New builds and sound proofing expectation

Dee_LazyLady · 25-03-2021 11:05am #1

Hello everyone! My husband and I have been living in a relatively new estate in Dublin south side for the last two years. It was a new build that is finished pretty well, looks nice. Unfortunately for us, our neighbours are $%&£'s

They have a noisy dog who never stops, the gent has some anger issues and likes to shout, he's set up a home gym that he bashes away on every night which causes literally hours of disturbance to us. On top of this, we can hear more normal things like conversations, their water pump and TV. I've asked a few neighbours and they claim they hear these things with their neighbours too. When a neighbour opens or closes a blind, I can actually hear it clearly all over my home!

I've previously lived in various apartments and mid terraces over my years, and even with "bad" neighbours, I've never lived anywhere where I can hear the daily goings-on of a house next door. It's basically like having flatmates, not a neighbouring house! I've spoken to the company who built the house but they are having none of it - they are a bit dodgy, I'd be afraid to name the estate or the company!

Does anyone else live in a new build estate and have these issues? It seems like it's an open secret where I live, and people are afraid to make a big deal out of for fear of never being able to sell their home or being taken to court by the builder!

I think it's sad that such poor quality living is so expensive in this city.

Cuddlesworth · 25-03-2021 11:12am

A good finish looks good but hides everything. So much of good building is in the materials choice and the implementation.

I would say you would be best ripping the plaster on the adjoining wall and find out exactly what they did but one part of your post makes me think you should just sell and move. The gym part. Nothing in this world is ever going to stop the sound of weights being thrown around travelling through joined houses.

Dee_LazyLady · 25-03-2021 11:20am

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

A good finish looks good but hides everything. So much of good building is in the materials choice and the implementation.

I would say you would be best ripping the plaster on the adjoining wall and find out exactly what they did but one part of your post makes me think you should just sell and move. The gym part. Nothing in this world is ever going to stop the sound of weights being thrown around travelling through joined houses.

I've considered throwing one of the weights at his head, that might stop it

Giant weight plates and crappy houses make for miserable living! Moving is something definitely being considered.

Lantus · 25-03-2021 11:26am

Genuinely feel for you op. Building is still the biggest cowboy industry there is. Your options are to add sound insulation to the party wall. This will require stripping off the plasterboard and getting it installed. This requires very exacting installation and specification and an excellent knowledge of acoustics. It's the details and tiny gaps that cause issues not the big sheet they throw up. A very reputable firm should be appointed, not a builder who fancies his chances.

riclad · 25-03-2021 2:09pm

theres basic building regs , there seems to be no standards re levels of sound insulation , if you can hear your neighbours talking you have a problem.its buyer beware , you spend 300k plus on a house and you feel
as if you are living in a flat share .
it costs money to build good sound insulation between house,s
in my experience a 50 year old house is usually better than the average new build house in terms of privacy and levels of sound insualation.
my advice is ring up joe duffy or contact your td.
i think this is a very common problem, but most people do not want to say i bought a new house for 400k, and can hear the people next door talking or watching tv.
you can install sound proofing or else sell up.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/interiors/sound-proofing-hacks-for-a-quieter-home-1.3835282
thee needs to be new regs brought in re basic levels of sound proofing in all new builds especially housing ,apartments ,
like there are rulers re ber energy effeciency ratings

cubatahavana · 25-03-2021 2:59pm

We recently moved to a newly built semi D in south co Dublin. we have a somehow noisy 2 year old and our neighbours have a dog. We cannot hear each other (except in very anecdotical instances). We are impressed with the sound insulation. Having said this, I have heard of people hearing every move of their neighbours, both in new builds and older ones. Setting up a gym is a little bit inconsiderate in my opinion (you could set it up in a properly built garden shed).

Cuddlesworth · 25-03-2021 3:32pm

Lantus wrote: »

Genuinely feel for you op. Building is still the biggest cowboy industry there is. Your options are to add sound insulation to the party wall. This will require stripping off the plasterboard and getting it installed. This requires very exacting installation and specification and an excellent knowledge of acoustics. It's the details and tiny gaps that cause issues not the big sheet they throw up. A very reputable firm should be appointed, not a builder who fancies his chances.

You reasonably insulate against impact noise on that scale. Or even a grown man shouting indoors.

tscul32 · 25-03-2021 3:44pm

Our house is 30 years old. We moved in 10 years ago and when we were getting some work done in the first few months I got the builders to put sound proofing plaster board on the walls of the 2 bedrooms that adjoined the neighbours. We could hear conversations. There had been built in wardrobes that we had to remove to fix floor issues and the absence of the wardrobes highlighted the thinness of the walls. The plaster board sorted it. Just the ensuite when noise travel now, we can hear the squeaky tap in neighbour's en suite. Neither ourselves or neighbours are particularly loud, they have fun preschoolers and we have teens who use headphones.
But recently I've noticed the noise carry downstairs. We got a new TV and sound bar and have a weekly movie night. I feel a bit bad cos I know they'll hear everything, but it is just once per week. The kids next door are getting louder (not in a bad way though) so I am looking into putting the same plaster board downstairs too. The other day I could hear them playing and the dad saying "where is she? I'm gonna find her". I was so tempted to shout "I think she's in the kitchen"....
So not just new houses, but the plaster board did the trick for us.

Gumbo · 25-03-2021 4:17pm

Dee_LazyLady wrote: »

Hello everyone! My husband and I have been living in a relatively new estate in Dublin south side for the last two years. It was a new build that is finished pretty well, looks nice. Unfortunately for us, our neighbours are $%&£'s They have a noisy dog who never stops, the gent has some anger issues and likes to shout, he's set up a home gym that he bashes away on every night which causes literally hours of disturbance to us. On top of this, we can hear more normal things like conversations, their water pump and TV. I've asked a few neighbours and they claim they hear these things with their neighbours too. When a neighbour opens or closes a blind, I can actually hear it clearly all over my home!

I've previously lived in various apartments and mid terraces over my years, and even with "bad" neighbours, I've never lived anywhere where I can hear the daily goings-on of a house next door. It's basically like having flatmates, not a neighbouring house! I've spoken to the company who built the house but they are having none of it - they are a bit dodgy, I'd be afraid to name the estate or the company!

Does anyone else live in a new build estate and have these issues? It seems like it's an open secret where I live, and people are afraid to make a big deal out of for fear of never being able to sell their home or being taken to court by the builder!

I think it's sad that such poor quality living is so expensive in this city.

Take a look at Technical Guidance document Part E (Sound). If highlights the standard forms of construction and what's required to achieve the require level of Sound Transfer between dwellings.

KilOit · 25-03-2021 4:28pm

It's shocking that this a normal thing, can imagine sound proofing is very cheap when the house is being built but very expensive and messy when renovating down the road.

our house is 30 years old and we hear nothing from next door, it seems like solid walls between us, the idea of hearing a conversation next door is baffling to me.

If i was you op i'd get professionals in and soundproof the walls, only other option is moving, don't confront the neighbors, this is an issue that will still be a problem 10/20/30/50 years down the road.

Dee_LazyLady · 25-03-2021 4:53pm

Gumbo wrote: »

Take a look at Technical Guidance document Part E (Sound). If highlights the standard forms of construction and what's required to achieve the require level of Sound Transfer between dwellings.

This is something I've sought guidance on, and unfortunately the regulation spec only specifies "airborne" (talking/tv) limits and testing for houses. "Impact" noise (like a gym - dropping weights, slamming a door) aren't tested in houses AT ALL, only in apartments.

dpham178 · 25-03-2021 6:27pm

Dee_LazyLady wrote: »

Hello everyone! My husband and I have been living in a relatively new estate in Dublin south side for the last two years. It was a new build that is finished pretty well, looks nice. Unfortunately for us, our neighbours are $%&£'s They have a noisy dog who never stops, the gent has some anger issues and likes to shout, he's set up a home gym that he bashes away on every night which causes literally hours of disturbance to us. On top of this, we can hear more normal things like conversations, their water pump and TV. I've asked a few neighbours and they claim they hear these things with their neighbours too. When a neighbour opens or closes a blind, I can actually hear it clearly all over my home!

I've previously lived in various apartments and mid terraces over my years, and even with "bad" neighbours, I've never lived anywhere where I can hear the daily goings-on of a house next door. It's basically like having flatmates, not a neighbouring house! I've spoken to the company who built the house but they are having none of it - they are a bit dodgy, I'd be afraid to name the estate or the company!

Does anyone else live in a new build estate and have these issues? It seems like it's an open secret where I live, and people are afraid to make a big deal out of for fear of never being able to sell their home or being taken to court by the builder!

I think it's sad that such poor quality living is so expensive in this city.

We just moved in our mid-terrace (new build) last month and we rarely hear sounds from our neighbors both side. The only sound that we can hear is from the train because our house is quite close to a train line. However we find that sound proofing within the house is not great when we can hear sounds made in other rooms / upstairs downstairs, which bothers us sometimes.

riclad · 25-03-2021 11:00pm

i,m not a legal expert, but i cant imagine a builder taking someone to court for saying the houses in this estate have a very low level of sound proofing.you are simply stating a fact.

i can hear my neighbours talking .
that is not normal.
my friend bought 2 apartments new build 12 years ago,
i stayed there 2 weeks,
i have never heard any noise at all from right, left , above ,
no tv, no shouting, zero noise at any time.

both units are located on ground level .with units above and to the right and the left.
about 20 ft apart,
1 is a 1bed, one is a 2bed apartment.

i,m not a builder so i do not know what is the exact standard re levels

of sound proofing in a new building in 2021.
i,d imagine some people may not want people to know

the sound insulation is bad in all the houses here,in estate x

especially if they want to sell up in the future.

Yellow_Fern · 25-03-2021 11:23pm

If you can hear conversations and understand the words, the standards which are required for new builds are not being met. In constrast I wouldn't assume that sounds like switches and dull thuds are breeches, hard to say.

There is very little if any requirement for soundproofing within a single home. Some houses have it but I suspect not so common.

I think legal follow up is extremely hard. If it is a concrete block house, Id guess it is something like pointing missing on the party wall or maybe coming in through joist ends but who knows. With noise very noisey cases are the easiest to threat. Low level noise pollution seems to be much harder to solve. Post some pics of the party wall in the attic. Is there anywhere you can see the party wall exposed aside from the attic?

Yellow_Fern · 25-03-2021 11:32pm

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

A good finish looks good but hides everything. So much of good building is in the materials choice and the implementation.

I would say you would be best ripping the plaster on the adjoining wall and find out exactly what they did but one part of your post makes me think you should just sell and move. The gym part. Nothing in this world is ever going to stop the sound of weights being thrown around travelling through joined houses.

Maybe if they could convince their neighbour to lay some kind of mass loaded vinyl floor? hard to get a neighbour to do that.

riclad · 26-03-2021 2:25pm

I think you would be better off simply installing new soundproofing along the walls on your neighbours side,
this includes the wall in your attic.
asking your neighbour to install a new floor is pointless .
the cost is small compared with the cost of the house and improving your general quality of life.

New builds and sound proofing expectation

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