Soundproofing. Has anyone completed this?

BobbyD

I have seen some posting on this site from last year regarding soundproofing.
Someone was going to SP there bedroom due to noisy neighbours. The tread
finished but the poster never came back to say whether it was a success or not. I am also quite interested to see if anyone else out there has soundproofed there home.

fatherdougalmag

Sorry BobbyD.

Yes I eventually did install soundproofing on the entire party-wall side of the house and it has improved things. Now we only hear doors slamming and balls being kicked against the wall which is an improvement.

So I would recommend it if talking to your neighbour doesn't have any effect. You could always go in and ask them if they can hear you because you can hear them. What sorts of things do you hear?

Lex Luthor

I'm hearing a lot of people lately that I know with this issue of noise between adjoining houses....I'd be interested to know what housing estates & builders are involved...

fatherdougalmag

Indeed Lex it seems to be a recent phenomenon. In my case it was Durkan. I've been in a Kelland Homes house (built 2 years ago) and it seems solid enough. Party walls were well insulated (no hollowness). I think these were timber-frame structure so I'd imagine that might have had an effect.

In our case I believe it was the way they just blobbed the plasterboard onto the concrete brickwork. This introduced a cavity between the plasterboard and the brickwork. This cavity would have extended across the entire party wall. Any noise getting in there would just bounce between the brickwork and he plasterboard - on both sides of the wall - which probably made it sound much worse. The builder received a lot of guff about this but they didn't do anything for anybody. They said that they were building to spec. From memory, the building specifications regarding sound-proofing only say that acoustic insulation should prevent a reasonable amount of noise. But who's to say what a reasonable amount of noise is? TVs? Phones? Conversations! If a case was to be take it would cost a fair bit of money (couple of grand alone for tests) and builders aren't short of that stuff so it probably wouldn't be worth it.

In their defence, the builders did move away from the blobbed plasterboard approach and tried different methods. I believe they ended up just plastering the party wall.

Sound proofing is only one part of the solution. I think that it's a two-part solution - sound containment and sound proofing. It's as important to restrict the path of noise as it is to oppose it. For now, we rely on the neighbour to do their part by containing or controlling the noise generated but that doesn't always work. And, in some bad cases, it can result in un-neighbourly conduct and put a lot of strain on people who have to put up with them.

denise05

Hi Bobby D,

Did you get the soundproofing and did it work? Also how much did it cost and do you know if there is anything you can do against impact noise?? My main problem is doors being slammed which actually makes me jump out of my skin!

Any advice would be welcome!

D

golfgirl

Hi,

This is something I've been thinking about this week, cos 3 days in a row I had loud shouting and baby crying, what took the biscuit was the hoovering at midnight ... delivered a 'kindly refrain from' letter yesterday and I got a night's sleep lastnight, but have a feeling the problem is going to re-surface.

So, yes, let us know any info. on soundproofing, anyone, anyone ...

CJhaughey

I was provided with stuff called "acoustic felt" in the package of materials that we got to complete our house.
Basically it is a black strip of PE foam much the same as "jiffy" foam that is used as an underlay for timber floors.
It is stapled to the Ceiling, wall and floorplates of the timber studs before they are fixed in place.
I believe that this is used to stop high freq. sounds from being transmitted through any gaps between floor/ceiling and the plates.
upstairs the floor is high density Chipboard with a particularly big T+G that is screwed and glued down this should provide a quiet floor hopefully!
the walls should also be filled with Rockwool to further dampen sounds and finally all non-door walls should be double slabbed to provide a high density and thick layer.
if after all of this is no good, maybe a layer of soundproofing rubber type mat used between the first slab and the stud would be a possible solution.

patrido

as cjh mentioned, adding mass to absorb sounds, and adding rubber or similar materials to absorb vibration are a big part of the picture.

it's also worth looking to see if there are any obvious routes for flanking sounds. an example of flanking is the sound that travels if both you and a neighbour have your windows open. if you have an air vent very close to a neighbour's vent sound will travel through it in a similar way.

any opening between your attics, poor chimney construction, floor joists entering a party wall without the holes being sealed, even a party wall where the concrete blocks didn't have enough mortar in a few joints can all degrade the sound barrier, and will be difficult to troubleshoot. you could spend a fortune on sound insulation, and some sound will still get through any little gaps.

google for info on resilient bars, and "robust details"... they apply mostly to studded partitions, but a qualified expert might be able to employ some of the same principles to insulating a party wall.

sound is such a complex area that you need to call in the professionals. the trouble will be getting someone who will take the time to understand the true nature of the problem and find an appropriate solution, and not just throw up some rockwool and a few sheets of soundbloc.

cavan97

hi
i am in new house 6 months and have big problem with sound transfer in party wall. luckily my neighbour is a friend and can hear everything with us as well. we have asked the builder to look into it and he has stopped answering his phone. was speaking to the snagger and solicitor. apparantly under section e in building regulations the party wall should be of sufficient sound protection. our wall is a slab and dab job. if you go after the architect who signed it off they are liable. has anyone gone down this route
cavan 97

JAMMAN1701

Hey guys

I have just completed my home recording studio, Soundproofing and all back in November.

Here are a link to the video I posted of the soundproofing. It is a review and demo of how awesome and affordable this soundproofing was for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7brFRnP8jgI

Any questions just leave me a comment in the video