Soundproofing alcove

Hannibal

I have a chimney breast in my living room and the bedroom above, with an alcove to the left of it. The house was built in the mid 50's and I'd guess the party wall is a standard cavity block.

My neighbours tv is directly behind the alcove in the sitting room and it is particularly noisy especially in my bedroom.

To reduce the noise in the bedroom I am thinking of using insulating in between the floor joists and the building a frame 3x2 and filling it with insulation and double plasterboard slabbed.

Has anyone any experience of this and would it work to reduce it?

Mellor

It will help to a degree. Lining the wall upstairs will add resistance to that pathway.

For best results I'd do the downstairs alcove too. As sound coming in that way can still do straight up to the bedroom. Or if insulating the floor, do it horizontally for at least 1200mm

Calahonda52

This ia a hard one to solve.

The denser the material you use and the more airtight the construction the better

Do the first floor joists run ?? to the party wall or are they embedded in the party wall?

May not be possible but the frame should stand off the party wall as much as possible and not be fixed to it

What is the gf construction

Hannibal

GF is a suspended floor. I was planning on fixing the frame to the chimney breast and my front wall, the front wall has a 47mm insulated slab on it.

I think the joists run to the party wall, I think they might be slightly embedded but I'm not sure

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122620673#Comment_122620673

I was planning on fixing the frame to the chimney breast and my front wall, the front wall has a 47mm insulated slab on it.

Correct, and presume you'll leave a gap between the frame and the party wall? Anything you can do to reduce vibrations travelling will help. Nothing will give you 100% soundproofing but what you want is to add mass, reduce vibrations and seal gaps anywhere you can. I used SoundBloc plasterboard (weighs a ton), Rockwool Acoustic and Soudal Fire & Acoustic foam.

Per post #2, if you can do the living room alcove too, it will make a big difference.

Calahonda52

Up rights at 300 and noggins at 600 will give small squares that won't act as drums

Lippok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122620774#Comment_122620774

Hi @Former Former Former , I have a similar issue with an old gentleman next next door, it seems he got his radio against the party wall area which is not plastered on our side, and I guess it isn't on his side either.
Tried to speak to him but nothing changed.
Looking for competent contractors who can help with an insulation job, any suggestions?

Thank you!

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123017296#Comment_123017296

From experience, if you ask a specialist soundproofing company, they will want to go the whole hog of building a new stud wall and filling the gap with insulation, thus losing 12-18 inches from your room. It's overkill (and will cost a few grand) but they don't want you coming back when the job is done saying "I can still hear my neighbour".

If you just want to put acoustic plasterboard on the party wall, any plasterer should be able to do that. If it's just a radio, that should be sufficient.