floor in an apartment? Independently - not at all difficult. It is time consuming and costly, but when and to whom was the repair cheap? If you are afraid to break the technology, then hire a team of finishers. Just be sure to ask for quality certificates for all the materials they use. After all, you must know exactly what you are going to pay for.

Video: soundproofing a wooden floor