Sound insulation floor

Sound insulation floor

Nuisances caused by noise from neighbours or indoor nuisance from above or below are very common. However, the nature of the nuisance is very diverse. It can be nuisance from voices, television, drumming, walking noise or Hi-Fi.

These sounds can be divided into 2 types:

• Sound that moves through the air
• Sound that moves like vibration

Airborne noise

When sound travels through the air (such as voice and/or television sound) there are often weak spots (cracks) in the floor and/or a wooden floor. You can solve this by closing the gaps and applying extra mass. For example by placing EASYmass 14 kg/m2 sound insulation on the floor.

With concrete floors this problem should not occur at all because of the high mass of concrete floors. Do you experience airborne noise with a concrete floor? If so, check ventilation ducts and/or heating ducts. The connections at the facade can also be a weakness.

Noise as vibration

Sound that travels as vibration is also called impact sound. These vibrations are best attenuated as close to the source as possible. In the case of floor insulation, we recommend making a vibration-damping floor. You lay this floor directly on the subfloor. You can use EASYbond vibration insulation for this. Place your finishing floor directly on top of the EASYbond.

Extra tip for wooden floors

For wooden floors, we recommend the following:

• Do you have a wooden floor with an open cavity? Then it is best to apply sound absorption in the floor to prevent standing waves. You can fill this cavity with EASYpol. There may also be solutions on the market for injecting insulation flakes. In that case, you do not have to open up the entire floor.
• You then place EASYmass 14 kg/m2 sound insulation on the structural floor. Make sure that the slabs fit properly and that there are no cracks between the panels.
• On top of the EASYmass you place the EASYbond floating floor panels.
• On top of the EASYbond you place the desired finishing floor.

What is a floating floor?

An acoustic floating floor is a screed that is decoupled from the structural floor (underneath the floor). This ensures that the floating screed no longer makes contact with the subfloor. This prevents vibrations through the construction floor and surrounding walls.

Particularly in older houses, floors are often not built in accordance with modern sound insulation requirements. This means that any contact with the floor (if it is not floating) is audible in the rest of the house. And sometimes even with the neighbours.

Making a floating floor is best done by installing vibration insulation and mass under the screed. The mass is not essential for absorbing impact sound. However, it does contribute to reducing airborne noise. The combination therefore reduces contact and airborne noise.

The vibration insulation captures the energy on the screed when someone walks on it or makes contact with it.

How do you make a floating floor yourself? EASY Noise Control offers vibration insulation under the name EASYbond. This is a springy plate, or flocculation foam, of high density. It is used to make a sound-absorbing subfloor. You lay the EASYbond cold on the supporting subfloor. The covering floor is then laid on top of it. The covering floor can be parquet or laminate and in this way becomes floating.

If you would like to lay a softer screed on top of it, it is best to first lay a stiff underlay (e.g. MDF) on top of the EASYbond. If you also want to insulate airborne sound. Usually on a floor or attic floor, you can lay extra mass on the EASYbond. This can be done with the EASYmass.

In short, a layer of EASYbond and EASymass under your wooden floor provides an acoustically insulating floor. In addition, it is very important to keep the floating floor free of the walls. The screed must not make direct contact with the wall. You can achieve this with strips of EASYbond along the edge.