amateur sound-proofing ideas - any suggestions ?

mikedublin

Anyone have any suggestions or ideas on "amateur" ways to soundproof part of a house (upstairs bedroom) ? Noise is coming from next door neighbours, so I've tried packing furniture against the common wall, but noise is still getting through

Joey the lips

Amature! really amature! I use to play drums. I insulated my wall with egg cartons and Carpet. It looked stupid but it worked.

gsxr1

If its that bad and you have the room.

frame a second wall with 3" timbers. leave an dead air gap between the 2 walls.
insulate with rock wool and double slab. There is other types of membranes you can add as well depending on budget. Thats the right wall to do it.


Egg cartons also work but I think they have to be in the offending room


you could also threaten your neighbors life. :pac:

slavetothegrind

i have the same problem but luckily my neighbours and i are both sensitive to this so we don't have tv in the bedroom etc however it is still very frustrating.
I am working the OH around to the permanent solution Gixer is getting at.

This , for me, involves removing the existing plasterboard on my wall ( dab'n'slab construction on a party wall of 9" on the flat unplastered makes the plasterboard act like a damn speaker. Cheap ass construction that really needs to be legislated against!)
In order to soundproof properly we need to eliminate the passage of air between the two houses. After this a gap, as gixer suggests, and then plasterboard layered.

So my plan would be to clear back to the wall, plaster this ( rough finish fine) to seal the blockwork and add mass, mass is importand as the heavier the wall the less prone it is to vibration and thereby noise transmission.
Then i propose to construct a wall 50mm away from the party wall and slab it with 2 layers acoustic plasterboard, taping and jointing is fine and cheaper, if you are not good at it it just means you will be sanding a lot.

Rockwool in the gap would be no harm!

remember though to pay attention to the sockets and such , seal any air gaps, the smallest gaps render the whole thing inefective!

This would be a huge improvement and i look forward to it myself!

There is no easier way to achieve the result, physics are against you here!

good luck and let us know how you get on!

Oh and if you suffer from a complete lack of ability with wood, like me:o, hire gixer or use metal stud for the partition.;)

lewis

Have you tried ear muff`s? Cheap and easy to wear and they dont bother your neibhours.

gsxr1

joeclif wrote: »

i have the same problem but luckily my neighbours and i are both sensitive to this so we don't have tv in the bedroom etc however it is still very frustrating.
I am working the OH around to the permanent solution Gixer is getting at.

This , for me, involves removing the existing plasterboard on my wall ( dab'n'slab construction on a party wall of 9" on the flat unplastered makes the plasterboard act like a damn speaker. Cheap ass construction that really needs to be legislated against!)
In order to soundproof properly we need to eliminate the passage of air between the two houses. After this a gap, as gixer suggests, and then plasterboard layered.

So my plan would be to clear back to the wall, plaster this ( rough finish fine) to seal the blockwork and add mass, mass is importand as the heavier the wall the less prone it is to vibration and thereby noise transmission.
Then i propose to construct a wall 50mm away from the party wall and slab it with 2 layers acoustic plasterboard, taping and jointing is fine and cheaper, if you are not good at it it just means you will be sanding a lot.

Rockwool in the gap would be no harm!

remember though to pay attention to the sockets and such , seal any air gaps, the smallest gaps render the whole thing inefective!

This would be a huge improvement and i look forward to it myself!

There is no easier way to achieve the result, physics are against you here!

good luck and let us know how you get on!

Oh and if you suffer from a complete lack of ability with wood, like me:o, hire gixer or use metal stud for the partition.;)

cheers man.

Another suggestion . when framing the second wall.

Build the stud on the ground. fix plaster board to the inside of the stud.

Erect the stud. Now plaster boarded on the inside.(should be heavy)

Insulate with rockwool.

double plasterboard staggering the boards.

tape and paint.

the 50mm air gap between should not be rockwooled.

the air gap cavity has the effect of deading the sound when sealed.

It really works. I have done it to someones house before.


I have an admission to make though.

I seen the method on Homes on Homes. LOL. Mike gave them bad builders a good lashing :pac:

mikedublin

Thanks very much for all the suggestions. I don't have enuf money or experience to do any actual building work myself, but so far I've put thick curtins up on the party walls, moved carpets and put old newspapers under them. I'm going shopping for some eggs (for the cartons), and stuffed some shelves with furry cushions !

gsxr1

mikedublin wrote: »

Thanks very much for all the suggestions. I don't have enuf money or experience to do any actual building work myself, but so far I've put thick curtins up on the party walls, moved carpets and put old newspapers under them. I'm going shopping for some eggs (for the cartons), and stuffed some shelves with furry cushions !

good luck with that ya nutter:D;)