How to make noise insulation of a floor under porcelain tile
I want to make a soundproofing floor in a new building. No screed yet. The flooring in the apartment will be granite. Screed thickness not more than 7 cm. How to do everything right? Thank!
Oleg.
Expert Answer
Good day!
Oleg, for soundproofing the floor in a new apartment, you can use the method that is used when installing underfloor heating. Thus, you can kill two birds with one stone - to reduce the noise level in the room and at the same time eliminate the possibility of heat leakage into the ceiling.
Based on the thickness of the screed indicated by you, not more than 7 cm, the procedure and technology for the work will be as follows:
- The concrete base is thoroughly cleaned. Large floor defects are repaired with ordinary mortar.
- Plates of extruded polystyrene 20–25 mm thick are laid on the floor. Unlike regular polystyrene foam, this type of material has a higher density - in hardness it approaches softwood. In the distribution network, plates of extruded polystyrene can be easily found by the pink or green shade in which the material is painted at the factory.
- A building mesh with a mesh size of 100 mm is laid on top of the insulation - it will serve as a reinforcing structure. It would be ideal to install a reinforcing structure at a height of 10-15 mm from polystyrene plates, however, if it is also planned to install a warm floor system, this requirement can be omitted. At the same time, the floor heating circuit is attached to the steel mesh with plastic clamps.
- Beacons are installed and screed is cement-sand mortar 30–40 mm thick.
As you can see, the remaining space is more than enough for covering with porcelain stoneware, even if the thickness of the tile adhesive layer reaches 10 mm. We recommend that you install a water or cable heating system at the same time as installing the floor. Today, the costs of a warm floor system are not so overwhelming, but the comfort that it gives in our latitudes is difficult to overestimate. To save floor heating circuits, it is possible to lay not continuous, but only in the aisles and recreation areas. By the way, their installation does not affect the thickness of the screed, so you can easily meet the acceptable parameters.
