Anyone had success with Independant wall soundproofing?

[Jonnyfurious]

Hey!

Like a number of people on her I am suffering from problems with noisy neighbours. It isn't deliberate they are just unable to speak to each other, other then shouting and unable close a door without slamming it.

I've tried asking nicely, complaining and most recently mediation all with limited and short lived success. If a few hundred quid and the loss of a few inches off the room will help then I'm willing to go for it. I did have a few quotes off companies but they were closer to £3k for all four rooms and I felt I could choose better materials and do it for less.

I think I've now read every thread on soundproofing on here and there appears to have been mixed results.
So I was hoping to get a few peoples advice/experiences/opinions on what works and what doesn't - I'm aware that something as simple as resilient bars or rubber grommets for the retaining screws on the stud frame can be the difference between success and failure. and I definately don't want to make the impact noise worse!!

If anyone has any suggestions as to who the better materials suppliers might be that would also be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[jeds]

Success depends on the existing construction, how much disruption you are prepared to put up with and how much dosh you are prepared to spend. Upgrading a wall is one thing but the majority of airborne sound is transferred though gaps in walls - e.g. through the floor voids. So just upgrading the visible wall surface will have some effect but just how much depends on other factors. This is the main reason why you get some people saying sound insulation is useless - because they don't fully understand how sounds actually transfer through structures and therefore they concentrate their efforts in the wrong place. You also need to understand that impact sound (banging doors) and airborne sound (loud voices) are two different things and attenuating one will only have a limited affect on the other. To come up with a decent plan a consultant would need full details of your house construction.

 

[Jonnyfurious]

My main concern is that when I put my ear to the side walls on either side of the party wall I can hear very clearly what is being said next door, so the sound seems to be travelling through all the walls and I can't sound proof the side walls as they have windows etc in plus the cost would be enormous.

 

[simonjay]

My main concern is that when I put my ear to the side walls on either side of the party wall I can hear very clearly what is being said next door, so the sound seems to be travelling through all the walls and I can't sound proof the side walls as they have windows etc in plus the cost would be enormous.

I had some success in the bathroom where I found sitting in the bath right next to the solid 9 inch wall was a bit unsettling !
I stripped the wall back to brick and created a 50mm thick independent wall fixed at the floor, ceiling and end walls, separated from the party wall by an inch air gap. Yes, there was still bridging at the edges.
The wall consisted of 2 x 12.5mm of cement board filled with 1 inch of glass fibre reinforced concrete !
This sounds a bit crazy, but the resultant wall is very solid for its thickness, and it was later tiled.
The wall is heavy, and needs to be for soundproofing, but seeing as I removed a cast iron bath and a cinder block wall built on floorboards from the area, I was not too worried.
Note, the room is fairly small so the wall is only 2m x 2.4m in size.

The effect is partly psychological and will not stop structural noise, but I seem to be a lot more isolated from someone sitting in the bath next door !

Simon.

 

[jeds]

My main concern is that when I put my ear to the side walls on either side of the party wall I can hear very clearly what is being said next door, so the sound seems to be travelling through all the walls and I can't sound proof the side walls as they have windows etc in plus the cost would be enormous.

This known as flanking transmission. To resolve that you would need to consider carrying any surface wall treatment aloing the flanking walls. Not easy to do!

 

[Jonnyfurious]

My main concern is that when I put my ear to the side walls on either side of the party wall I can hear very clearly what is being said next door, so the sound seems to be travelling through all the walls and I can't sound proof the side walls as they have windows etc in plus the cost would be enormous.

This known as flanking transmission. To resolve that you would need to consider carrying any surface wall treatment aloing the flanking walls. Not easy to do!

No, so I guess in my case trying to soundproof will be a waste of time