LOUD NEIGHBOUR - Sound proofing advise needed.

Hi all,

I've recently purchased a 1930s mid terraced property, It turns out my neighbour is going deaf, loves to sing and has a jack russell... Needless to say I am loosing my mind a little.

As far as I can tell the sound is coming through both the alcoves one either side of the fireplace & also through the chimney breast its self. The problem is worst in the living room but is also present in the 2 bedrooms on that side of the house - I realised today maybe the worst of it is coming down the old fireplaces in the bedrooms (bricked up before I purchased the place)

I've got as far as getting some soundbloc 15mm in the house - enough for 1 layer on each alcove, but I dont feel I have enough experience to know how far to go - there are so many options out there - direct to wall, green glue, MLV, Resilient channel, muteclips, standard stud wall...

Thus my questions are:

- How far should I go with the alcoves?

- What can I do in the back of the living room fireplace its self - I would like to keep the option of adding a woodburner so it must be compliant

- What can I do with the chimney breasts?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

Joe

 

Move?

Andy

 

OP,
thank you for your question with its abundance of relevant detail.

ignore the fool who thinks its smart to advertise his idiocy - think what monkey exposes when he attempts to show off by climbing tree.

ref your chimney breast proposal for a wood burner i would hold fire for the time being.

there's a faint possibility that either or both of your chimney flues have been compromised by damage to the party wall, ie the chimney breast back wall, thats allowing sound through.
you could have any blocked c/breasts opened, and then have all your flues swept and then camera'd.

have you been up into the loft and examined the party wall, and the loft portion of the c/breast's brickwork?
has anyone been under the floor and examined the sub-area party wall condition?

the other proposals you make dont always work too well, and that after the expense and inconvenience of fitting various barriers. if your joists run into the party wall then its often a case of flogging a dead horse. joist vibration can transmit sound.
i work in the building trade and i'm well sceptical of residential soundproofing - but that's only my opinion, there are threads on here (use the search facility) that claim success.

however, you've got nothing to lose by doing the alcoves as you propose and maybe doing what i suggest?

 

Can you hear footsteps,door slams etc. or is it just voice,music and yappy dog?

As bobasd, check for holes inthe party wall including under floors. Won't be a big surprise if the party wall is only half brick.

With the alcoves, you ideally want mechanical separation between party wall and your new false wall. Try fixing framework to the side of the chimney, the side of the alcove and floor and ceiling. Loose fill the void with rockwool or acoustic slabs then board over with your soundbloc. Assess the improvement (if any).
Resilient fixings can work well. Not convinced by the green glue but not tried it

 

We have a lot of traffic on the A road outside so we did an independent frame filled with celotex and rockwool with the sound block plasterboard, and caulked up every little gap around all the edges. This has improved the noise a lot, however only the airborne noise and mostly the higher frequencies. The trick was not attaching the timber to the wall anywhere (and overlapping the window frame as much as possible but that doesn't affect you)
If you can use a double board that would be even better.
However I'd agree with the above about if there's any connection with the joists either above or below you'll just bypass your new insulation with all the sound.