Pipe Soundproofing

For all its merits, modern plastic pipes, regardless of where they are used (for cold or hot water supply, sewerage, heating), have a significant drawback. It consists of low sound insulation. That is, when water or drains move through a pipe, this is audible not only if you are in close proximity to the pipe, but also at a significant distance (for example, in the next room). Therefore, often residents of high-rise buildings and other houses are often interested in the issue of soundproofing pipes in their living space.

In fact, there are a lot of methods for soundproofing pipes. One of the easiest and cheapest is to wrap the problematic pipe with mineral wool about 20 mm thick. More is possible if circumstances permit (pipe installation site, additional building structures). At the same time, it is necessary to wrap not only the pipe itself, but also the places of its connection to the main (wiring crosses). From there also comes a lot of noise during the movement of water.

For fixing mineral wool on a pipe, crimp or tape clamps of the appropriate diameter are usually used. Such clamps can be bought ready-made or made independently from nylon or galvanized (important !!!) steel. If there are no drywall protective structures around the pipe, then after installing mineral wool on them, it makes sense to think about building them. This will be a great aesthetic solution.

The soundproofing of pipes will be more effective if you not only take care of it directly in your own apartment, but also involve neighbors above and below in this. The overall soundproofing of the riser will absorb sound much better. A wholesale purchase of soundproofing materials will provide you with material savings. However, remember that when winding pipes with mineral wool, you need to leave access to technological hatches and meters, which must be accessed periodically.

As for the soundproofing of sewer pipes, they use denser mineral wool (for example, basalt density of the order of 60 ... 70 kg / m³), or rubber, foam rubber, viscous membranes. This is due to the large diameter of the drain pipes.

Wool and similar materials must not be used for soundproofing heating pipes! Instead, sound-absorbing boxes are used. For example, from GKL, OSB, chipboard.