Acoustic Panels for Bedroom

panthro

panthro

panthro

Soldato
Joined
19 Nov 2004
Posts
12,630
Location
Wokingham
My neighbours are noisy and my walls are thin. Besides from asking them to keep it down and move house, I want to put some acoustic panels on my bedroom wall in the meantime.
Has anyone done this before? I have no idea where to start i.e. what panels, how many, etc? Any advice would be appreciated. Would like to fit them myself rather than pay someone.
 
I don't think that's the solution as (correct me if I'm wrong) acoustic panels are designed to deflect/absorb sound from within the room, rather than transfer through the wall - hence recording studios use it to dampen down the sound within the room so as not to create sound-waves bouncing back into mics etc. We have had very similar problems with neighbours and the only solution we've found is air.

Stud wall with air gap between adjoining walls will be the most effective way IMO. We've tried various acoustic plasterboards (gyproc etc), fillers, silicones, sealants and sound absorbing plasterboard clips and nothing was as effective as a good old fashioned stud wall.

We had this issue with our bedroom (adjoining their bathroom) and lounge (adjoined their front door and staircase). The bedroom we are yet to tackle but it wasn't as much of a problem as the lounge (where we spend more time). We could hear conversations, arguments, doors slamming, kids running up and down the stairs - it was doing my head in.

Stud wall with acoustic plasterboard was our final option (lost 6" along one wall but it was WELL worth it). We used acoustic plasterboard because we already had it as well as wanting to be soundproof ourselves when using home theatre, plus good for insulation.
 
Last edited:
Ok I didnt know that, damn! I thought about plasterboard and a fake wall but can't give up 6 inches as the room isn't wide enough and our bed would be splitting the room in half almost.
 
It doesn't have to be 6" but to do it properly.

Next best thing I found was affixing joists to your existing wall using acoustic absorbent adhesive, stick the acoustic board onto this with the same stuff and that should help. The idea of this is that only the acoustic absorbent adhesive is the only thing making contact with the existing wall and reduce vibration transference.
 
boxman2000 said:
It doesn't have to be 6" but to do it properly.

Next best thing I found was affixing joists to your existing wall using acoustic absorbent adhesive, stick the acoustic board onto this with the same stuff and that should help. The idea of this is that only the acoustic absorbent adhesive is the only thing making contact with the existing wall and reduce vibration transference.
Click to expand...

Not sure of the reason for using joists/batterns in this situation?
You can stick whole sheets of plasterboard to the wall with something like GreenGlue, the additional surface area for the compound makes it more effective.
In this situation you'd lose 18mm, the thickness of the plasterboard.
 
Sound is passed through vibration. If you have a large contact area with the problem wall no matter what material you use the sound will be transmitted. The joists and battens give you somethingto attach your platerboard to. A well designed system will have very small area "shock absobers" attaching your new wall to the old one, this makes a complex narrow route for sound to transmit to you new wall. Sadly from my own research there is no easy way to soundproof a wall.
 
bitslice said:
Not sure of the reason for using joists/batterns in this situation?
You can stick whole sheets of plasterboard to the wall with something like GreenGlue, the additional surface area for the compound makes it more effective.
In this situation you'd lose 18mm, the thickness of the plasterboard.
Click to expand...

To give an air gap which from our 6 years of trial and error was the only effective solution for us.

We looked (and tested) green glue and we weren't overly impressed but I guess to be fair to the product, we had noise transference through the floorboards as well. It isn't cheap stuff either!
 
boxman2000 said:
To give an air gap which from our 6 years of trial and error was the only effective solution for us.

We looked (and tested) green glue and we weren't overly impressed but I guess to be fair to the product, we had noise transference through the floorboards as well. It isn't cheap stuff either!
Click to expand...

GG is indeed just part of a solution, if a wall is the problem then adding a layer and plasterboard on top of that should help, but it's never going to be as good as decoupling by using a staggered stud wall or similar

Ideally, I would suggest removing the plasterboard, stagger the wall (if possible) and add some decoupling to the joists before attaching the new wall. If you can afford a layer of green glue then add that and then another layer of plasterboard. I wouldn't consider attaching joists to your existing plasterboard as you'll create an additional air gap which can actually cause more of an issue.

With all that said, you may also have issues with noise coming through your floor as well :(
 
I think I'll just kill my neighbours. Sounds a lot easier.

In all seriousness though as we are planning to move soon I think I will have to grin and bear it.
 
panthro said:
I think I'll just kill my neighbours. Sounds a lot easier.

In all seriousness though as we are planning to move soon I think I will have to grin and bear it.
Click to expand...

Use their blood to write a warning on the wall to the next lot.
 
panthro said:
I think I'll just kill my neighbours. Sounds a lot easier.

In all seriousness though as we are planning to move soon I think I will have to grin and bear it.
Click to expand...

Soundproofing is, sadly, a bit more involved than many believe. Sadly there doesn't appear to be many people in the business who really know what they're doing either based upon most of the solutions i've seen online
 
PlacidCasual said:
very small area "shock absobers" attaching your new wall to the old one, this makes a complex narrow route for sound to transmit to you new wall.
Click to expand...
I can see the point in using battens to decouple a second layer of plasterboard, but that is using the air gap as a spring (and assuming plasterboard is infinitely stiff).
From their app notes, GG appear to be relying on the mass of the plasterboard to dissipate the vibration, therefore it would seem to require the close coupling of the second layer to the wall, via the GG.
By using battens and a compliant adhesive I suspect the second layer of plasterboard will act as a passive radiator instead? (you've still got the same force applied to the wall, whether battens are there or not)

I'd imagine GG will have tested various ways of using their product, so doing it a different way may not give ideal results?
 
Acoustic panels will just make your wifes sexy moaning easier to record on the microphone.

You could batten out the party wall and then fix gyproc triline or an acoustically rated board to it, then skim. That would certainly help with soundproofing from neighbours but would be quite expensive.

You're going to be giving up a few inches of wall, it's either that, or sneak into your neighbours house and do their wall when they're on holiday, and no one will ever know!
 
Marmox boards have some ability to sound proof. Problem is any sound will still come through the floor.
 
Sound will always travel through the building, unless you have neoprene or some rubber to create a true floating room.

The cheapest solution is 2 skins of plasterboard of different thicknesses, separated by some rubber or deadening material. You could even use 3 sheets of plasterboard if you wanted.
 
We had a similar problem some years ago - neighbours shouting, screaming and swearing at each other through the day and night.

I didn't go for specialist products but lined the wall with high density rockwool slabs. I left an air gap then put up a stud wall, filled with regular rockwool. I covered it in 2 layers of 12mm plasterboard with staggered and sealed joints and it did an excellent job. Sure there was still a little bit of flanking noise and I could have improved things even further by using denser plasterboard and more acoustically focussed insulation materials, but it drowned out the vast majority of the noise reasonably cheaply.

If you can't afford to lose the space then a layer or 2 of acoustic plasterboard may help attenuate the noise to a more bearable level, but getting to a "soundproof" level takes far more work.
 
We had noisy neighbours, we could hear them having early morning sex - I changed my wireless SSID to "Wecanhearyouhavingsex" and it hasn't been a problem ever since, I kid you not.
 
Just had a friend drop by who is a semi professional "builder". He said my living room wall has double thick plasterboard, hence why I can't hear my neighbours on that side, but my bedroom wall has a standard partition, not the same as my living room hence why I can hear my neighbours. He said a relatively cheap and effective method would be to add a layer of green glue, thick plasterboard and then plaster over it. I'm considering getting some quotes.

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/soundproofing-solutions/soundproofing-walls/

Option 4?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom