Greetings from a DIYnot newbie.
I am vaguely-moderately competent at various matters DIY, but not a pro in any area, by any stretch. I've embarked this week on a rapidly evolving job of work focused on making our ground floor conversion flat's main bedroom a viable place to, you know, sleep.
The smart, brick, semi-detached NW London house was chopped up into four flats, by a somewhat cynically minded builder, sometime in the 1980s. Things were done to a what-can-I-get-away-with standard, rather than doing right by the future owners.
In practice, this means our bedroom benefits from a kick-drum effect whenever the tenants in the flat above so much as drop a crisp.
Separately, but equally horrific at 6am, is the PVC soil downpipe in a stud wall, turning to horizontal under the bedroom to run outside. We hear every single tinkle, but the 'thud-splash-swooshes' are far more troubling.
I moved into the flat in 2015 and immediately fitted a low-cost, slightly bodged soundproofing effort to counter the noise from above. Battens, rockwool and a layer of acoustic board. It helped a bit, but it's not great. A similar effort on the stud wall did nothing to reduce waterslide sound effects, though it did help with noise from the common stairwell.
So, what's the plan?
1. I think it's best to pull out the entire ceiling, taking it up to the original joists, so I can do things 'right' from a solid base. My DIY researched plan is to fit acoustic rockwool, resilient bars then a double layer of sound insulating plasterboard. I have no access from above.
QUESTION: Is it worth my while to try to fit some new joist beams to prop up the (original) floorboards (ie. top layer of my ceiling), presumably wall fixed but running alongside the original joists, to help stop things resonating? I have no idea if that's viable or sensible. It just occurred to me that the whole ceiling above is probably propped up with ancient joists.
2. Meanwhile, I need to sound insulate that rowdy soil pipe...or should I simply replace it? The owner of the flat above won't mind, but I am pretty sure he won't pay for it. There's a downward fall of about 2.5m or so, then a right angle turn and a straight run out of the house of about 5m. Materials wouldn't be expensive, but the plumber might be.
3. Any view on whether I should strip back the two noisy-ish stud walls (one 3m long and one about 1.5m wide with a door frame) to the framing and start again, or does that sound like an expensive folly?
4. All of this is to allow me to put down 18mm ply and engineered floorboards, before a mate puts some fitted wardrobes in. With that as an end game, you can see why I want to get the bones of the room absolutely perfect first!
Thank you for your meditations and ruminations on this matter. I would value any and all war stories on the use of resilient bars, the silencing of poo pipes and various other matters relevant here.
Peace,
Kiwi Mark
I am vaguely-moderately competent at various matters DIY, but not a pro in any area, by any stretch. I've embarked this week on a rapidly evolving job of work focused on making our ground floor conversion flat's main bedroom a viable place to, you know, sleep.
The smart, brick, semi-detached NW London house was chopped up into four flats, by a somewhat cynically minded builder, sometime in the 1980s. Things were done to a what-can-I-get-away-with standard, rather than doing right by the future owners.
In practice, this means our bedroom benefits from a kick-drum effect whenever the tenants in the flat above so much as drop a crisp.
Separately, but equally horrific at 6am, is the PVC soil downpipe in a stud wall, turning to horizontal under the bedroom to run outside. We hear every single tinkle, but the 'thud-splash-swooshes' are far more troubling.
I moved into the flat in 2015 and immediately fitted a low-cost, slightly bodged soundproofing effort to counter the noise from above. Battens, rockwool and a layer of acoustic board. It helped a bit, but it's not great. A similar effort on the stud wall did nothing to reduce waterslide sound effects, though it did help with noise from the common stairwell.
So, what's the plan?
1. I think it's best to pull out the entire ceiling, taking it up to the original joists, so I can do things 'right' from a solid base. My DIY researched plan is to fit acoustic rockwool, resilient bars then a double layer of sound insulating plasterboard. I have no access from above.
QUESTION: Is it worth my while to try to fit some new joist beams to prop up the (original) floorboards (ie. top layer of my ceiling), presumably wall fixed but running alongside the original joists, to help stop things resonating? I have no idea if that's viable or sensible. It just occurred to me that the whole ceiling above is probably propped up with ancient joists.
2. Meanwhile, I need to sound insulate that rowdy soil pipe...or should I simply replace it? The owner of the flat above won't mind, but I am pretty sure he won't pay for it. There's a downward fall of about 2.5m or so, then a right angle turn and a straight run out of the house of about 5m. Materials wouldn't be expensive, but the plumber might be.
3. Any view on whether I should strip back the two noisy-ish stud walls (one 3m long and one about 1.5m wide with a door frame) to the framing and start again, or does that sound like an expensive folly?
4. All of this is to allow me to put down 18mm ply and engineered floorboards, before a mate puts some fitted wardrobes in. With that as an end game, you can see why I want to get the bones of the room absolutely perfect first!
Thank you for your meditations and ruminations on this matter. I would value any and all war stories on the use of resilient bars, the silencing of poo pipes and various other matters relevant here.
Peace,
Kiwi Mark
