Soundproofing in a well built house

Yellow_Fern

There is a rake of informative threads on the site on soundproofing, especially on noise pollution in homes with poorly-built party walls. The situation that I am interested in, is not this problem. What concerns me is structure-borne sounds in a well-built house. The house is a block build and its party wall is a block on the flat wall that is plastered on both sides with metal studs and plasterboard. The wall performs well at blocking the bulk of everyday noise but the neighbours front door slamming and furniture moving does create annoying noise in the living room. I called one well known soundproofing company and after a two minute phone call, they abruptly advised me that nothing could be done. I understand that structure-borne sound is much harder to solve retrofit but can really nothing be done to reduce it?

Gumbo

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

There is a rake of informative threads on the site on soundproofing, especially on noise pollution in homes with poorly-built party walls. The situation that I am interested in, is not this problem. What concerns me is structure-borne sounds in a well-built house. The house is a block build and its party wall is a block on the flat wall that is plastered on both sides with metal studs and plasterboard. The wall performs well at blocking the bulk of everyday noise but the neighbours front door slamming and furniture moving does create annoying noise in the living room. I called one well known soundproofing company and after a two minute phone call, they abruptly advised me that nothing could be done. I understand that structure-borne sound is much harder to solve retrofit but can really nothing be done to reduce it?

Pretty much correct.
It would have to be designed into the fabric of the build.

antix80

If it's only the front door you should ask your neighbour not to slam it. Sometimes turning the key as they close it, or fixing whatever resistence there may be that makes them feel they need to slam the door closed.

How often do they move furniture that it's part of the issue?

Yellow_Fern

antix80 wrote: »

If it's only the front door you should ask your neighbour not to slam it. Sometimes turning the key as they close it, or fixing whatever resistence there may be that makes them feel they need to slam the door closed.

How often do they move furniture that it's part of the issue?

Their neighbours are nice. Maybe I could find them some kind of rubber or foam strip that take the bang out of their door. Their door is a ultratech timber MJ door.

There is a distant shuddering every so often. I don't know if its furniture moving, headboards or what. It is not loud so I doubt there is any compliance issue but it is irritating.

Yellow_Fern

Gumbo wrote: »

Pretty much correct.
It would have to be designed into the fabric of the build.

I see. Decoupling the plasterboard or filling the gaps behind the plasterboard with mineral wool wouldn't make a meaningful difference?

I am learning that soundproofing is so complex. I have conflicting opinions about the need to fill voids with highly dense mineral wool vs using low mass mineral wool which supposedly is better due to 'mass-spring-mass principle' by preventing sound bridges. Interesting stuff!

Lumen

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

I am learning that soundproofing is so complex. I have conflicting opinions about the need to fill voids with highly dense mineral wool vs using low mass mineral wool which supposedly is better due to 'mass-spring-mass principle' by preventing sound bridges. Interesting stuff!

The acoustic mineral wool I've seen isn't "highly dense" enough to conduct vibrations.

Sound bridges surely have to be solid timber, metal, plaster, or block.

SC024

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Their neighbours are nice. Maybe I could find them some kind of rubber or foam strip that take the bang out of their door. Their door is a ultratech timber MJ door.

There is a distant shuddering every so often. I don't know if its furniture moving, headboards or what. It is not loud so I doubt there is any compliance issue but it is irritating.

ask them to take things a little bit slower?

bobbyy gee

Soundproof walls
https://www.thespruce.com/does-soundproof-drywall-really-work-1821484#:~:text=There%20are%20several%20brands%20of,eight%20layers%20of%20standard%20drywall.

bobbyy gee

Sound proof flat
https://www.insulationexpress.co.uk/guides/acoustic-insulation/how-to-soundproof-an-apartment/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20best%20ways,as%20it%20produces%20great%20results.