Need for soundproofing interior walls and floors in a newly built villa?

[stais]

Hello!

We are in the process of building a new 2-story villa plus basement/souterrain. Since we plan to live here for the rest of our lives, we don't want to make unwise choices regarding things that are difficult to change afterward. One such issue is soundproofing, both in the internal walls and between the floors in the joists/rafters.

Question 1, internal walls:
Our internal walls are constructed with gypsum - particleboard - 70-stud - particleboard - gypsum. Would we gain anything by adding insulation in the walls? Which type would you recommend in terms of both "performance" and cost-effectiveness?

Question 2:
Between the floors, both the souterrain/ground floor and the ground floor/upper floor, we have wooden joists and underfloor heating. From top to bottom: parquet floor (+"step mat"), floor gypsum, underfloor heating, floor particleboard, joists, batten board, gypsum. The same question applies here: would we gain anything by adding insulation between the joists? Which type would you recommend in terms of both "performance" and cost-effectiveness? A case example we want to avoid in the future is having guests over for dinner and not wanting to be unnecessarily disturbed by children playing and stomping on the upper floor.

Thanks in advance!

 

[blippblapp]

Currently building new as well, a 1.5-story villa, with the same principle regarding smart investment. We have plasterboard - loose insulation - floor chipboard - underfloor heating panels - step soundproofing - screwed parquet 20 mm between the floors, and you can still hear it downstairs when walking around upstairs. Not much perhaps, but if there's a strict requirement that nothing should be heard at all, you probably need to carefully consider the construction or go with concrete.

The interior walls are mostly plasterboard - OSB - 70-frame - OSB - plasterboard. We definitely did not skimp on the insulation in the interior walls; it might not make the whole difference theoretically in terms of soundproofing (you can find figures if you want) but having "empty" walls that sound like a drum when you knock on them was not an option for us. Of course, you can refrain from knocking on the walls, but we are very pleased we chose to add insulation.

 

[yehor]

The first thing you need to answer is: What type of noise do you want to get rid of? Insulation between floor joists doesn't help with footsteps but does help with conversation. There should also be quite a bit of insulation due to the underfloor heating.

If you don't want to be frugal, I would have installed a rubber mat between the plasterboard and chipboard, check out "Mass Loaded Vinyl". In addition to this, you should have steel studs with rubber under all connections with the floor and ceiling.

What is a "stegmatta"? Don't skimp on it, you need something that separates the different layers. I installed a rubber mat of 10mm, I believe it weighs 6-8kg/m2, it has helped a lot in my house from 1927 where the beams sit in the brick wall.

 

[yehor]

The first thing you must answer is: What type of sound do you want to get rid of? Insulation between the joists doesn't help against footsteps but helps against conversation. There should also be a lot of insulation considering the underfloor heating.

If you don't want to skimp, I would install a rubber mat between the plasterboard and chipboard, look up "Mass Loaded Vinyl", in addition to this, you should have steel studs with rubber under all connections with the floor and ceiling.

What kind of "step mat" do you have? Don't skimp on it; you need something that separates the different layers. I installed a rubber mat of 10mm, I think it weighs 6-8kg/m2, and it has helped tremendously in my house from 1927 where the beams are attached to the brick wall.

Also building new right now, a 1.5-story villa, with the same principle of avoiding false economy. We have plasterboard - loose fill - chipboard flooring - underfloor heating panel - footfall damping - screwed parquet 20 mm between the floors and you can still hear downstairs when walking around upstairs. Not much maybe, but if it's a hard requirement that it shouldn't be heard at all, you'll need to think through the construction very carefully or go with concrete.

The interior walls are plasterboard - OSB - 70-stud - OSB - plasterboard mostly. Definitely wouldn't skimp on the insulation in the interior walls, maybe not making all the difference purely theoretically in terms of attenuation (you can look up numbers if you like) but having "empty" walls that sound like a drum when you knock on them was not an option for us. Of course, you could just avoid knocking on the walls, but we are very pleased we decided to put insulation in.

Screwed parquet, meaning you've screwed the parquet into the chipboard? Then you've connected all the layers and your step mat has no effect.

 

[yehor]

If you are willing to slightly increase the width of your walls, check out "Staggered Stud walls," not sure what it's called in Swedish. However, it's not certain if it can be done with steel profiles. You can always build two walls with a small gap in between, but it all depends on how thick you want the walls to be. You can also replace your drywall with, for example, Norgips silent board.

You also need to purchase special boxes for any outlets.

 

[blippblapp]

Screwed parquet, meaning you have screwed the parkänken into the parquet? Then you have connected all the layers and your step mat has no effect.

But I have a squeak-free floor. That's nice!

 

[Gabbe1]

For soundproofing in: Interior walls with 70mm studs, I recommend a 45mm standard insulation board made of stone wool. For intermediate floors (without strong requirements for thermal insulation), I recommend filling the cavities with wood shavings.

 

[stais]

Thanks for the feedback!

Regarding whether it is footsteps or talking we want to eliminate, the answer is actually both.

I should clarify that we will not be building thicker interior walls, and when we say we won't be cheap, it still means that we won't want to spend enormous amounts, but are looking for cost-effective alternatives that offer some improvement at the margins.

Stone wool insulation board sounds like a reasonable measure.

For the floor, is wood shavings a better solution than stone wool? How about the increased fire risk? Also, the risk of it retaining moisture?

 

[Argastesnickaren]

The interior doors are also something to consider.
The walls can be as good as they can be, and then there is a thin masonite door in the doorway without a threshold or insulation around.
So think about the whole picture.

 

[stais]

The interior doors are also something to consider.
The walls can be as great as they can be, and then there's a thin masonite door in the doorway without threshold or insulation around.
So think about the whole picture.

Thanks, yes, have chosen solid doors

 

[tergo]

Stone wool insulation board sounds like a reasonable measure.

if it's to stop sound, one should use, for example, hard-pressed stone wool board

 

[Kasken]

Question 1, interior walls:
Our interior walls are built with gypsum - chipboard - 70 frame - chipboard - gypsum. Do we gain anything by adding insulation to the walls? What type do you recommend in terms of, on one hand, "performance", and on the other, value for money?

When I built new with a house supplier, the construction manager himself checked the option "insulation of interior walls".

When we went through the contract, he briefly informed us that if we were not willing to take the, in context, small cost, he would deduct something else for an equivalent amount. The local office of the house supplier valued the brand so much that they did not want to build a house without insulation in the interior walls, even if it, as in this case, was a catalog house from their budget series where this was an option.

I don't remember the exact amount, but it was a few thousand kronor, nothing I spent 2 seconds thinking about, just go for it.

I didn't think much about what insulation they used, some yellow fiberglass on a roll, type.

 

[Robert-san01]

As already pointed out, the doors should not be forgotten. The same goes for frames and skirting. We were lucky to get hold of frames with sealing strips for the interior doors.

We also got the recommendation not to fill the floor cavities with insulation. It is said that it dampens better if it's not completely full. I guess it's because the sound bounces between the floor and the insulation, and that way it's "damped" out.
In the previous house, there was no insulation at all in the floor structure. In this one, I've put in 90 and the cavities are 200. There's much less sound than in the previous house, but I can't say if it's better than if the cavities were fully filled.

Keep in mind that sound can also travel through ventilation. There, it's almost even harder to dampen the sound than in walls and floors.

 

[Laurentiusson]

A slightly silly clip, but they show some differences between different types of interior walls and the soundproofing with insulation.

In other words, the interior walls should definitely be insulated.

 

[stais]

A slightly silly clip but they show some of the differences in different types of interior walls and soundproofing with insulation.

In other words, the interior walls should definitely be insulated.

[media]

A bit fun anyway - it's just a shame they didn't compare different insulation materials, but you could notice a difference without (it would have been good to also compare the different wall types, oh well)