noise problem

paularose

Can anyone advise or help re my house. I live in a semi d house which I bought last year. The noise level between adjoining houses in really clear. I can hear conversatiions, micorwave, children talking etc. On a number of occasions I woke in the middle of the night to a crying child only to discover it wasn't my own! Do I have any rights to request the developer return and rectify this problem? Can I do anything, I can't afford to sound proof the adjoining walls my self. Any help or advise would be appreciated.
thanks

LegacyUser

I once heard my neighbour puking in the jax!! Must've had a rough night!
I hear the woman on the other side roar every morning at her boyfriend.
I think in mid terraced houses you can expect a lot of noise to travel.

Hornet

Paularose,

it is a VERY long shot: But have you checked if there is a Homebond Guarantee for the house? MAYBE it could qualify as a major structural defect if the house is built so that even basic soundproofing has been neglected. It probably would need a solicitor to look at the case and I am not sure who could help you. But if there was a Homebond Guarantee, I would contact the National House Building Guarantee Company Ltd to find out more.

Otherwise an experienced solicitor might be able to advise, but don't ask me where to find one with that type of expertise.

Not much help, but the best _I_ can come up with.

--Hornet

paularose

thanks hornet,
I contacted a few people today and hopefully something can be done.

Victor

A friend bought a timber framed house with no solid wall between the two houses. I was able to bang on the party wall and shout and she was unable to hear me from the other side of the wall. It definitely sounds like you have a problem with the construction.

That said some noise is inevitable, but it would need to be at a shouting level.

sineadmcgrath1

Hi Paularose

did you ever find a solution to your noise problem. I recently purchased a house in Galway and have the same issue. Can hear everything that goes on next door, not sleeping, going insane.....

cheers

Sinéad

paularose

Hi sineadmcgrath,
I am currently looking into the problem. I did discover that homebond do not cover sound problems. Apparently it is up to the Dept.of Environment, builder and owner. I have wrote to each of these and have had contact with D.of E. but not the builder. There may be a sound engineer coming out to the house to do some tests, but nothing confirmed yet. Stillllll waiting. I don't know about you, but myself and my neighbours can hear each other including conversations. Lucky enouth though, my neighbours are very nice people. Hope everything works out for you, keep in touch.

sinabhuil

Hello,

I have a similair problem in the house I am living in at the moment, when i bought it 2 years ago I mentioned to the builders that the walls between the houses seemed extremely thin, they said that is the way new houses are now, and that older houses which have concrete walls are more solid but are harder to heat. After 2 years I have just learnt that this level of noise is not actually normal, and that a few people in the estate have gotten decibel tests done which have failed. The people concerned have sinced moved on, so if anyone knows of anyone or a company that will do such a test if they could post a reply to myself or the board I'd appreciate it.

Automan

Ask your builder for a copy of the sound proofing cert. Read this at the following link:

http://www.ripoffireland.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Victor

The Building Control section in your local council is responsible.

samo

It does seem to be something that goes with the territory with your standard semi-d, was warned about this by other semi-d owners who experienced it! I lived in a timber framed mid terraced house for 4 years and didnt hear a squeak or a roar from either side in all that time, yet 2 years in a semi-d concrete is a different story, can hear chairs being moved in the titchen, conversations, even coughing from next door in the bedroom adjacent to us.

Unfortunately our 'new' house has passed the homebond 10 year guarantee so no recourse there so its something for thre forseeable future have to get used to, although I would be interested to hear how you get on.

paularose

Hi sinsbhuil,

I thought I would update you on the noise problem. I'm not sure if I mentioned previously, I had a sound test done and the airborne sound results were below the building code standards. I hired a solicitor to act on my behalf as I now had the proof. The developers maintained the plasterboard company were responsible and got them to send us a proposal to rectify the problem (the plasterboard company being the fall guys, therefore the developers dont get a bad name!). We agreed to accept the proposal based on some outlining conditions which they were to agree to, we are still waiting on their response, but it looks like the problem will be sorted in the near future. It took a year and half to get to this point! The moral of the story is, persistence and of course the sound test and a good solicitor (one of our conditions on the proposal was, all costs involved would be incurred by the developer in question). BTW, noise problems are not covered by homebond, as I discovered. best of luck, hope you get it sorted.