Sound Proofing a room.

[Dave9]

hi there, merry xmas
hoping someone can provide me with some advice...

I live in a semi-detached house & the walls between me & my neighbour are really really thin... I'm no builder, but I call it cheap !

You can just about hear anything through these walls, like footsteps, the cupboard door closing, draws opening - hell im sure i've heard a few farts sometimes too...

so anyways I obviously need to take the plasterboard off & fit some sort "insulation" between the walls, is there some particular material i can buy for this & how easy is the job - im no expert, but i could probably manage this maybe... also how money are we looking at for just 1 room.

Also sometimes my neighbour complains about loud music, but i cannot live with my music !

how sound proof is insulation? ... and will it keep the bass in my room instead of escaping through next door's wall.

thanks

 

[Nige F]

Type .....plasterboard acoustic into Google and Robert is your parent`s sibling`s live in lover

 

[Dave9]

Ok thanks, yeah looks like the stuff I need.

Robert is your parent`s sibling`s live in lover

lol, dont know what that meens though. ???????

 

[Hotwire]

Bobs your uncle

 

[Dave9]

Bobs your uncle

ok i get it now, lol never heard that saying before though

 

[SD Carps]

You can try acoustic fibrelgass as well as sound board(acoustic plasterboard),if your ripping out the plasterboard anyway it would be just as well to add both,failing that double up on the plasterboard,depends on just how much the noise bugs you!!!

SD Carps

 

[legs-akimbo]

Sorry to dissapoint but even 50mm shelterboard ( insulation backed plasterboard) fixed to party walls will only have a limited success. I have done this on a number of occassions and can not stress to clients enough that this is no miracle cure. Proper accoustic sound proofing is a very expensive job and the facts are that noises from next door do not only come through the walls but through timbers and inacccessable voids and spaces that also need attention for better results.

 

[Bylough]

On the nail Legs-akimbo, I was about to comment something similar- but you've put it better.
D9- just have to buy a decent pair of headphones- or an ORGAN and play it louuuud!

 

[Dave9]

thanks for the info!
yeh just a quote off a company that says they can gurantee full noise proof room, but it costs a good £1000.

the roof, walls, windows & floor all need to be insulated properly to ensure full proof they said.

However if i did do it myself it will probably block out some noise, but not that good - so yeh, looks like a set of heaphones it is...lol

 

[jbonding]

what did they say they were gonna do for the good grand?

 

[Nige F]

Build a sound proof tomb Pardon examine your womb fool proof, they said

 

[Scrit]

The best material to pack your stud walling with is Rockwool. It's denser and has better sound absorption properties than fibreglass. For a 3in void I'd consider pushing in 4 to 6in thickness (it will go). If you're ripping out the plasterboard, replace it with 12.7mm thick (many houses are now done with 9.5mm stuff). Scrim and skim the joints but DON't plaster it then apply a second layer of plasterboard making sure that the joints are all staggered. Plasterboard also has sound attenuation properties. The above won't kill the sound, but will muffle it. The problem is that you can still get sound transmission through the studding, and the only cure for this is to build a second stud wall on your side of the first, but not connected to it, then pack the voids with Rockwool - that takes up a lot of space and gete expensive. I live in a terrace where we used to have two noisy neighbours - one has left, the other gave up after the threat of court action, but we have a LOT of soundproofing in here. Still keeps us warm in winter

Scrit

 

[Bylough]

For my money- for what it's worth- I'd always go for solid-solid. ie heavy breeze blocks or concrete ones- (footings) floor to ceiling . Only thing for bass notes. But you need 5 inch width!!

 

[5125andrew]

Spent over a grand soundproofing floor voids, filling all gaps with specialist acoustic rockwool RW3, rubber acoustimats,T&G chipboard, then laminate to block out incredibly noisy downstairs neighbours in a flat in a converted victorian house.

An expensive lesson in how sound travels. All it did was muffle the noise. This solution can stop airborne high frequency noise eg normal conversation, but low frequency (base music) actually travels through the infrastructure of the building. If you've got noisy neighbours, you need to move or get earplugs. It did stop the revolting cooking smells though!

 

[Bylough]

I know a man who went round and shot his neighbour.
Can't get quicker than that!