Paramount wall soundproofing

[Ruasonid]

I have a paramount wall (a sandwich of plasterboard and cardboard honeycomb) between a bedroom and a bathroom. As part of the bathroom refurbishment I'd like to do something about noise transmission since a shower will be installed adjacent and existing noise levels from the bathroom are already troublesome.

I will need to open up some areas of the paramount wall to route cables, etc., and I'm wondering if it is possible to remove the cardboard entirely from the paramount wall along with the plaster sheet on the bathroom side, add some noggins, etc. and fill with Rockwool before attaching a couple of layers of acoustic plasterboard on the bathroom side? The existing battens are approx 35-40mm. There is the usual wooden frame along the top and bottom of the wall.

What would be the implications for the structure and strength of the paramount wall? I cannot take the entire wall down and rebuild. Other option would be just to repair the openings after I route the cables then fix one sheet of acoustic plasterboard (I have no clearance to add more due to the doorway) to the existing paramount plaster. Not sure if the load would be OK?

 

[foxhole]

Why can’t you take the wall down?

 

[Ruasonid]

Why can’t you take the wall down?

The room is in use. It's not possible, so I'm looking for the best option with the bedroom side in situ. Thanks.

 

[foxhole]

The room is in use. It's not possible, so I'm looking for the best option with the bedroom side in situ. Thanks.

The wall could be removed and reinstated in a day , removing one side is doomed to failure imho .

 

[StephenStephen]

We've just glued and screwed acoustic plasterboard to one side of it, with green glue in between. We used lots of screws as we were fixing plasterboard to plasterboard. It will soon be skimmed.

It seems to have made some difference, and will be better once skimmed, but I'm not convinced.

It sounds like you're effectively suggesting that you leave an existing sheet of plasterboard in place and fix a stud wall to it - it could work, I suppose, and will be less mess and disruption in the bedroom. You'd probably need to remove honeycomb and replace with timber in sections, to stop it falling down.
If is is at all possible - I'd suggest put up with a day or two of having a curtain instead of a sheet of plasterboard, take it down and replace with a stud wall.

The other thing to do is make sure you've acoustic insulation under the floor (and probably above ceiling) between the two rooms.

 

[Ruasonid]

Thanks all. I probably have space for two additional sheets of plasterboard so will go for that option unless there is a better suggestion (except taking the wall down).

I will have acoustic insulation installed too.

 

[SomebodyElseDoIt]

To save some disruption you can get the cables in without chasing the wall, if you can get above it...

Cut out for your fittings first. Then drill a small hole up through the ceiling close to the paramount wall, in line with your fitting. From above, find the hole you just drilled and then drill down offset enough from it to be in the middle of your paramount wall. You'll have to get through the ceiling plasterboard, and there will be some wood below that used when fitting the paramount. Once you are through that you can bash through the cardboard cells with e.g. a length of bamboo until you get to your fitting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a paramount wall between a bathroom and bedroom, with an additional two layers of plasterboard on the bathroom side. In order to make it work with a bigger shower enclosure, I had to remove both the extra plasterboard layers, one side of the paramount board and the cardboard core. I added studwork and used extra plasterboard screws through the remaining side of the paramount wall as otherwise it was an unsupported sheet of plasterboard. On the new side of the studding I used cement boards as it would be inside the shower enclosure. The bedroom remained in use throughout. I didn't add rockwool or sound insulation but it *is* noisy so if I did it again I would. It would have been much simpler and quicker to demolish and rebuild the wall.

 

[Ruasonid]

We've just glued and screwed acoustic plasterboard to one side of it, with green glue in between. We used lots of screws as we were fixing plasterboard to plasterboard. It will soon be skimmed.

It seems to have made some difference, and will be better once skimmed, but I'm not convinced.

It sounds like you're effectively suggesting that you leave an existing sheet of plasterboard in place and fix a stud wall to it - it could work, I suppose, and will be less mess and disruption in the bedroom. You'd probably need to remove honeycomb and replace with timber in sections, to stop it falling down.
If is is at all possible - I'd suggest put up with a day or two of having a curtain instead of a sheet of plasterboard, take it down and replace with a stud wall.

The other thing to do is make sure you've acoustic insulation under the floor (and probably above ceiling) between the two rooms.

Just for clarification:

I was suggesting to remove the plasterboard and cardboard sandwich on the bathroom side, leaving the bedroom side, and adding wooden batts, to strengthen the structure. I was not proposing to build another stud wall.

To save some disruption you can get the cables in without chasing the wall, if you can get above it...

Thanks, that is a possibility though I was thinking to chase the wall in order to put some metal channel to run the cables in.

I had a paramount wall between a bathroom and bedroom, with an additional two layers of plasterboard on the bathroom side.

Not clear if you added the two layers of plasterboard yourself? Was it acoustic grade? How was the noise with (effectively) four layers of plasterboard?

I had a paramount wall between a bathroom and bedroom, with an additional two layers of plasterboard on the bathroom side. In order to make it work with a bigger shower enclosure, I had to remove both the extra plasterboard layers, one side of the paramount board and the cardboard core. I added studwork and used extra plasterboard screws through the remaining side of the paramount wall as otherwise it was an unsupported sheet of plasterboard. On the new side of the studding I used cement boards as it would be inside the shower enclosure. The bedroom remained in use throughout. I didn't add rockwool or sound insulation but it *is* noisy so if I did it again I would. It would have been much simpler and quicker to demolish and rebuild the wall.

The wall is about 3 metres long and the shower enclosure will occupy 1.2m of that length (a bit more allowing for pipework by the mixer). Interestingly, the paramount wall had tiles mounted directly (over a plaster skim). I presume the grout and adhesive was waterproof. Did you take any measures to counter flanking noise at the supply pipework/waste/mixer end?

I'm planning to use acrylic sheet (Showerwall) so not sure that cement boards are strictly necessary?

 

[SomebodyElseDoIt]

I didn't add the extra two layers of plasterboard - they were already there. They were standard plasterboard only. I actually don't know how the noise was because the original shower was so unpleasant they we didn't even try it before refurbishing the bathroom. I didn't do anything about the pipework/mixer - it is a gravity fed, but pumped, shower. The pump is noisy but is remote from the bathroom.

I also used acrylic sheet (Stormwall) over the cement boards. I think I needed to use something rather than just studs as the acyrilic is pretty thin and flexible. Using the boards meant I could be really careful to ensure everything was square, and also be extra confident about being waterproof.

 

[Ruasonid]

I didn't add the extra two layers of plasterboard - they were already there. They were standard plasterboard only. I actually don't know how the noise was because the original shower was so unpleasant they we didn't even try it before refurbishing the bathroom. I didn't do anything about the pipework/mixer - it is a gravity fed, but pumped, shower. The pump is noisy but is remote from the bathroom.

I also used acrylic sheet (Stormwall) over the cement boards. I think I needed to use something rather than just studs as the acyrilic is pretty thin and flexible. Using the boards meant I could be really careful to ensure everything was square, and also be extra confident about being waterproof.

So what is the thickness of material (cement boards, etc.) that you have behind the Stormwall (I meant to say Stormwall not Showerwall)?

 

[SomebodyElseDoIt]

I used 6mm nomoreply over the studs, and glued the Stormwall direct to the nomoreply. I don't know if it was *necessary* but it is cheap and easy to do

 

[Ruasonid]

I used 6mm nomoreply over the studs, and glued the Stormwall direct to the nomoreply. I don't know if it was *necessary* but it is cheap and easy to do

Thanks. So you only have 6mm of nomoreply and the Stormwall? That's not going to reduce noise transmission to any degree.

 

[SomebodyElseDoIt]

Yes, and it doesn't do anything for the noise which I didn't know about at the time. If I were doing it again I would add acoustic wool amongst the studwork behind the nomoreply.

 

[StephenStephen]

I was suggesting to remove the plasterboard and cardboard sandwich on the bathroom side, leaving the bedroom side, and adding wooden batts, to strengthen the structure. I was not proposing to build another stud wall.

I think we all know you're not proposing building a new stud wall, but I think some of us are suggesting that as you are proposing doing everything that building a new stud wall involves, except for a single skin of plasterboard, you might as well build a new stud wall

 

[Ruasonid]

I think we all know you're not proposing building a new stud wall, but I think some of us are suggesting that as you are proposing doing everything that building a new stud wall involves, except for a single skin of plasterboard, you might as well build a new stud wall

Yes, and it's the single skin of plasterboard than I cannot touch for various reasons so I'm limited to what I can do from the other side. Current plan is to reinforce the existing batts to create a 50mm frame. Thanks.