Soundproofing 3bed semi-d

cmac8

Does anyone have experience of soundproofing a party wall in a 3bed semi-d? We are hearing noises from next door like voices and babies crying and just wondering if soundproofing the party wall actually works?

EmmaMurray2016

cmac8 wrote: »

Does anyone have experience of soundproofing a party wall in a 3bed semi-d? We are hearing noises from next door like voices and babies crying and just wondering if soundproofing the party wall actually works?

Is this a fairly new build ?

cmac8

The house was built in 2002

EmmaMurray2016

cmac8 wrote: »

The house was built in 2002

If you come across something that's good for soundproofing would you mind sticking it up here when you do. Be good to know cause when I buy I'll probably want to do the same.

April 73

I know someone who did it with a house built in 2005. From a noise perspective it worked but from memory it ran them to five figures to do it.

Gumbo

EmmaMurray2016 wrote: »

Is this a fairly new build ?

beerbaron wrote: »

Does the age of the house affect the advice youll give the OP ?

New builds, now have to carry out sound tests to confirm compliance with Part E of the building regulations.

Although, the noise the OP is hearing is what I think normal. I have a timber frame house built in 2006 and would hear these noises from time to time, and my mama house is block built with 215mm solid block party wall and during the night we can here the neighbour using the bathroom.

Some noises just travel through the building fabric and some are air bourne and you'll still hear most of them after spending 10k on sound insulation upgrades!

cmac8

Thanks for the responses. Be great to hear from someone that got it done and the experience before and after. Just want to get all the facts before we make our decision

Cuddlesworth

cmac8 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. Be great to hear from someone that got it done and the experience before and after. Just want to get all the facts before we make our decision

It really depends on how the noise is getting in, what type of noise it is and what level you want to go to in stopping the sounds. Putting up a stud wall airgapped with sound insulation boards would remove that type of noise. It would also lose you at least 6 inches on the partition wall and cost a bomb to do across the house.

cmac8

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

It really depends on how the noise is getting in, what type of noise it is and what level you want to go to in stopping the sounds. Putting up a stud wall airgapped with sound insulation boards would remove that type of noise. It would also lose you at least 6 inches on the partition wall and cost a bomb to do across the house.

When you say bomb how much are you we talking and any idea of anyone that had the job done? Appreciate that in a semi detached you are going to hear some noise from next door but be nice not to to be able to hear their conversations from our living room. Impact noise while not ideal, I could probably live with. If we do go down the expensive route, want to make sure it works. Will it definitely get rid of noises like talking, kids crying etc

Cuddlesworth

cmac8 wrote: »

When you say bomb how much are you we talking and any idea of anyone that had the job done? Appreciate that in a semi detached you are going to hear some noise from next door but be nice not to to be able to hear their conversations from our living room. Impact noise while not ideal, I could probably live with. If we do go down the expensive route, want to make sure it works. Will it definitely get rid of noises like talking, kids crying etc

Get quotes and a speck-list of what they are proposing to do. Then decide for yourself. Any quote I give you would be horribly off or what somebody else would give you would be off because we have not inspected and measured your house for your circumstances.

mvt

I put up soundboard directly onto a wall in a very old house before & then plastered & painted it.

Tbh wasn't very impressed with the end result, say you would need to have a cavity filled with sound insulation & then soundboard to have a more positive effect.

You could try doing one room at a time to see if it works & maybe that would be more cost effective.

cmac8

mvt wrote: »

I put up soundboard directly onto a wall in a very old house before & then plastered & painted it.

Tbh wasn't very impressed with the end result, say you would need to have a cavity filled with sound insulation & then soundboard to have a more positive effect.

You could try doing one room at a time to see if it works & maybe that would be more cost effective.

Thanks. I would be going down the route of getting someone with experience to look at it. Got a quote of €1500 per room and wondering is that expensive etc?

mvt

Sounds a bit high (nice pun )

really depends on whats actually been done,it might be worth it if you are satisfied with the result but for only doing one wall of a room I would expect the cost to be less.

are you located in Dublin city?

Not doing that type of work myself atm but can recommend another good guy to take a look if you are interested.

.

Crow92

Just don't forget sound bleeds through the smallest of gaps, you can't just do the interior face of a wall, you need to do the cavity, otherwise the sound can bleed through the floor upstairs floor and and go up/down. Also, make sure the person doing it is sealing between the sound insulated boards or again it'll find its way through.
STC rating (sound transmission coefficient) is a good measure to look at when seeing what product to go with.

tradesman

Doesn't anybody ever question why soundproofing should need to be done at all? Architects & the like should be designing all party walls to such a high spec that virtually no sound would pass through. Its like saying I have a leak in my plumbing but not to worry it is only a small leak it will be ok! LOL If you bought a brand new car & there was a draught coming through the window seal you would be straight back onto the garage complaining. So why is it that houses seem to be a different scenario?

EmmaMurray2016

tradesman wrote: »

Doesn't anybody ever question why soundproofing should need to be done at all? Architects & the like should be designing all party walls to such a high spec that virtually no sound would pass through. Its like saying I have a leak in my plumbing but not to worry it is only a small leak it will be ok! LOL If you bought a brand new car & there was a draught coming through the window seal you would be straight back onto the garage complaining. So why is it that houses seem to be a different scenario?

I've often thought about this also. A Mortgage is the biggest loan you will ever have to pay back.

I'm aware noise will be there to a certain extent that's normal but when you are living in an apartment where you can hear everything and neighbour snore ?! Wtf like ?!?!? Surely to god that's not right. Esp for €350,000 + houses/apartments.

Gumbo

tradesman wrote: »

Doesn't anybody ever question why soundproofing should need to be done at all? Architects & the like should be designing all party walls to such a high spec that virtually no sound would pass through. Its like saying I have a leak in my plumbing but not to worry it is only a small leak it will be ok! LOL If you bought a brand new car & there was a draught coming through the window seal you would be straight back onto the garage complaining. So why is it that houses seem to be a different scenario?

What would you suggest as a wall build up?
Part E (Sound) has been updated for new builds, but remember the OP is talking about a house that was built many years ago under older Regulations.

Most party walls now don't have the joists built into them, so this alone reduces sound transfer ten fold.

tradesman

I believe that all houses should be built independently of the neighboring property. Ground floors should not be continuous or joined in any way. It is very hard to completely soundproof an older property all you can do is reduce the noise level. There are some good products out there which all help towards noise reduction but to do the job 100% is very invasive on a property. If a refurbishment of a property was being undertaken that would be the time to put it right. If anyone needs advice on soundproofing pm me & i will put you in touch with the right person

loyatemu

tradesman wrote: »

I believe that all houses should be built independently of the neighboring property.

what about apartments?

building standards in the this country have historically been pretty poor, but that doesn't help the OP. His house was built 14 years ago, I doubt he can pursue the architect or the builder.

tradesman

There are ways of stopping sound transmission - otherwise how can you have soundproof recording studios etc? But they cost money! wouldn't it be better to pay an extra say €5000 - €10,000 on the original purchase price to have a virtually sound proof apartment / house rather than suffer the cost & upheaval later on when you can't put up with the noise from the neighbouring apartment

imp1

Standards were not always poor, just not followed, which is a different matter. With the new 2014 building regs, you can't get a completion certificate if you fail the acoustic testing, it's different to the air tightness /thermal testing which has different levels A/B/C etc, with acoustics it is a simple pass / fail.
Retro fitting is always more difficult and expensive, but if the current situation is very bad, then an improvement can be achieved quickly. There are a host of materials available, but the first step for the OP should imo, be getting specialist advice or testing.

Cuddlesworth

loyatemu wrote: »

what about apartments?

building standards in the this country have historically been pretty poor, but that doesn't help the OP. His house was built 14 years ago, I doubt he can pursue the architect or the builder.

Lol, no we haven't. We have a history of cheap nasty flooring badly installed. You could stop 99% of apartment noise problems if you implemented a law that allowed management company's to actually enforce flooring standards in apartments.

Idbatterim

I saw a canadian house renovation programme and it had exactly the same issue as you OP. they did the job and measured the difference in sound transmission before and after and the difference was incredible.

Adding more sound deadening plasterboard slabs, would be the cheapest method. Would be cheap, but not sure how effective.

Other options as discussed is new stud partition, with a gap between it and the existing party wall. You will lose more space with this option, obviously... but it would probably offer better sound protection...

take a look at the below link op...

http://www.soundinsulation.ie/57-wall-soundproofing

What would you suggest as a wall build up?
Part E (Sound) has been updated for new builds, but remember the OP is talking about a house that was built many years ago under older Regulations.

the last three apartments I have lived in, in Dublin, have been a joke for sound transmission. It caused me to break the lease on the last one and I would rule them out entirely now. They are simply not an option.Sound transmission was the one thing about apartment living, that drove me spare.

Concrete walls diving the party walls for a start. on top of that, possibly these sound deadening plasterboard slabs on top of that. Floor sound deadening also critical. I dont know how much extra this would cost, be it is very small fry in terms of the entire cost and priceless in my opinion...