Sound Proofing Ceiling/Floors??

[SCSB79]

Does anyone on the forum have any knowledge of this? I want to investigate the possibility of sound proofing and then discuss with our upstairs neighbours.

Through no fault of their own, I expect it's the age of the house what with it being a Victorian terrace, when they walk around, the noise is extremely loud.

It has to be one of the hardest things to discuss with a neighbour, especially as we are very good friends with them, and we've bottled out of it to date!!

Are there any specialists out there? Has anyone used one before?

[EDKiwi]

In my last flat the neighbours downstairs lowered their ceilings and installed soundproofing above the new ceiling to fix the problem, sounds expensive to me but apparently it worked.

The issue sounds the same though, it was a Victorian terrace not designed to be split into flats, we could hear the people above us, and the people below could hears us walk around, despite our best efforts to keep the noise down (we even took our shoes off at the door).

[Jeremy]

I think the best solution is to take up the floorboards upstairs, and pack with rockwool.

Your neighbours might not be too keen on that idea, though.

[matthew123]

I'd screw down the floorboards, twice, at each point they cross the joists. Use a thick underlay on top (something like Tredaire softwalk). Maybe offer to do the work / pay for it yourself. Based on the room in question being 16 by 12 foot that should all come in (labour and materials) to less than ?100.

[woofmarkthedog]

Sound travels through air vibration, so you need to make the ceiling voids air tight first. This can be done by ripping down the existing ceiling and battening the joists along their length. You then cut plaster board to fit each space, screw and then mastic the edges & joints twice to make sure its sealed. Then over board the joists with foam backed plaster board and skim with new plaster. (It also ups the fire rating between the flats too.)

I did a top floor flat for a DJ in Notting hill, he had regular late parties after he'd played a club. This really cut the sound down to a minimum.

Costly though.

W**F

Also John Lewis rubber heavy underlay is the best sound proofer from the upstairs floor side, thin plyboard & fix down the floor first , lay the underlay then hard tuck the new carpet edges.

[fractionater]

I have the same problem - doesn't help that my neighbour has laminate flooring upstairs either.

it hasn't really bothered me in the past, but is starting to do so now-days.

[SteveT]

I helped a buddy do this on his first floor flat,

We took up 1 board in five and slid 100mm rockwool between the joists

relaid the boards,

then layed some soft 10 or 12mm fibre board on top

and we placed tongue and groove chip board on top of the fibre board

finally we mitred quadrant to fit all around the edges between the floor and skirting.

So not a 5 minute job then.

Ps The materials were cheap, but it took a few week-ends to complete.

[pablogrande]

Hi we install audio systems and cinemas in peoples houses and use a lot of products from custom audio design they have great help articles here http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/soundproofing_help.htm

[iaineasy]

Perhaps a good rug??

or the suggestion of laying rockwool between the joists is a good one.