How to soundproof a wall or ceiling

How to soundproof a party wall or neighbour wall
To soundproof the wall between you and your neighbours the excising wall needs to be covered, soundproofed, with a new stud wall in front of the wall that lets sound through. This new soundproofing wall ideally should not be able to transfer vibrations and therefore should be mounted without a rigid connection such as bolts or screws.

With most products this is a challenge, because they all require that you use bolts or screws to install the soundproofing wall. This means that the new wall is going to be connected to other walls, floor or ceiling, or in the worst case to all of them. These bolt or screws will transfer vibrations to the new soundproofing wall and eventually cause the same problem you started out with in the first place.

With Akoestikon Acoustic Studs this problem cannot occur. This is because Acoustic Studs are made of three parts, two MDF slats glued to each other, with at least 40 mm of vibration insulation foam in between. One slat is to be mounted to a wall or ceiling and the front slat is to mount a double layer of plasterboard to. This solution results in a real decoupled wall or ceiling which actually soundproofs a wall or ceiling against noise from neighbours.

Short description on how to soundproof a neighbour wall
On the product page of the Akoestikon Acoustic Studs we have a calculator so you can easily calculate which products and how much you need to soundproof a ceiling or wall. We also provide a downloadable user manual on how to install the Acoustic Studs. This manual is complete with pictures and easy to follow steps for soundproofing both walls and ceilings, to reduce neighbour noise. This short version to gives you an impression on how the Acoustic Studs should be mounted. If you are a bit of a 'handyman' it should pretty straight forward:

• Step 1: Mounting Polypress Strips
  Attach the self-adhesive strips to the floor, walls and ceiling. On these strips you place the Acoustic Studs and later on the double layer of plasterboard. These strips are there to avoid vibrations from the wall or ceiling you want to soundproof in to the new Akoestikon Stud wall/ceiling.
• Step 2: Mounting Akoestikon Acoustic Studs
  Next step is mounting the Acoustic Studs to a wall or ceiling with screws (and plugs when needed) with a space between each Stud of 60 cm, measured from the middle of a Stud to the next. In case of soundproofing a ceiling this space should be 30 cm from the middle of a Stud to the next.
• Step 3: Placing Akoestikon Insulation Wool
  This polyester wool is skin friendly and absorbs noise inside the soundproofed wall or ceiling. This acoustic filling is to avoid a sound box effect. It also improves the insulation of a room. No glue needed, Akoestikon Insulation Wool does not sag.
• Step 4: Mounting plasterboard
  Now that the insulation wool and studs are mounted to the wall or ceiling it's time to install a double layer of plasterboard. The Acoustic Studs are strong enough to carry the load of a triple layer of plasterboard when soundproofing a wall. A double layer usually does the trick just fine. Make sure that the plasterboard sheets are mounted crosswise, so the first layer horizontal and the second one vertical. This give more strength to the wall and seams are avoided.
• Step 5: Sealing seams
  When you used our manual you will see a seam surrounding the plasterboard sheets, use a sealant to fill the seams.
  Your wall is now soundproofed, and neighbour noise through the wall or ceiling is reduced.

How to calculate soundproofing materials for a wall or ceiling
Next to a user manual we also provide a calculator to calculate what you need to soundproof a wall or ceiling. Just choose what you want to soundproof, a wall or ceiling, choose a shape and fill in the dimensions, in centimetres! Below the calculator you can exactly see which products and which amount of soundproofing products you need. You can also see how many screws, plugs and plasterboard sheets you need, you can get those products and materials at a DIY or hardware store around the corner.

Questions about how to soundproof a wall or ceiling?
We hope that all above was clear enough, but if you have any questions about soundproofing please let let us know, we are happy to help and to improve our content.