Noisy Neighbours- What improvements can be made

[serpico1]

Our neighbours and I have a signifigant problem with noise.The house's are private and built during the housing boom. About 10 years old. There is a large foundation that the house is built on. It's inaccessible of course but would be a quite high of the ground.

Problem:
Our house walls are likely thin in some areas, but they are .75 meters thick in others parts. We both have wooden floors. I can hear my neighbour walk across the living room floor ( wooden). I can hear actually each thud of each footstep ( hard soles only) as the person walks across the floor and if they were to drop a marble on the floor i could hear it very sharply next door.

I wonder if the foundation is in some way amplifies the sound of the footsteps. I must add that my neighbour can hear my Tv when it is on a relatively mid- high volume.

Any ideas on what the cause of the problem is.
How would i fix this problem and who is responsible for fixing such a problem, myself or my neighbour and do we both have to live more quietly as a result. Would this be nuisance noise as per regulations.


Thanks for any help....
regards

Serpico1

 

[joe-90]

In connected houses you will get noise. You'll have to go detached if you want peace and quiet.

 

[garyo]

It's difficult to build a mental picture of how your building is constructed - can you re-explain what you mean by "a large foundation that's high off the ground"

A 750mm thick wall seems unlikely in a 10 year old house. Is it a refurb of an old structure?

If you can pull some floor boards up and photograph the construction method for the 750mm thick wall and "thin" walls it'll help people on the forum give you better advice.

Gary

 

[JohnD]

you would do better if you both get carpets fitted, with felt underlay. Fashionable hard floors are very bad for noise. In UK flats they are often forbidden. That will cut your impact noise.

The airbourne noise of the TV or conversation will be different. Does it happen in all rooms, upstairs and down?

Is your house made of brick?

 

[tfish]

does your neighbour live above or to the side of you?

 

[AronSearle]

It sounds like it has lightweight walls with no air separation (cavity).

finding out the exact wall build-up will help give you advice.

If we assume it's lightweight block with no cavity, and there are no obvious gaps in the wall/floor junction that allow sound through, then possibly studding it out with acoustic layers will help, but you will lose some room space.

 

[joe-90]

Nothing works. When the vibrations are in the structure you can't get them out. Think Papillon.

 

[serpico1]

Thanks fro the replies

The neighbour lives next door, my house is an end house on a terrace.
It's a normal house but the foundation is not dug into the ground rather the floor of the house would be 2 foot higher than the pavement outside. Same for all the houses in the terrace.

The main lounge has a fireplace built into a half a meter or more thick wall. This forms part of the wall between myself and my neighbour but the wall from the front door along the stairs is much thinner than the fireplace portion of the wall. This thin wall also acts as my neighbours wall.


As my house is end terrace the end wall is brick but i assume the wall separating my house and my neighbour wall is thin blocks or standard blocks not sure which. Definitely not brick.

The wooden floors, the high foundation and the thin wall may all be conspiring to make vibrations or it could be just one of those causes.

That's why i am asking. Thanks again for all the replies..

 

[JohnD]

The main lounge has a fireplace built into a half a meter or more thick wall.

Do you mean the chimneybreast?

 

[AronSearle]

If the foundation is just a big slab, then this will not likely pass through much sound.

The airborne sound is just coming through the walls.

You really need to know more about the particular construction to get any useful advice.

I would guess that it is 1 skin of lightweight block, with no cavity, this is rather rubbish for stopping sound.

Also at the 1st floor level it could be that the joists are bearing into the wall, which may allow sound to travel through, possibly by gaps around the joist.

Have a look at this

http://www.keepitquiet.co.uk/documents/pictorial_guide_stud_wall.pdf

The basic principles are sound, though I don't buy into "acoustic mastic" and not sure about the matting either, just studs, resilient battens, plasterboard.

 

[JohnD]

I have a feeling the "raised floor" might be beam and block with a void beneath it, them probably oversite.

 

[serpico1]

I have a feeling the "raised floor" might be beam and block with a void beneath it, them probably oversite.

That is very likely what it is. There is a void underneath. The interior house floor is quite high off the ground higher than most houses. I wonder if this is making noise.

 

[serpico1]

The main lounge has a fireplace built into a half a meter or more thick wall.

Do you mean the chimneybreast?

Thanks i have forgotten simple descriptions like that.

Kind of but the chimney breast expands to to the kitchen wall so it's similar but not the same exactly as a chimney breast.

 

[serpico1]

If the foundation is just a big slab, then this will not likely pass through much sound.

The airborne sound is just coming through the walls.

You really need to know more about the particular construction to get any useful advice.

I would guess that it is 1 skin of lightweight block, with no cavity, this is rather rubbish for stopping sound.

Also at the 1st floor level it could be that the joists are bearing into the wall, which may allow sound to travel through, possibly by gaps around the joist.

Have a look at this

http://www.keepitquiet.co.uk/documents/pictorial_guide_stud_wall.pdf

The basic principles are sound, though I don't buy into "acoustic mastic" and not sure about the matting either, just studs, resilient battens, plasterboard.

Thank you for you're long reply and most grateful for the link to keep quiet.

 

[JohnD]

sometimes a plumbing or service duct is built onto the side of a chimneybreast so it will be unobtrusive