"Interior walls are not insulated when building new today"???

[Fideliox]

Point 2, sealing gaps is simple though. Makes an incredibly big difference. Now, with almost certainty, it's a lightweight door as well. But if you want to invest, switch to a compact door or a solid door. Costs 2-3000:- and is easy to replace, dampens significantly more as well.

You don't want doors that are too tight, right? Depends a bit on the ventilation perhaps.

 

[klaskarlsson]

Have also considered this thought but it should probably be heavier insulation than loose fill for it to make any significant difference.

Loose fill should probably work: What you want to avoid is that the wall functions as a resonant box...

 

[makhno_]

In my experience (as an architect), BRF often uses single plasterboard without insulation. Rental apartments often use double plasterboard or insulation. I have designed rentals with insulation/OSB/plasterboard as the simplest wall. But this is up to the developer and varies between landlords and sometimes buildings. Landlords often take reality into account more than BRFs because they are responsible for maintenance. Single plasterboard becomes quite bothersome for the landlord because it breaks easily.

There are no sound requirements for, for example, bedroom walls in an apartment.

 

[splinter]

In the design of apartment buildings, I, as an architect, am always instructed by the client (the contractor) to only include insulation in walls where it is absolutely necessary - to avoid unnecessary costs. In practice, this means that primarily the project's acoustician tells me which interior walls should have insulation to meet specific sound requirements. The result is that the majority of all interior walls lack insulation.

 

[Plupp 260363]

imagining

I am just moving into a rental apartment in a completely new building. When I knock gently on the inner walls that are framed/gypsum, it echoes hollowly. I test playing something with my phone, put it down, leave the room, close the door, and find that the sound insulation is nonexistent.

I email a representative for the landlord (who I imagine is the client of the completely new building) and point this out, and the person responds that "inner walls are not insulated when building new today."

Is this true?

Regards

It's quick profit and return that matter with new constructions now. Unfortunately, that's the truth! Steel studs and gypsum, it goes incredibly fast to build. Walk around and look at all the sealing too, where the moldings don't quite fit due to the "mass-cutting" according to the measurements they do before

 

[mojjen]

You don't want doors that are too tight, either? Depends a bit on the ventilation maybe.

Depends on how the ventilation is done. I have supply air in the back of the room, and exhaust air at the door. Then you can have it tight. Otherwise, it's less successful. Then you need a sound-dampened overair grille. There are many variants.

 

[mats_lindqvist]

On the other hand, all tenants think electric heated towel rails are the cat's potatoes, so you've probably got one of those.

Yep, completely correct.

 

[mats_lindqvist]

Who measures and follows up on this in a new production?

No one, is my guess.

 

[mats_lindqvist]

Incredible that construction is done without insulation in interior walls, but it seems to be more common than actually having it...

Yes, it's incredible. It can't cost THAT much, I think.

 

[mats_lindqvist]

What is actually the additional cost of putting 70mm stone wool in the interior walls of the bedrooms? It shouldn't be more than 3 interior walls unless the floor plan is unusual.

Could it even amount to more than 15,000kr?

Exactly my thought, it can't/shouldn't be that remarkably expensive. You might not need to insulate everywhere either, in my case it's really just one wall that's critical, between one of the bedrooms and the living room. The other interior walls border a bathroom, a walk-in closet, or a wall almost completely covered by wardrobes.

 

[mats_lindqvist]

What you can do is check via BBR which sound requirements apply between different rooms, you must meet BBR's minimum acoustic requirements.

Will check this out, thanks for the tip.

 

[makhno_]

Yes, it's incredible. It can't cost THAT much, I think.

It is not uncommon for someone to have the job of saving money. I suspect that person rarely has the incentive to make trade-offs and is instead rewarded for saving period. In many client organizations, there is also a lack of someone with real competence and an overview of both practical and economic matters. So a lot of people are sitting with job descriptions and doing their jobs. The consequence of this is vast and simple plasterboard can probably be considered a small matter. For the clients, this is completely acceptable because it brings in more money. The built result is a highly secondary issue on the existing market. Family businesses might be a bit better as there is a somewhat present person who decides on the whole.

 

[o1aEtqFW8W4HLAV]

A standard steel stud 70 mm and single plasterboard provide a sound reduction of about 30dB. Double plasterboard or 45 mm mineral wool provides about 5dB more reduction. Mineral wool is probably very rare to put into an ordinary bedroom wall. So you can measure the thickness of the wall. If it is 95 mm, it is likely only single plasterboard, and if it is 120 mm, it is double. In my opinion, it's a bit poor to build with only single plasterboard.

The studs are normally spaced at cc 600, so filling afterwards with something would give a hell of a lot of holes and is probably not a reasonable option (easier and cheaper to add another layer of plasterboard).

Here are examples of many different walls that are normally used in various projects https://www.europrofil.se/sv/system/innervagg/vaggtabeller/vaggvaljare

And for the different sound classes (none within the home as mentioned) https://www.europrofil.se/sv/system/innervagg/vaggnycklar

 

[skagget]

Can't be bothered to read all the posts, but insulate the wall with foam. Hire a company that will do this by the hour.

 

[SueCia]

True, it clearly does come down to money. Anyway, extremely stupid thing to save money on. Better to have a plastic mat in the bathroom and insulated interior walls than a tiled bathroom with uninsulated interior walls.

Because I seem to see that it's always tiles in bathrooms in new constructions.

I had to check how much it costs to insulate a bedroom wall. Calculating on a 6-meter long wall and 2.4 in ceiling height. Found a 70mm mineral wool at byggmax for 45kr/m2

Material cost: 648kr
The labor cost is hard to predict, as it involves more logistics and handling. But in pure installation cost, let's calculate a maximum of 2 hours. I would have insulated meter wall with a good margin in two hours. Let's say the carpenter costs 750kr per hour, which is also high.

So it costs an additional 2148kr. It is obviously money, but considering the benefit it brings, it's incredible that it doesn't happen automatically really :O

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think you should reduce the thickness of the insulation board for. Best sound insulation. That is, in a 70 wall, 45mm insulation might be better, and if that's true, it's even cheaper.