Soundproofing wall

Heiser · 22-09-2020 12:20am #1

I'm in the middle of a small renovation and have the wall between my house and the neighbours stripped back and want to put some soundproofing on it.

Has anyone any advice on what the best approach is? I'd like the soundproofing so I can crank my music up a little without disturbing the neighbours. The wall is about 3 metres wide.

I've potentially about 6 inches of space to use if it was going worth it

Idioteque · 22-09-2020 9:00am

What's your budget for it?

Heiser · 22-09-2020 9:38am

Idioteque wrote: »

What's your budget for it?

Well the wall is all stripped back already so I just need the materials as I'll be doing it myself so I suppose I can spend up to 400 on materials

The Continental Op · 22-09-2020 10:02am

What I'd do before I started is have a word with the neighbor and see how any noise is being transmitted, it might save you spending money on soundproofing a wall when a lot if the sound is travelling through the floor or ceiling. As an example if the floors are connected through the wall you may find a neighbor gets the full affect of the base through the floor and no end of wall soundproofing will stop that.

LenWoods · 22-09-2020 1:50pm

Cheapest option would be 1.5" insulated plasterboard to clad the wall,
Also need some expanding foam to seal along the bottom,
Extension boxes for any sockets or switches to bring them out to the new level,
Aside from that then a good quality underlay on the floor,
Try looking at shoosh.ie

But for the budget; insulated plasterboard wall is the best for the money, I've done our neighboring bedroom wall when fitting a television and it has worked well.
There's a see-saw method to fitting the slabs,

Prior to fitting the plasterboard to the wall; drill some holes in the ceiling which will later be covered by the plasterboard sheeting, drill 8mm hole and inject cans of expanding foam to insulate between the floors,

I've also bricked up some double doors between my living room and kitchen followed by cladding the wall on both sides with 1.5" insulated plasterboard and there is absolutely no noise transfer atoll between the rooms cant hear the washing machine or anything,

so if I was you id clad the wall with insulated plasterboard and choose a heavy floor underlay, then if your neighbor has a problem; blame the thin walls build quality of the house and recommend he clads his side the same as you have done, as he was making equal levels of noise but rather than argue; you went ahead and insulated your side to reduce the sound, if he does the same then its win/win for both of you.

the following information and images below are a copy from my home improvement project thread, so the description may be a little out of context for this particular post. but relevant detail for soundproofing,
a link to the full thread is here: https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/80864-living-room-project/#comments

two 8ft x 4ft sheets of 52.5mm thick insulated plasterboard sheets, an 8mm x 210mm SDS masonry drill bit, a can of Tec7 Expanding foam, two tubs of Ronseal smooth finish filler, 1 Gang plastic drywall insert, 2 Gang galvanized 32mm extension box and a pack of 50 express fixings,

The fixings don't come in any smaller pack sizes but I only required around 30 of the fixings which perhaps was a bit overkill anyway.

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total cost for all items €161.76 inc. A delivery charge of €15.00 for the plasterboard sheets which they arrived with the following day,

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Here are the sheets delivered in the hallway, There not as heavy as they may look as the foam and plaster are quite light around 20Kg per sheet,

I don't currently own an SDS Drill and required the use of one to fit the sheets, thankfully the maintenance manager from work was happy to lend me there cordless SDS Drill for the weekend saved me around €30 not renting a drill and transformer,

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So here is the bedroom wall to be covered with the insulated plaster board sheets,

I've turned off the electrical sockets and removed the socket from the wall,

Thankfully the cable at the back of the socket is long enough to reach out to the new surface without extending,

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We first cleared out bedroom 02 then myself and my wife carried the first sheet up the stairs taking care not to scuff the plasterboard,

Im just going to explain the above picture here; Our house was built in 2002 during what they called the building boom as demand was high for houses, as result many builders threw up the houses with less attention to detail,

Some property's were badly affected with various types of problems such as drainage issues or light switches had been plastered over completely thankfully we didn't have such issues only the living room window which didn't close correctly,

However; when fitting these sheets we encountered the second build issue with our house; The standard ceiling height is supposed to be 8ft from floor to ceiling,

When we tried to stand up our 8ft sheets of insulated plaster board it wasn't possible lol our floor to ceiling height is 7ft 11 inches

I measured up two inches from the bottom of the plasterboard sheets using a T-square then cut along with a Stanley knife followed by cutting with a saw,

I wanted to leave a 1" inch clearance at the bottom of the sheets to ease fitment and allow the floor to be lifted at a later date without disturbing the wall,

The skirting board will cover this space

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We then lined the plasterboard sheet up to the wall and marked the areas corresponding the pipe containing the television cables, marked it with a pencil then cut away the insulation layer using a Stanley knife and flat screwdriver to sort of chisel it out.

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I then marked out the location to fit a 1 Gang plastic drywall insert box and cut it out from the front of the plasterboard using a Stanley knife,

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Here's how it looked before fitting the insulated sheet to the wall,

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We then fed the cables through the opening and put the plasterboard sheet close to the wall,

My Supervisor in work advised me on the best way to fit the insulated plasterboard,

I remember he had taken a week off from work to do his entire hallway last January,

So I asked him about fitting the stuff and I'm doing all of this following his advice which has saved me a few hundred not having to get someone in to do it for me,

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We sat the 52.5mm thick plasterboard sheet close to the wall with the bottom resting on a length of saddle board which has a horizontal length of wood underneath much like a miniature see-saw,

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The plan was that I will be on a ladder close to the sheet of plasterboard with the SDS Drill,

The second person will stand one foot on the opposite side of the saddle board which will push the sheet of insulated plaster board up tight to the ceiling,

I will then measure down 12" inches from the ceiling and in 12" from the corner,

Where I will then drill the first 8mm x 120mm hole through the plasterboard in to the wall followed by hammering in an express nail fixing,

When the top two fixings are in the wall; the second person can remove the see-saw pieces,

Then the rest of the fixings can be installed spacing them 12" inches in from the edge of the panel to prevent warping the edge of the sheet aswell as spacing the fixings 12" inches square from each other as saw below.

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LenWoods · 22-09-2020 2:42pm

I then measured in from the left wall and up from the floor to find the location corresponding with the double electrical socket on the original wall,

I cut it out using a Stanley knife by drilling four small holes in each corner of the square then run the knife repeatedly from hole to hole until the square punched through.

I then fitted a 2 Gang extension box in the plasterboard to house the original double socket Purchased here: https://www.electricalwholesaler.ie/products/switchgearfuses/switchgeardistribution/cablejointboxes/2gang35mmextensionboxgalvanisedsb68210224

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I then cut out the top of the 1 Gang plastic drywall box to allow the bulk of cables freely pass through without restriction which allows them to be pulled back in to the attic or further down from the attic through the brush plate which will be fitted later,

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Fitted the plastic drywall insert,

Then measured up and cut the second 52.5mm thick insulated plasterboard sheet to the correct size and fitted it in place following the same see-saw technique as the first panel aswell as keeping in 12" inches from the outer wall when drilling in the fixings.

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I then used some Ronseal Smooth Finish filler to cover the fixings and joint between the two panels, this Ronseal filler dries out like foam it's very light and smoothes out easily much the same consistency as whipped cream making it the ideal choice for smoothing plasterboard because you don't want to be sanding it too much as the cover is only paper.

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Fitting the sheets using the see-saw method has kept them level with the ceiling but has also highlighted the uneven plastering of the wall to the left,

However I had anticipated something like this would occur and had a can of Tec7 Expanding foam at the ready to fill the entire gap prior to trimming it back with a bread knife when dry.

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I then used Ronseal filler to smooth over the gaps that were filled with the expanding foam leaving it overnight to dry out completely,

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I've sand down the wall using some P240 sanding discs on the orbital sander,

It didn't take very long to sand as the coating is quite thin and the filler dries out fairly soft for ease of sanding,

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A few coats of paint will soak in and harden it up.

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Two coats of Dulux Total Cover Matt White then left overnight to dry,

I wanted to get a few coats of paint on before sanding too much in case I damaged the plasterboard,

The white paint and shadows caused by the sun shining in the window; helped to highlight the areas requiring filler,

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Left for a few hours to dry,

I then sand it smooth again followed by another coat of Dulux Total Cover Matt white

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Followed by three coats of the room color which is Dulux Vinyl Matt Merrion Grey leaving adequate time to dry between each coat, The sun through thd window highlighted a slight indentation on the filling so another fill was required

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Left to dry overnight then sanded back,

Followed by another two coats of the final color, then fitted the brush plate and television bracket,

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LenWoods · 22-09-2020 2:42pm

Followed by the 32" Samsung LED television itself, I'm very pleased with the results, unfortunately the brush plate is visible at the top centre but the finish of the brush plate matches the finish of the television surround,

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I've also fitted a piece of 55mm x 110mm PVC air duct on to the wall above the wardrobe to cover the cables feeding down from the attic, Link: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rectangular-Ducting-Channel-55mm-x-110mm-75mm-x-150mm-Ventilation-Flat-Pipe-KP/221763353599

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Heiser · 22-09-2020 6:20pm

That's a right job LenWoods, thanks for posting. How much of a difference has it made?

iwillhtfu · 22-09-2020 6:25pm

Just to note you've created a serious potential for a fire behind the wall there with that spray foam in the socket box.

Idioteque · 22-09-2020 9:58pm

I'm no expert on this but have done a lot of reading on it and dramatically reduced sound from a party wall in the past.

Few things I picked up on my research over the years:

1. Imagine your room like a giant fish tank full of water. If there's a tiny pin hole the water will empty. Sound pretty much works the same way so you have to consider things like flanking sound etc. In saying that, just do the best you can. Things like acoustic sealant is much better than standard sealant but can add to cost and your budget is low enough for proper sound-proofing.

2. Given you're willing to lose up to 150mm, the best sound reduction would be to build a seperate simple stud wall (75mm or 100 wide studs) and clad it both sides with 15mm soundblock plasterboard and most importantly, an air gap between the new and old wall. You could fill it with acoustic insulation if budget allowed. You want the new wall completely detached from the perimiter walls and ceiling (just a few mm and fill gap with acoustic sealant) and then for the floor you want to rest the sole plate on some form of sound asorbing material (you can buy specific stuff but it's essential dense foam or mass loaded vinyl).

3. You want variations in mass so I'd clad the old wall in 12mm plasterboard as with music and sound objects will resonate at different frequenceis (low bass vs high treble) - the bass will be the hardest to block out unless extra work is done under floor and above celiing but going with what I suggested above would considerably reduce sound.

4. An alternative to building the sperate wall is using resilient channels - check out this guy's Youtube to see this and for some great general advice on soundproofing.

Finally, working with just the old wall can work but given you have the space you are willing to lose you could achieve better results by building a seperate stud wall removed from the original and it shouldn't cost too much.

lowkeys · 22-09-2020 10:09pm

Pir laminated board doesn't have particularly good acoustic properties. As Idioteque said better to create a seperation zone, use an acoustic insulation roll and ensure all areas are fully sealed.

LenWoods · 23-09-2020 2:19pm

Heiser wrote: »

That's a right job LenWoods, thanks for posting. How much of a difference has it made?

It has made a more noticeable difference in the living room where I've had the wall between the kitchen and living room sheeted up on both sides; there is zero noise transfer,
In the bedroom then; there's no noticeable noise coming from that direction of the room atall; all noticeable neighbouring noise such as voice and footsteps on stairs seems to manifest on the wardrobe side,
To summarize then; in my opinion it is worthy of investment but requires a full wall to be done for optimal results,
Some people use white wallpaper to span across the express nails which saves alot of filling,
Im not much use with wallpaper so I just filled and sand

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Just to note you've created a serious potential for a fire behind the wall there with that spray foam in the socket box.

Hi
I would like more elaborate information on this please as I'm very much open to change and I don't feel that I know everything,
I'm not challenging your post; I would genuinely like more information please.
Here's some more detail from my side; i made extra financial effort to purchase flame retardant foam for this area
and I used the foam to fill only the original metal socket box; only the cables enter the newly installed metal socket extension box,
there is no foam inside the extension box,

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Is there still a risk with this please let me know as I'd very much like to keep things as safe as possible and thanks for commenting.

The Continental Op · 23-09-2020 3:09pm

LenWoods wrote: »

...

Is there still a risk with this please let me know as I'd very much like to keep things as safe as possible and thanks for commenting.

Simplest thing to try is dig a bit of insulation out take it outside and test it Mythbusters style and see if you can burn it. My guess is it won't burn until you take a blow lamp to it. afaik while those spray foams are considered flammable they normally contain a fire retardant.

bobbyy gee · 23-09-2020 3:16pm

Yes my girlfriend is very loud as well in the bedroom
I will have to try insulating the walls

LenWoods · 23-09-2020 3:16pm

The Continental Op wrote: »

Simplest thing to try is dig a bit of insulation out take it outside and test it Mythbusters style and see if you can burn it. My guess is it won't burn until you take a blow lamp to it. afaik while those spray foams are considered flammable they normally contain a fire retardant.

That's the can of foam which i used when the electrics were switched off its B2 rated cost me almost €14 for the can at the time not the cheapest of tac,

bobbyy gee · 23-09-2020 3:17pm

Doing Diy protect your floors

Soundproofing wall

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