Soundproofing noise through ceilings

Introduction

If you are suffering from noise problems travelling through from your ceiling above it would be wise to firstly try and do something to the upstairs floor before undertaking the installation of a false ceiling. The diagram above shows a basic example of how it looks when you uprate your ceiling without doing anything to the floor above and without adding anything into the cavity space first. If these points are addressed as well the performance would be greatly enhanced. (see diagram at bottom of page)


analysis of types of noise

The best option for ceiling soundproofing is to make use of flexible resilient bars.It is preferable that the new ceiling is NOT physically attached to the existing structure. Ideally, remove the existing plasterboard (or add battens to the existing ceiling via our 5mm thick neoprene strips) and add acoustic mineral wool in the cavity space before fixing resilient bars to the joists (or battens). Even further improvements are obtainable by substituting the mineral wool for our high performance Acoustic Quilt. Two additional layers of 12.5mm plasterboard (preferably thicker) should be attached to the resilient bars. The second layer of sheets should overlap the seams in the first layer for improved performance. The edges of the plasterboard must NOT touch the existing walls. This small gap should be filled with acoustic sealant. Additional performance can be obtained by fixing a layer of our acoustic membrane in-between the two sheets of plasterboard. This material greatly damps the plasterboard. This resilient channel system approach can add up to 5dB to the overall performance because the structure bourne vibrations are reduced.

Soundproofing solutions

If there are restrictions on what you can do to uprate your ceiling the most minimal improvement can be to stick a layer of our acoustic membrane to the existing ceiling then screw ontop a further 19mm sheet of plasterboard plank up. This can give you around an 6dB increase in performance but will not make much improvement to impact noise only airborne noise. If you are new building, increasing the joist width to 600mm centres can give around 3dB improvement and adding 60Kg mineral wool slabs between the joists can give a further 3dB improvement. Using our Acoustic Quilt in the joist cavity space can improve things even further by around 12dB. You need to know where the joists are so that you can get good fixings to hold the plasterboard up. You also need to make sure the perimeter and seams are well sealed. Doing the above can more than double the performance of the existing ceiling.

typical installation

If it is difficult to manoeuvre heavy plasterboard sheets into your property then use 3 layers of lighter 9mm plasterboard and sandwich a layer of acoustic membrane in-between each one. Our L1 spray adhesive is ideal for sticking the soundproofing mat before securing the plasterboard. If the joists are on 450mm centres it may be easier to use 900mm wide plasterboard rather than 1200mm wide sheets as the edges of the board will coincide with the joists better.

Higher Performance Floor/Ceiling Solution

The figures given are intended to be used as a guide. Many installation and site factors can vary results obtained.