Sound insulation in wood floors
Sound insulation for your parquet floors should be chosen with care. If your insulation is insufficient, your downstairs neighbor may be bothered by the sound of steps or other impacts on your floor.
The sound insulation efficiency of wood floors and their insulating layer (DLw) is expressed in dB, and the thickness of your flooring plays a prominent role in insulating noises below: the thinner the wood, the better the results.
It is important to note that the quality of a structure and the thickness of the base have a significant impact of the quality of sound insulation. Ideally, an in-situ measurement should be made to identify the nT,w. The NRA (New Sound Legislation) requires 58dB5 (A) in a reception area: the lower the nT,w, the better the performance.
To avoid noise transmission between areas, the baseboard must be disconnected from the wood floor.
Please note that the efficiency of compressible acoustic insulation is reduced when flooring is weighed down by heavy furniture, which may also result in an unsightly deformation of the surface. Parquet floors on floating joists obtain excellent results.
If the building in which you intend to install a wood floor has the reputation of being “noisy”, please inform us of this when requesting your price quotation. Also, before placing your order with us, please check with your contractor, your property manager or a control office, as the case may be, to make sure that the techniques we intend to use will provide sufficient sound insulation.
You must first choose the type of installation for your parquet flooring, then you can choose the insulation
The professional opinion of Emois & Bois
Experience has shown us that, in most cases, parquet floors that are glued onto an insulating layer provide satisfactory sound insulation without creating any bothersome noises in your own home. Choosing thin wood flooring will give you the best sound insulation results.
| Surface type | TYPE OF PARQUET INSTALLATION | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floating | Full gluing | Glued insulation | Glue laying cord | Nailed on floating joists | |
| SCREED | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TILE, STONE, MARBLE | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OLD WOOD FLOOR, WOOD PANELS | Yes | Yes | Yes | x | x |
| IN-FLOOR HEATING | x | Yes | x | Yes | No |
| COOLING FLOOR | No | x | No | No | No |
| TYPE OF INSULATION | Sound insulation efficiency | ||||
| FIBERBOARD (5 mm) (8 mm) |
15 dB 15 dB |
15 dB* | 25 dB** | ||
| CORK 2 mm CORK 3 mm CORK 4 mm CORK PNM 15-30 x 8 and 15-30 |
10 dB 10/11 dB 12 dB 15 dB |
||||
| ADHEFLEX GLUE ACOUFLEX NA ACOUFLEX PH ACOUFLEX PC3 |
9 dB | 21 dB 19 dB 17 dB |
|||
| ALVEOLAR POLYURETHANE (RECPHONE PC 1244 R) | 19 dB | ||||
x In some cases only (please check with us)
* 5 mm Phaltex + 2 mm Cork
** + 40 mm THERMISOREL between joists
Please note that values in the above table can vary depending on the thickness and type of parquet.
The above data was gathered from documents of UFFEP, ISOROY, GUITTATERNA, RECITEL. For more precise information, we recommend consulting the DTU standards and regulations in force.
