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acoustic insulation under tile?

Troost Avenue | Posted in Construction Techniques on August 5, 2008 06:19am

I want to lay ceramic or stone tile over the concrete slab floor in my high-rise condo. Management is concerned about sound transmission and wants some kind of acoustic barrier between the tile and the slab. I’m afraid that anything less than a solid underlayment will cause the tile or grout to crack. Any suggestions on what to use? What acoustic efficiency can I expect?

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  1. wane | Aug 05, 2008 03:40pm | #1

    ask management how tile is any different than concrete?, I don't know of a single apt around here that doesn't have tile in it ...

    1. Troost Avenue | Aug 05, 2008 05:56pm | #2

      The point is that no one walks on the bare concrete. In our building it's almost always covered by carpet with pad or by a floating floor over an acoustic membrane. Tile is limited to bathrooms. In a previous building the jerk next door installed tile throughout, directly on the slab, in spite of the rule against it. We could hear every click of their shoes and every scrape when they moved furniture until they were required to put down carpet runners and area rugs. From experience, I can understand management's concern.

  2. User avater
    lindenboy | Aug 05, 2008 06:47pm | #3

    Soundseal has a product throught their IMPACTA line call CeraZorb.  It is engineered for using between the substrate and ceramic tile.  We have specified it once on a project that never happened ; )

    In case the CeraZorb is not a crack isolation membrane as well, you should also employ an anti-crack / waterproofing membrane, such as nobleseal, DALseal or Laticrete's liquid applied Hydro Ban (awesome stuff!).

    http://www.soundseal.com/impacta/impacta-home.shtml

    Good luck!

    "It depends on the situation..."



    Edited 8/5/2008 11:48 am ET by lindenboy

  3. fingersandtoes | Aug 06, 2008 06:46pm | #4

    Mapei makes a peel and stick membrane for this called Mapesonic SM. There are also rubber sound isolation mats like Sound Down. Both are rated for use under tile and double as crack reducers. These products are very common now as most new condominiums include them in their agreements.

    1. Troost Avenue | Aug 06, 2008 11:02pm | #5

      Sounds really good. Do you anyone else out there have experience with it?

      1. fingersandtoes | Aug 07, 2008 02:58am | #7

        Even without the acoustic properties, these underlays are recommended to provide a bond break between the concrete and the tile which prevents cracking. If you look at tiling sites like JohnBridges they all use some variation on them.

  4. migraine | Aug 07, 2008 12:45am | #6

    From what I remember when I did a few penthouses in Los Angeles, and Westwood, the flooring contractors used a panel that had about  1/8" tightly compressed fiberglass and I believe the other part of the board was honeycomb.  Went down like regular ply(with glue/screws) and then either plywood on top(and then wood floors, (if I remember correctly)  or a mud bed was floated for tile.

     

    Maybe this helps???

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