Party Wall sound insulation

platypus

platypus

platypus

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Just wondering if anyones used any of these so called sound proofing solutions.

I know that the most effective way is to build a new wall with a gap but we don't have the luxury of that space. We can probably happily lose 2-4 inches of our walls, so was wondering about these sound plank/panel/mat type things that dampen sound. And I know we need to sound proof under the floors too - this is all possible.

I know they're not going to solve the problem, but if they help even a little bit it might be worth us considering.

Or am I best off just building in new drywalls with as thick insulation (eg celotex/rockwall sound boarding) as possible?
 
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it really depends on the origin of the sound, if it's flanking across floors then insulating walls isn't going to make any difference - what kind of noise is it that you want to cut out?
 
I'm not sure how effective it was, but I've seen a 2nd layer of plasterboard used before. Is the party wall brick behind the plaster? I'd make a hole and inspect whats currently there.
 
platypus said:
Just wondering if anyones used any of these so called sound proofing solutions.

I know that the most effective way is to build a new wall with a gap but we don't have the luxury of that space. We can probably happily lose 2-4 inches of our walls, so was wondering about these sound plank/panel/mat type things that dampen sound. And I know we need to sound proof under the floors too - this is all possible.

I know they're not going to solve the problem, but if they help even a little bit it might be worth us considering.

Or am I best off just building in new drywalls with as thick insulation (eg celotex/rockwall sound boarding) as possible?
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This site any help for you?https://www.soundstop.co.uk/soundpr...uSNbr35xllslfLGAUummOWt8e5BuNoZRoC5OsQAvD_BwE
 
I've got soundproofed windows on the back of my house. Apparently it works better than triple glazing. The concept is to laminate differing widths of glass on one side of the double glazing, so its double glazing but with 3 panes. Each thickness will dampen a different sound range. By putting 2 different thicknesses together you increase the amount dampened. If you were to put 2 the same thickness together it wouldn't make much difference than just having one, as the sound that manages to get through the first would also get through the second.
It worth considering as I expect this concept would apply to wall insulation too - doubling up the same thing won't have the benefit you might have hoped, but if the 2nd layer is different it might.
 
I've laid 100mm rockwool sound block in my floors and it does seem to cut down noise. Impact noise not so much but music and so forth very reduced.
 
platypus said:
Its definitely interesting and worth investigating, cheers.

https://www.soundstop.co.uk/soundproofing/soundproofing-walls/Sm20-wall-solution4.php looks interesting as well. Food for thought.

Sceptical just how good these can be but even some help will be better than none I suppose.
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That kind of system should work decently well, with the extra mass provided by the heavy duty plasterboard really helping. Make sure to seal any gaps thoroughly and stagger the joints in the boards as even the tiniest hole will let sound through. One bit of advice I read which helped was to imagine you're trying to seal the wall to keep water out. Any gaps or cracks will negate the effect of your extra work and let the sound leak through.

I went through this process years ago and ended up using a separate stud wall isolated from the original brick party wall, filled with high density rockwool slabs. The reduction in noise levels was dramatic, but if you can't afford to lose that much space then the above solution seems pretty good.
 
It feels bad that we have to go down this route because of the expense and because we're losing space from our walls, but thats the price you pay for having neighbours I suppose.

When we bought the house the owner lived there but now rents it out so its not going to get better :(.
 
how much is your sanity worth though, i would say a lot. Also is the floor space really that important, moving one wall a few inches out are you really going to have to rearrange or start changing furniture? I know in my current bedroom, I could easily lose a few inches of the party wall and it wouldn't change the room in the slightest and it's not a big room either.
 
I have just spoken to (I think) Mark at Sound Stop about the SM20 system. My neighbours are far from bad and we get along just fine. Its just thanks to the wonderful British housing stock (I have breeze block party wall) there is a fair amount of general living noise that can be heard. No tv/radio just doors closing and their grandkids crying every now and then when they are around (weekends mainly so when I want to relaxe). Its also so I can feel happier about playing on the PC/watching TV later at night with out annoying them.

It will cost around £600 to do the main bedroom and if that works I will do the smaller bedroom (That I have just finished) and then at somepoint do the downstairs walls. The cost really is not an issue (slightly more then my road tax for one car each year) if it means I can enjoy my new and first house more. I can think of far worst things to spend my money on (A £800 number plate I like the look of or a GPU at this current point in time).
 
Glaucus said:
how much is your sanity worth though, i would say a lot. Also is the floor space really that important, moving one wall a few inches out are you really going to have to rearrange or start changing furniture? I know in my current bedroom, I could easily lose a few inches of the party wall and it wouldn't change the room in the slightest and it's not a big room either.
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Oh we dont mind losing the wall space, we're just physically limited by the amount of wall we have to lose. The wall comes out and then bi fold doors start.
 
I will tell you first hand that sound deadening treatments done for ceilings are VERY effective if done well. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced a wall version but I don’t see why it would not work well as long as you can isolate transmission through the floor.

I went for a solution that was both genie clips and resillent bars with multiple layers of SBX board with really good high density rock wool to pack the gaps and increase the deadening effects. Noise went from very very annoying any time the neighbor was in the room above to literally almost nothing. Don't even know if they are in or not 99% of the time now. £2,000 very well spent indeed.
 
Little bump, but I am experiencing exactly this same issue with my neighbors. Voices etc is coming through the wall. They are not making unreasonable noise, just that the walls are that thin. Rather than gradually go mad, I am going to sort the sound issue.

@platypus how did you get on with your own install?
 
@Zirax We did two things. In the downstairs we put the SM20 rubber panels, as even if its annoying it wasn't expensive and these are rooms we live in rather than sleep.

For the bedroom we could afford to lose more space (as you dont use it except for sleeping), and put in a 100m stud wall with the genie clip solution and the Tecsound 50 Self Adhesive stuff (both solutions from Soundstop) and its way way better. Do bear in mind that we took the floor up to insulate the entire party wall, not cheap I think off the top of my head it was just over £2k all in, but as above what is your sanity worth? I think we did around 30m/s in all.

Hth!
 
Just a quick one, we have a semi detached Victorian house, can a shared chimney breast past noise up the house easily? As the previous owner was elderly so she was quiet as a mouse but the new owners are great but we can hear them having friends round from upstairs and downstairs although they are definitely downstairs. I was a bit surprised how much we can hear chatting through the wall. Not to the point of hearing a conversation though.
 
we have a similar experience to most on here. 1955 system built house with "thin" party wall. I remember last year sitting in my dinning room and 2am in the morning listening to the party next door as if it was happening in my house. Unfortunately the women of the house next door takes to making loud screaming noises (I think it's called singing?) when drunk and it's horrible.

At the time we invested in some cheap ear plugs from B&Q .. £1 for a pack and that meant we could sleep at night. not ideal but obviously a lot cheaper than the £600 per room we were quoted.

The question we've asked ourselves time and again is if it's worth investing in sound proofing if the ear plugs work and the "parties" next door only happen perhaps once a month.
 
Party wall noise is tricky. You need to establish whether it’s transmission noise through solid structure or airborne noise transmitted through void spaces. Normally it is a combination of both and that will very much determine appropriate treatment. Heavy duty plasterboard treatments will help reduce lower frequency noise as it’s better at absorbing that acoustic energy. Airborne noise through voids is treatable using soundstopping materials in void spaces. The hardest noise to deal with is transmission noise through structures as to mitigate this you need to acoustically decouple these structures from the surrounding building fabric, the worst culprits being laminate / engineered wood flooring.
 
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