is sound proofing my answer?

[OliviaDee]

I live in one of Peckham Rye's terraced houses and there seems to be absolutely no soundproofing in the party wall - which is currently pretty miserable since a new family moved in next door and all they do is scream and shout at each other round the clock (dont worry no sign of domestic abuse or i'd be taking different action). Not only is the noise disruptive but the nature of it is really getting me down. They own and i rent - so i guess they're staying but i don't want to leave. So, does anyone know of a way the wall can be insulated without major works? Obviously i'd inform my landlord (and at this point i'm paying for it) but i'd like to know what i'm talking about before i raise the issue. Does anyone out there have advice for me or experience of this sort of thing? It would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Ollie

[Jeremy]

Could the sound be coming through a shared chimney?

Soundproofing the walls is a big job, and expensive. And you'll lose a few cm of room space. Basically, not viable in your situation.

[richardblack]

I have some practical experience of this in our new flat in Catford. Shared wall in the downstairs hallway section was very thin. Wasn't even stud wall so couldn't insulate a cavity at all. I clad it first in soundproof plaster board secured with acoustic sealant (note this board is 'soundproof' in the sense it's much heavier and denser) and then a layer of high mass load vinyl. And then finished off with another layer of the sound plasterboard. All sealed up with acoustic sealant (remains more flexible longterm so helps reduce drum effect) Essentially what you have to do is the increase the mass of the wall. Different densities of materials help with this. In our scenario it has helped absolutely massively. However if you have a chimney breast or interior features such as plasterwork cornice then it becomes much more difficult and thus expensive or you have to ruin things like period features. Because our's was a hallway I didn't have to worry about that.

However if you read up on these things then you'll find issues regarding flanking sounds whereby you might soundproof a wall. but the vibrations of the noise can still flank it by going around. In short you'll likely manage to muffle sound coming through the wall but would be almost impossible to eliminate it.

For reference although we haven't eliminated the worst of the kids shouting playing noises we have taken out probably 80% of all the noise which was then echoing in our hallway. It has made a massive difference to our quality of life in our flat. Excluding my labour time as I did it all myself it cost around ?400 excluding surface decorations because I also brought a lot of extra acoustic sealant to do the joins between floorboards before relaying the carpets. This was an area 3.2m high at highest with a 3.5m flat hall way section and then up one side of the staircase in addition which obviously tapers to a point.

Hope that's of some use to you and good luck.

[OliviaDee]

wow Jeremy and Richard,

thankyou so much for your extensive and generous answers. So, it's all a lot more tricky than i hoped - but kind of what i suspected. No chimney breast - but yes period features so i imagine the landlord may not be amenable. But at least i know now what i am talking about when i go to him,

again many thanks

Ollie

[PN33]

Good suggestions but possible not viable as he is renting and that sounds like quite heavy, permanent work.

I am also interested in more of a temporary solution to soundproofing if anybody knows anything?

[richardblack]

@ PN33 I was seeing it more as a you know it's not possible to make a temporary solution so you might as well approach the landlord with an educated solution to a permanent solution that they would be ok with being done or even help towards the cost if they wanted to keep their tenant.

For a really temporary solution? Polystyrene sheets fixed against the wall. Have done that before. Minor, and I mean minor improvement. I'm afraid it really is all about making the wall more dense

[Penguin68]

Books make good insulation - if you have enough, shelving (bricks and planks) and books will give you about 3-4 inches of very good sound insulation (bricks and planks so as not to harm your landlord's walls). Actually, on an outside wall this gives quite good heat insulation (for those with older houses and no cavity walls to fill).

[MrBen]

Good answers from richardblack above for anyone with this issue.

Most Victorian party walls in terraces or converted flats are single skin walls i.e. there's no cavity and only 2 or 3 London brick widths and some old skimmed plaster separating you from your neighbour.

Most landlords don't like hassle and want to keep good tenants so my advice would be to do some of the leg work for them i.e. get a quote from someone reliable for the works and then write to them explaining whats changed recently noise wise, that you're keen to stay and that you have a fix with quote to provide costs. If you get a negative response you could then offer to contribute some to it yourself to make it easier and also shows your commitment to staying?

[PN33]

I'm about to move house and I think the biggest issue may come from the single glazed window in the room I'll be using for music stuff. Any ideas about perhaps sealing around the edges of the window... would that make a difference? My landlords are not going to be cool with any alterations to the house

[Jeremy]

How about replacing the curtains with a thicker (and longer) pair? TBH I've recorded a lot of vocals in a single-glazed room, and I don't think it will be a big issue unless there's a lot of traffic noise, or you're recording acapella vocals.

[*Bob*]

No difference there unfortunately.. as RichardB says - it's really about density / mass. You've still got the whole single glazed window letting sound in / out

You could use or construct something to plug the window with when you need to. Depending on how big the window is, what you can afford, how pretty it would need to be, how easy it is to use - and whether or not you can be arsed!

[ultraburner]

Have to disagree about polystyrene tiles; they will do bugger all. As said by others, mass is the key thing, and an airtight seal is important too.

If there are any cracks in the wall, you could caulk these as any tiny gaps will allow sound to be transmitted.

There is no easy fix, the cheapest would probably be a 2 inch stud wall infront of the existing wall packed with rockwool and finished with a couple of layers of plasterboard. This will work better still if you space this new wall a cm or so from the existing one, and minimise the contact points (screws) between the two walls.

[PN33]

Jeremy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> How about replacing the curtains with a thicker

> (and longer) pair? TBH I've recorded a lot of

> vocals in a single-glazed room, and I don't think

> it will be a big issue unless there's a lot of

> traffic noise, or you're recording acapella

> vocals.

I was more concerned with p!ssing my neighbours off than noise from outside to be honest. It's a very quiet street so that wouldn't be an issue, and I know a little bit about treating acoustics for recording purposes. Just wondered if there was anything I could do to stop noise escaping. To be fair, I haven't moved in yet and don't know how much sound will travel along the terrace; fingers crossed not a great deal

[*Bob*]

.. 'along the terrace'?!

Lordy - how loud will it be?!

[Jeremy]

What are you gonna have in there?? Drums? 4x12 guitar cabs? Hope you're not moving to my street!

[LJ23]

.