Acoustic Walls

Acoustic Panels for party brick wall (Upto 13db)

Acoustic panels can be an effective and cheap solution to damping airborne noise passed through a brick party wall. Due to advances in acoustic damping technology, they create a balance between increasing the mass of the wall transmitting the airborne noise, and a spring type action brought on by the air caught in a special acoustic mineral wool layer. Dependent on manufacturer, acoustic panels may increase your acoustic damping by up to 13db.

Most acoustic panels, are derived by a process that combines a mineral wool type layer, directly bonded to a second layer of acoustic plasterboard. This solution is generally targeted at party walls consisting of at least 100mm of brick (44db – 48db). Acoustic panels are not suitable for breeze block type party walls, or stud / wooden frame type walls due to their specific acoustic properties.

Upgrade a stud wall to an acoustic stud wall (Upto 17db)

Upgrading an existing stud wall can be a great space saver, requiring little extra space to be consumed by having a full acoustic wall. By removing one side of the original stud wall plasterboard, the original stud wall can be used in conjunction with various products all designed to add their own damping properties.

By fixing U rails to the existing stud frame work, once one side of plasterboard is removed, a double boarded acoustic side can be attached to the rails giving around 12db of damping to the new wall. To increase this to around 17db, the use of acoustic mineral wool between batons and acoustic membrane over frame, can be added before fixing the new double board acoustic layer.

The spring like action of the U rails, in addition to the mineral wool, acoustic membrane and double board acoustic layer, offer a great 17db improvement to an existing stud wall, without imposing on any extra space into the room.

Acoustic walls for all party wall types (Upto 22db)

Unlike acoustic panels, an acoustic wall can be used in conjunction with party walls constructed of any type of material, offering a solution for stud, wood, breeze block and brick construction.

Construction of an acoustic wall is completely down to the level of acoustic damping that is required, using an array of products all designed to add their own levels of damping. The bare minimum required for an acoustic wall would be wall batons, U rails and acoustic plasterboard, used to step the new acoustic wall away from the transmission wall, offering a spring like action to the wall to prevent radiant transmission.

In addition to the acoustic wall, which offers around 14db – 16db of acoustic damping, by means of U rails and acoustic plasterboard, acoustic mineral wool and acoustic membrane can also be added for a further 5db - 6db improvement. By filling the gaps between the wall batons with acoustic mineral wool, and laying the extra lining of acoustic membrane, you should be able to achieve an approx total of 22db total damping.

Additional acoustic stud wall (Upto 30db)

One of the most extreme methods of airborne noise damping for walls, is to introduce a second wall slightly in front of the original wall. Whilst this is the most extreme giving the best results, labour, materials, space and cost are all a significant factor, making it a very expensive solution that will have a detrimental effect on your space.

Think of this like a double wall being separated by an air cavity, where the first wall is the original and the second is a stud wall spaced approx 25mm away from the original wall to provide the cavity.

First a stud wall frame is created, suitably spaced from the original wall to provide the cavity required. In between each baton in the new stud wall, the space is filled with acoustic mineral wool. Next comes an acoustic membrane overlay, fixed to the batons, covering the entire stud wall frame and fixed at the batons. Next comes U rails, offering the spring type action necessary to separate the acoustic plaster board from the stud wall frame. The final addition sees a double boarded acoustic plasterboard layer, fixed directly to the U rails.

The additional acoustic wall, whilst carrying extra cost and limiting space requirements, is one of the most extreme solutions available, giving a standard flat wall finish. Whilst there are other solutions available for extreme reduction, this solution provides the best reduction of airborne noise whilst maintaining a flat plastered finish.