Ceiling and Soffit Insulation

Discover the full range of ROCKWOOL ceiling and soffit products and find out how they can benefit your project.

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Ceiling and Soffit Insulation

Ceiling and soffit insulation can help to create a safer, more comfortable internal environment for those working or living in commercial and residential buildings.

An essential part of any building structure – whether applied to suspended ceilings or soffits – it’s vital for retaining heat, reducing sound transfer and reducing the rate at which fire can spread.

Discover the range of ROCKWOOL ceiling and soffit products – and how they can benefit your project.

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Why do we need ceiling or soffit insulation?

As cool air rises, it will easily escape through an uninsulated ceiling/soffit. The same is true for both sound and fire.

Insulated ceiling panels, tiles and grid suspension systems – as well as our other forms of insulation products – can improve the thermal comfort, acoustic performance and fire safety of entire rooms and floors. For information on ceiling panels learn more about ROCKFON – part of the ROCKWOOL Group.

Buildings with internal insulation can deliver significant energy savings and greater thermal performance, making multi-storey developments comfortable for living and working¹.

There are three main types of ceiling or soffit insulation:

Car park ceiling – High density boards with an optional coating or wood-fibre finish that can be painted or plastered. Boards are glued or mechanically fixed to the ceiling. This enhances the ceiling’s aesthetics as well as its thermal, acoustic, and fire resilience – ideal for protecting properties above.
Basement or cellar ceiling – Very similar to the car park ceiling products, but with a greater focus on domestic use and requirements.
Suspended ceiling – Commonly used in intermediate floors, a new ceiling is created underneath the load bearing floor from a wooden or metal structure. Light weight rolls or slabs are applied to improve the thermal, acoustic, and fire performance.

Benefits of ROCKWOOL ceiling or soffit insulation include:

Cool retention² - stopping cool air from passing through a floor
Acoustic absorption² - eliminating long reverberation time
Fire resilient properties³ - reducing the risk of a fire spreading
Reduced energy bills – which can help alleviate financial issues associated with hot homes⁴

Relevant resources

Calculator and savings

Cool air escapes through basement and cellar ceilings – and an uninsulated apartment ceiling will lose heat to the upper neighbour. Insulating your ceilings can quickly lead to energy savings, depending on the size and type of property.

To work out how many insulated ceiling panels, you require for your ceiling, calculate the m² surface area. Include a small percentage for installation losses.

Suspended ceilings in intermediate floors also improve acoustic performance and fire safety – helping to reduce the amount of damage and disruption caused by these, and related costs⁵.

Use our ROCKWOOL U-value calculator to determine the thermal performance of the building’s ceilings and possible cost savings. For more details on technical specifications, visit our ROCKSPEC Specification Toolkit.

Learn about energy efficiency

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Why choose ROCKWOOL solutions?

ROCKWOOL insulation is made from natural stone wool and harnesses its power to help reduce heating and cooling costs, maintaining steady temperature within rooms.

Various ROCKWOOL products are available, from acoustic ceiling panels to ceiling insulation slabs and rolls, suitable for use in different properties.

Whether your project is an uninsulated apartment or a commercial new build, these offer a simple and effective solution.

ROCKWOOL insulation utilises the seven strengths of stone⁶, making products:

Acoustic absorbing – ideal for ceiling sound insulation
Cool air retaining
Fire resistant
Water repellent
Cost-effective and robust
Reusable and recyclable

ROCKWOOL products

ROCKWOOL ceiling insulation achieves high fire resistance for up to two hours or more, which is especially good for car park and publicly accessible areas. In combination with the remaining floor construction, it enables complete silence in the room above.

Roger Peeters

ROCKWOOL Group Product Manager

Case studies

The challenge

The UK’s Royal Academy of Music set developers a significant floor, wall and ceiling sound insulation challenge when renovating its London venue. The Susie Sainsbury Theatre was refurbished with the new 100-seat Angela Burgess Recital Hall – and renovations to 14 practice and dressing rooms, as well as five new percussion studios, a jazz room and control suite.

OPCOs to use a local, relevant case study if available

The solution

The Royal Academy worked with engineering consultancy firm Arup to create spaces isolated in terms of acoustics and sound transfer. All Metal Roofing – working on the project – specified ROCKWOOL insulation boards and slabs: “We knew we could trust ROCKWOOL insulation for its performance and acoustics properties.”

The results

The renovation was a huge success, with additional space for the Royal Academy to comfortably hold concerts and events. The project was completed in 2018 and awarded RIBA London Building of the Year and AJ Retrofit of the Year.

Find more case studies

Royal Academy of Music, Building, Leisure, HARDROCK Multi-fix (DD), RWA45

We are delighted with the finished result. Working with ROCKWOOL solutions to understand and guarantee the sound performance of the insulation was a crucial part of the project.

Richard Shanahan

Director, All Metal Roofing

Installation

There are various ways to install soundproof ceiling insulation. Suspended acoustic ceiling panels, roll and slabs can be slotted between the rafters of a suspended ceiling. They can be placed on top of the ceiling, or you can glue or mechanically fix slabs against the underside of the load bearing construction, providing the required performance level.

Key tips

Measure the area – Work out how much insulation you need based on the size of the area to keep costs down.
Decide the focus – Depending on the property, you may require sound absorbing ceiling panels more than those offering better thermal retention (in the first floor of a multi-storey building, for example).
Insulate from above – Access can be easier if you insulate the floor from above where possible, having a similar effect to insulating a ceiling. This is especially true when working within the same property.

Inspiration and guides for professionals

Get 16 Renovation Cases

This case study bundle includes:

29 pages of our best 2018-19 projects
Acoustic renovation in both public buildings and private
Bringing new life into old buildings with facade panels
Improving fire safety and wellbeing in high-rises and historical buildings
Reducing noise and flooding with innovative stone wool solutions

Sustainability and energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is a prime focus of ROCKWOOL insulation – designed to improve the thermal performance of any building.

This increased indoor comfort can help buildings meet and surpass the requirements of local living standards and sustainability schemes.

All our products are made from volcanic rock – one of the most sustainable sources on the planet. Annually, the earth produces 38,000 times more volcanic rock than is used to create stone wool⁷. Circularity is also key, with reusable and recyclable materials at the heart of our products.

Discover more about our sustainability commitment.

8 facts about the circularity of stone wool