Sound insulation

[Amelie]

Hi

Does anyone on this Forum know anything about sound insulation? I live in a converted Victorian house on the upper ground floor, my flat was created in the 1980s when there were very few rules about insulation and there is no insulation on my ceiling or under my floorboards. The result is that I can hear everything that my upstairs neighbours do, as they have laminate flooring (no lease to enforce) and my downstairs neighbours can hear everything that I do even though I have installed carpet and proper underlay. I did look at putting special tiles on my ceilings but a work colleague has subsequently told me that they are not designed for residential properties.

Any advice gratefully received.:-$

[Ko]

Hi Amelie

You can get sound insulation put between your ceiling and the upstair's flat's floorboards. The builders would need to take down your ceiling, but the work would not effect the flat upstairs. As it is a Victorian building, I assume you have high ceilings. The insulation would lower the ceiling by a few inches but that shouldn't be a problem for you.

A friend of mine is having a quote done for this at the moment but it is outside London - so the quote will probably be a fair bit less than if they were living here. It would be worth seeing if the people in the flat below you would do the same. If not, maybe you could see about getting a slightly raised floor in your flat and insulate the void???

[Amelie]

Hi Ko

Could you ask your friend what the builders are proposing to use? I don't even know any product names to obtain quotes for.

[Ko]

Hi there. She doesn't know and she doesn't have direct contact with the insulation person as her project manager is arranging for the quotes to be done and the work will then be sub-contracted out.

If you ring up any good builder, he should be able to advise you on what is needed because all house-to-flat conversions now legally require sound insulation so builders have to know about it now. You can probably get some general builder names from this Forum's "Wanted" section or from the back of local mags like SE22 and Living South. Hope that helps and that you manage to sort it out and get some peace.

[fractionater]

I'd be interested in this also - I'm on a ground floor flat and can hear everything from the upstairs flat.

[Amelie]

I will ask the engineers/surveyors where I work, hopefully they will know.

[yeknomyeknom]

Hello, I too would be interested in hearing anything about sound insulation as our flat suffers the same problem.

[kai]

Hi just haveing a 2 bed flat in catford sound insulated and the cost is just over ?9000...it takes about 3 weeks....ceilings come down plaster board insulation for fire and sound proofing then more plasterboard and finished off with plastering...place will be long a building site and you'll probably have to vacate as most old properties have old type building materials which cause a great deal of dust maybe even asbestos...you can get back to me if you need number for guy who is doing the work as its all being done to building regulations who come and check as it's being done....

[Amelie]

?9,000?! Ouch!

[fractionater]

Sounds like you're stuck with the sh@gging noises from upstairs then Amelie!

[Amelie]

I NEVER said that was the kind of noise!! Please, show some respect. It is just everyday noise, furniture being moved, things being dropped on the floor, and apparently despite my carpets my downstairs neighbour can hear me as well.

[fractionater]

...I'm not going to even ask what they can hear you doing!

[Amelie]

Get your mind out of the gutter! I am a very clean-living, if not downright boring, person because not only has Mr Right not shown his face yet but neither has Mr Alright For Now. Anyway, I have asked the engineers at work about sound insulation and they are very kindly conducting some research for me. I have been warned it will be expensive and I expect it to involve both floating ceilings and floating floors.

I am starting to consider getting a cat but keep thinking of that sketch from 'Frasier', something about a cottage, a cat and calling it a life if memory serves.

[fractionater]

Sounds like your more in need of a 'Rabbit'!

[Keef]

OH COME ONE!!!!! :-S