Cost effective sound proofing

[cluglue]

I live in a flat in a very old London building owned by a housing trust. The floorboards under the carpets are creaky and the entire place has exactly zero sound proofing. It's like living in the same room as the neighbours sometimes. I know when the ones above go to the bathroom, move furniture, vacuum, and walk around. to top it off, the lady who keeps the flat above is very short tempered and inconsiderate.
I also have neighbours in the basement below but they never complain are pretty quiet, apart from occasional late night chats which don't bother me.


Anyway...
Question 1. I have an inside wall that sounds hollow between my flat and the communal hallway. Can this be soundproofed cost effectively? I don't have much to spend but if it's worth it could pull money together. This wall is the worst offender of all - most of my disturbance comes from the other side of it.

Q2. What's a great cost effective sound proofing for floors? I recently had engineered wood flooring installed in my flats hallway+bathroom. Total 8m sq. It was fitted on top of the PVC (which itself had been slapped ontop of the original floorboard with v thin underlay, almost invisible). I choose 5 star vitrex foam underlay (5mm), which was cheap (I hope it won't become invisibly thin like the previous one). The engineered wood floor was £377+ £300 installing cost. Would I have been better off going for some advanced underlay? I read about one that has cork and rubber inside, but it was rated 20dB sound insulation vs the 40dB for the vitrex. It would have cost £100 (so 5 times the price of vitrex foam).

(The installers screwed me a bit on the flooring because I paid for 10m sq, but they delivered less, but they are trying to make it up to me, and we managed to have enough to cover the floor in the end. )

My main interest is sound proofing my place from above and the noisy hallway side. Would it be worth offerring my neighbours above money for underlay/flooring in any situation? Bearing in mind they can be difficult to deal with... how about sound insulating the ceiling?!

Thank you so much... I pray someone qualified can offer me advice... it's been really hard to get good advice from tradesmen so far.

 

[cluglue]

Oh yeah, both me and the neighbours above and below are likely here for the long run. At least 10 years more.

 

[cluglue]

I wonder if the "cardboard" wall between my flat and the hallway might even be illegal... I gather there are sound regs. Perhaps it falls short? That would be a huge result! Because then the housing association would have to do something with the huge London rent they get and actually sort the wall out.

A builder suggested I get a sound dB meter (yes) to see if the wall fails to provide adequate sound protection, but I don't know what/how to measure. I guess it must be pretty subjective.

 

[cluglue]

pps. My ceilings are 330cm high. (10 ft 10").

 

[cluglue]

So the front room is the one which would be nicest to quieten. Any cost estimates for any solution anyone has would be greatly appreciated. The wall is 3m long by 3.3m high. Then my private hallway is 5m by 2.3m high (but not straight so more complex). These are the 2 areas effected by the horrible noisy communal hallway.

(if anyone is still reading I will buy you all a pint!)

 

[skenk]

There's no easy or cheap solutions to provide a high level of attenuation. To bring it up to current standards would typically involve the building of a 'resilient' layer which is isolated in some way from the existing structure. For example a new (double-sheeted with soundbloc plasterboard) ceiling suspended from 'resilient bars'. Or walls lined with a similar method. Your best bet may be to form a group of residents who all live in property with the same construction and landlord, and lobby the landlord to make improvements throughout the building(s). It won't comply with latest regs as it is but the regs are not retrospective.