Party Wall Insulation

[Guillaume_San]

Hi All,

I have been doing a lot of work on a terraced house build in the 80s and unfortunately the building standards are rather poor. I am planning to tackle the party wall insulation next which is pretty poor overall.

On inspection, dot and bad has been used straight onto breeze blocks to stick plasterboards and the plasterboards were then lined with paper... So insulation / accoustic or thermal is pretty limited (to stay polite).

This is already a very narrow property so ideally I would like to minimize the amount of space lost. I have been reading and looking around and was wondering what would be the best way to deal with this.

Without touching the existing plasterboards I probably have about 40mm to work with. Is it possible to implement something reasonable with that amount of space? Would adding another layer of (accoustic) plasterboard and plastering on top make any difference? Would fitting resilient bar and filling the gap with insulation (mat/foam/whool?) and fitting plasterboard to the bars improve things as well.

Removing the existing plasterboard and battening the wall altogether and installing the relevant cavity insulation etc... could also be another option.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice on the above.

Many thanks in advance,

Guillaume

 

[^woody^]

The neighbours will thank you for it, as it will stop a lot of noise getting out, but not getting in.

 

[endecotp]

My favourite site for soundproofing:

http://soundstop.co.uk/

What sort of noise are you concerned about? Is it footsteps or voices?

 

[Guillaume_San]

The neighbours will thank you for it, as it will stop a lot of noise getting out, but not getting in.

Really? Gee, that's not particularly encouraging...

 

[Guillaume_San]

My favourite site for soundproofing:

http://soundstop.co.uk/

What sort of noise are you concerned about? Is it footsteps or voices?

Thanks for the link, I know of the site. Will research further.

Essentially yes, more like TV / Music / Voices... I am realistic I am sure it can't be completely eradicated but an improvement would be most welcome I think.

Guillaume

 

[Doggit]

As it's Breeze block, and then dot and dabbed plasterboard, there's a good chance that it's a cavity party wall. And if that's the case, then think about cavity wall injection.

 

[rules&rulers]

Have used the phonestar boards many times , see http://www.acaraconcepts.com/soundproofing/soundproofing-walls/decoupled-solid-wall-solution/

They have a lot of information on their site,so have a read.

Always remove the plasterboard,in the past have found cracks,holes and the blocks not fully mortared in, so an easy route for sound transfer.


good luck ! Expect to spend a lot of cash.

 

[^woody^]

then think about cavity wall injection

That's the worst thing to do. The air gap is essential to isolate the two properties.

 

[Doggit]

Now that's interesting; so what would blown fibre insulation do.

 

[^woody^]

Waste a few hundred pounds

 

[endecotp]

You have more chance of reducing air-borne noise, i.e. TV, rather than footfall. So there is hope with a modification to the wall.
The challenge is to stop noise from coming around whatever main insulation you fit to the wall, e.g. through the floors - what is the floor construction?
I used to have a neighbour who sang, terribly. She also kept her windows open year-round. So the noise came out through her open windows and in through my closed ones. No amount of wall/floor/whatever insulation will fix a problem like that.

 

[John D v2.0]

I used to have a neighbour who sang, terribly. She also kept her windows open year-round. So the noise came out through her open windows and in through my closed ones. No amount of wall/floor/whatever insulation will fix a problem like that.

I dunno, I'm sure if you inserted a small amount of wool in the right place it could really reduce the sound

 

[Guillaume_San]

I dunno, I'm sure if you inserted a small amount of wool in the right place it could really reduce the sound

Hahahahaha...

 

[Guillaume_San]

Floor wise the ground floor is done and the loft has been converted and the floor there also insulated. The first floor hasn't been done and there is no insulation between the joists so it's certainly a weak area in terms of flanking noise etc... so I am planning to remediate to that and fill the cavity with wool as at the moment there is nothing in there so sound is basically free to travel all the way through the floor.