partition wall insulation

[laila]

Hi,
I am new to the forum and I have a question regarding insulation in partition walls between rooms and room/bathroom with toilet in a flat.
I have bought this flat 3 years ago and always was annoyed about the noise coming out from the bathroom/toilet and from livingroom to the bedroom. Recently I have found out that there is no insulation between the studs. The cavity is empty. Should there be an insulation or something to soundproof it? I can literally hear every drop in my toilet and also from the neighbours. I am not sure if there is anything in the wall between the neighbour and me.
The flat was bought new from the developer. Do any Regs apply? What I can do with this?

 

[jeds]

There are a couple of ways to meet regs. At least one of them doesn't require insulation in the cavity although that is the most common way of complying. When was your flat built and how do you know the cavity is empty?

 

[laila]

the flat was built in 2009 and I know the cavity is empty as when we were hanging shelves and TV bracket we could see through the hole and we dropped a screw (inside the cavity) which landed at the bottom. At the same time we found out that our phone and aerial sockets in the bedroom are sockets only (for decoration I guess) and there is no cable connected. So we ended up with a separate aerial for the bedroom TV.
Apparently the flats were built to NHBC standards.

 

[jeds]

If the cavity is clear the wall should have been boarded with 25mm thick plasterboard both sides. This is usually done with 2 layers of 12.5mm board. If there is only one layer of 12.5mm board then to comply with regulations it should have been infilled with minimum 25mm mineral wool.

The simple way to check is loosen a switch or socket on the wall and look at the edges of the boards. Don't loosen sockets if you don't know what you're doing though. Don't poke your fingers or metal screwdrivers around inside the socket and also don't go poking a metal tape measure inside either. Be careful.

Just in case; this only applies to bathrooms - not ensuites.