52 replies to this topic

[elwill]

You know those stories of really antisocial loud neighbours?

Well in those stories I'm the loud neighbour.

Am in the process of redecorating, and doing up what is going to be our living room. It's a semi detached house so our TV/front speakers and sub are going to back onto the party wall, which is also our neighbours living room.

I wondered if anybody had any experience with sound proofing a single wall at all? Not baffling the sound, but preventing transmission through to next door.

Have been looking at various soundproof boards that you stick to the wall and plaster over. I reckon that I can probably get the materials and everything for about £500, and I'd have a crack at doing it myself, before getting someone in to plaster over the whole thing. Would lose 3-5cm off the room by making the wall thicker.

Something like this.

Just wondered if anyone had any experience with it? I don't think £500 is an unreasonable price for it, but that's if it works. £500 is a lot of money for something that does bugger all.

Bear in mind this isn't going to be for a recording studio, it's merely to try and reduce as much as possible the amount they hear me and I hear them.

Thanks in advance!

[ghand]

My brother got a lot of noise from next door .He put battens on the wall ,fiberglass roll and new plaster board.cant hear a thing now. DIY not expensive ,but a bit of work. Polystyrene sheet maybe better,think he got thick fiberglass so it was compressed a lot .

Edited by ghand, 30 August 2012 - 07:44 PM.

[techieboy]

Can't see anything except distance working for a subwoofer and the latest action movie.

[elwill]

Can't see anything except distance working for a subwoofer and the latest action movie.

Probably true, but insulation I'm hoping would help, and it would cut down a lot of the other noise from the speakers.

[elwill]

My brother got a lot of noise from next door .He put battens on the wall ,fiberglass roll and new plaster board.cant hear a thing now.

DIY not expensive ,but a bit of work.

Polystyrene sheet maybe better,think he got thick fiberglass so it was compressed a lot .

Interesting. Sounds like you'd lose more space using battens than specialist boards, but would save a fair bit of money.

This method would also allow me to fit speaker cable plates and run cables behind the battened wall, rather than channelling out.

[slindborg]

Put the sub behind the sofa away from next door. It's not supposed to be directional but they are. I'd say the baton and glass route is easier. That said we just plaster boarded the conservatory with insulated board and we can barely hear outside stuff now. If you need a hand I might be able to help

Edited by slindborg, 30 August 2012 - 08:50 PM.

[slindborg]

Solution 3 looks better with a claim of -30db Orr http://www.wickes.co...mm/invt/224657/

Edited by slindborg, 30 August 2012 - 08:56 PM.

[jules_s]

You wont get much better than the link you posted. fixing on battens just leads to flanking transmission.

[Boombang]

Is it a single skinned brick wall? If double skinned can you not put in cavity insulation?

[jules_s]

Solution 3 looks better with a claim of -30db

Orr http://www.wickes.co...mm/invt/224657/

Agreed.

Takes more space and is (possibly) a non DIY job though, certainly more difficult to reduce flanking transmission as it relies quite heavily on the ends of the 'frame' being isolated from any other materials which are connected.

Boombang. for decent reduced airbourne sound insulation you essentially need:-

Noise source------> something dense----->something absorbant----->airspace----->something absorbant---->something dense---->recipient

Or variations of the above depending on what you are trying to achieve...at least that's my experience in trying to isolate a dance studio from a classroom. Much more and we are talking cinema levels

[SteveA]

I am a bit of a music producer so wanted to lessen the impact my studio had on the neighbours. I bought some 5mm high density rubber insulation specifically made for this purpose then covered it over with some sound deadening for reverb cancellation purposes when recording vocals and acoustic instruments. It was about £250 to cover a 3m x 3m wall. It works very well but is heavy as hell and was difficult to apply.

Edited by SteveA, 30 August 2012 - 09:12 PM.

[ghand]

My brother got a lot of noise from next door .He put battens on the wall ,fiberglass roll and new plaster board.cant hear a thing now.

DIY not expensive ,but a bit of work.

Polystyrene sheet maybe better,think he got thick fiberglass so it was compressed a lot .

Interesting. Sounds like you'd lose more space using battens than specialist boards, but would save a fair bit of money.

This method would also allow me to fit speaker cable plates and run cables behind the battened wall, rather than channelling out.

You only loose a few inch,you will not possibly notice that.If they sell sound proof board to use thats a bonus,go with both,then you can turn it up even more :lol:think my brother just used plaster board.Worked well for him and he did wall lights and sockets at the same time,so good for your cables.

[Andrew aka Stuwy]

its amazing you all think of your neighbours. Wish mine was the same!

[elwill]

its amazing you all think of your neighbours. Wish mine was the same!

Yeah that's the point! I have to live next door to these people and I am a massively non-confrontational person so the thought of an angry screaming person turning up at my door doesn't help.

Doesn't help that I could kick the sh*t out of a bus ticket but little else and my neighbour looks like he knows how to handle himself.

Problem is in my experience, people don't tend to say "oh hi would you mind turning it down a bit" they tend to wait until it has hit breaking point and then turn up going apoplectic.

[elwill]

Is it a single skinned brick wall?

If double skinned can you not put in cavity insulation?

I think it is only single skinned, but even if it were double, then I would already have an air buffer to prevent sound transmission, and to be honest I am not a kind enough neighbour to spend the kind of money required for cavity insulation!

[elwill]

I am a bit of a music producer so wanted to lessen the impact my studio had on the neighbours. I bought some 5mm high density rubber insulation specifically made for this purpose then covered it over with some sound deadening for reverb cancellation purposes when recording vocals and acoustic instruments. It was about £250 to cover a 3m x 3m wall.

It works very well but is heavy as hell and was difficult to apply.

Yeah see I am not looking for a perfect studio solution. I am looking for a solution that means I don't feel as guilty about watching TV at a fun volume.

So would sound deadening not make the room feel a little bit weird and claustrophobic? This is my living room so it is for the sole purpose of controlling antisocial noise, I'm not going to have someone laying down their new albums vocals in there. If sound proofing made living in the room feel weird in any way, I probably wouldn't bother...

Part of the problem is I work silly shifts, so my come home and have dinner time is often other peoples "What the fcuk are you doing" time.

All that having been said, £250 seems very reasonable for that level of sound proofing...

[elwill]

Put the sub behind the sofa away from next door. It's not supposed to be directional but they are.

I'd say the baton and glass route is easier. That said we just plaster boarded the conservatory with insulated board and we can barely hear outside stuff now.

If you need a hand I might be able to help

Solution 3 looks better with a claim of -30db

Orr http://www.wickes.co...mm/invt/224657/

Stu you're a true gentleman, help is always appreciated but I realise we're both busy.

The wickes link was for soundshield board 2400x1200, is that what you mean by option 3?

Looks good to me and would certainly be a pretty cheap way of doing things. Certainly if combined with battens and insulation of some kind I can't see much being better and more cost effective than that.

[TheRealVXed]

I had exactly this stuff put on the party wall in my old house. You could specify it when we bought the house (new build). We became good friends with our neighbour and you literally had to twat the dividing wall from either side to hear anything. Works really well. We even tried glasses against the wall from both sides. Loud sound was just audible with this method. I recommend

[FLD]

I'd be interested in how this works out. I'm the recipient of an arsehole neighbour. Shouts / yells right through the night. Still going at 4 this morning. Even if I move room to the other side of the house I can still hear him. Cnut.

[SteveA]

Yeah see I am not looking for a perfect studio solution. I am looking for a solution that means I don't feel as guilty about watching TV at a fun volume.

So would sound deadening not make the room feel a little bit weird and claustrophobic? This is my living room so it is for the sole purpose of controlling antisocial noise, I'm not going to have someone laying down their new albums vocals in there. If sound proofing made living in the room feel weird in any way, I probably wouldn't bother...

The sound deadening does make to room sound unusual as it cancels out all reverb but I did this as a two phased approach. The high density rubber to sound proof the room and sound deadening for recording purposes. I certainly wouldn't recommend the later unless you are setting a studio up.

ETA - one of the big places sound leaks is from windows (specifically round the edges, you might want to look at doing something there too.

Edited by SteveA, 31 August 2012 - 08:46 AM.