Indoor sound insulation engineering construction technology

It is believed that many people have had such an experience: suddenly, an unknown noise comes from the floor above their home, and then the owners' group explodes with messages. One person says, "Who on earth is making the noise?" Another says, "That's so lacking in public morality." The back-and-forth is all similar complaints, and in the end, the argument leads to no result and has to be left unresolved. Fortunately, however, some real estate companies have now begun to address this issue by proactively upgrading the sound insulation schemes of the buildings - from adding sound insulation cotton to optimizing pipeline design. These tangible noise reduction measures are quietly resolving conflicts between neighbors caused by noise. The specific sound insulation measures mainly include the following six items.

Part 1:Inter-floor slab sound insulation construction

1. Materials must be inspected upon arrival

All high-quality sound insulation materials are used. After the materials are delivered to the construction site, it is necessary to first check whether the brand is the same as that specified in the contract, whether there is a qualified inspection report, and whether the thickness is sufficient. In addition, a 1m × 3m sample should be cut and stored for backup.

2. Requirements for material quality

1. Materials purchased in the same batch should have similar colors, with no visible color difference at a glance.
2. The surface of the sound insulation felt should be flat, with no obvious dirt or holes.
3. The small bubbles in each layer of the sound insulation mat should be uniform, the hardness and softness should be similar, and the joints should be firm without delamination or damage.

3. Material storage requires attention

Materials should be stored in a clean, ventilated, and dry warehouse. They must not be placed near heat sources such as heaters or boilers. Smoking or lighting fires in the warehouse is strictly prohibited, and the materials should not be stored together with chemical substances like fertilizers and pesticides.

4. The construction base course needs to be cleaned

Before construction, the base layer of the floor slab must be cleaned thoroughly to ensure there are no small stones or exposed steel bars — these sharp objects can easily puncture the sound insulation materials.

5. Positioning and setting out must be accurate

Determine the height at which the sound insulation mats should be laid based on the final height of the house's floor, then snap a chalk line on the wall to mark it, ensuring that all sound insulation mats are at the same height.

6. How to lay sound insulation materials

First, lay the sound insulation felt directly on the cleaned base layer, then lay the sound insulation pads on top of the sound insulation felt with their seams staggered. Additionally, three points should be noted:

1. All seams where sound insulation materials are joined must be tight, with no gaps left.
2. Sound insulation materials must be tightly attached to the wall, with no gaps left either.
3. The double-layer design of sound insulation felt plus sound insulation mat has an excellent sound insulation effect. It can effectively block and reduce both the vibration noise generated by walking or moving furniture, and the air-borne noise generated by talking or watching TV.

Part 2:Partition Wall Sound Insulation Construction

A partition wall is a dividing wall between two households. The following three points should be noted during construction:

1. All the partition walls between households are built with solid concrete bricks, and the thickness of the wall is 240 millimeters (approximately the length of a standard brick);
2. Both sides of the partition wall between households should be plastered with 20-millimeter-thick vitrified microsphere mortar (a special mortar with sound insulation properties);
3. Another layer of 2-millimeter-thick polymer damping sound insulation felt needs to be pasted, from the ground all the way to the bottom of the cast-in-place slab of the ceiling. When splicing two pieces of sound insulation felt, they should overlap by 50 millimeters and be fixed with 50mm × 50mm × 15mm light steel keels. Later, the owner will be told to cover these sound insulation materials with gypsum boards to make them look more attractive.

There are two additional notes:

1. Sound insulation mortar should use ready-made finished mortar, mixed with water in the specified proportion;
2. Vertical light steel keels should be spaced at half the width of the sound insulation mat, and the joints of the sound insulation mats should be tightly sealed.

Part 3:Elevator shaft sound insulation construction

Elevators tend to generate noise during operation, so sound insulation treatment should be done for the elevator shaft:

1. The wall in the house adjacent to the elevator shaft must undergo sound insulation construction.
2. The interior of the elevator shaft must be fully covered with 50-millimeter-thick sound insulation cotton and 11-millimeter-thick sound insulation pads.
3. Fix these sound insulation materials with 75mm × 50mm × 15mm light steel keels to prevent them from loosening.

Part 4:Drainage system sound insulation construction

The sound of water flowing in the sewer can also easily affect daily life, so the sound insulation of the drainage system should be done as follows:

1. Adopt the design of "same-floor dropped slab drainage" (simply put, the drainage pipes of one's own home are within one's own floor and do not need to go through to the floor below);
2. Drainpipes should use HDPE internal spiral sound-absorbing pipes (this type of pipe can reduce the noise generated by water flow hitting the pipe wall);
3. The outer side of the drainage pipe should be fully covered with 25-millimeter-thick sound-insulating rubber and plastic (a sound-insulating material like sponge).

Part 5:Indoor Door and Window Sound Insulation Measures

1. How to soundproof exterior windows

The exterior windows at home should be those that can insulate sound and reduce noise, with three specific requirements:

1. The glass uses "four-glass three-cavity single-silver Low-E glass" (simply put, it is four layers of glass with three hollow layers in between, which can also block ultraviolet rays and heat);
2. The hollow layer in the middle of the glass should be filled with inert argon gas (this gas can further enhance sound insulation and thermal insulation effects);
3. The window frames are made of H98A series heat-insulating aluminum alloy profiles (which are both strong and can reduce heat transfer and noise).

2. How to soundproof the entrance door

The entrance door should also focus on sound insulation, with two key designs:

1. The door is sealed with "four-channel airtight inlaid airbag-structured EPDM rubber strips" (the four-channel rubber strips can better block gaps, the airbag structure provides a tighter seal, and the EPDM material is durable and anti-aging);
2. The door frame and door leaf should be designed to interlock with each other. The interior of the door is filled with "all-water fluorine-free polyurethane foam" material, and an additional 12-millimeter-thick rock wool sound insulation board is required (multiple designs work together to improve sound insulation effect).

Part 6:Air Conditioning Equipment Sound Insulation Measures

The air conditioning equipment at home should also be properly soundproofed to avoid noise during operation. There are four main measures:

1. Residential buildings are uniformly designed with central air conditioning, and the installation location of the air conditioning outdoor unit should be far away from frequently used and resting spaces such as living rooms and bedrooms;
2. For the fresh air system of the air conditioner, equipment with low noise should be chosen;
3. The air inlet and outlet of the air conditioner should be equipped with professional sound-absorbing hoses (which can reduce the noise generated by air flow);
4. Rubber damping pads should be added to the base of the air conditioner and the hanger used to hang the air conditioner (which can reduce the vibration noise generated when the air conditioner is running).

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