Soundproofing party wall

[rose123]

Hi,

I am in the middle of some building work and am looking to take this opportunity to attempt to reduce the noise heard through the party wall from our neighbours.
The work involves taking out the kitchen, bathroom and renewing the roof and ceiling entirely. All rooms run along the party wall.

Before the roof was taken off and rooms stripped we often heard impact noises, banging and furniture being dragged over the floor but very little airbourne noises.

At present we have bare rooms and a roof made of wooden joists running parallel to party wall with no ceiling.
Unsuprisingly, I guess, we can hear everything as if they were in the room with us.

Moving forward I would like to incorporate some soundproofing to protect against the noise we hear through the party wall.

But how is this best done?

I am thinking about doing something about the ceiling and walls as these are easy to get to at the moment.
My floors are all soild concrete could I layer this with something?

How would you go about sound proofing in this situation?
Which products are best to use?
Is there much that can be done for impact noise?

Thanks in advance for you help.

Rose



Also, I know there has been quite alot of discussion on this topic already but none are specific to our needs.

 

[tony1851]

If it is impact sound you are hearing you will not achieve much reduction by insulating the party wall.

Impact sound is best abated at source, such as by heavy carpet in their adjoining room, but obviously you have no control over this.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If you read the literature on soundproofing you'll see that it's all about stopping it at source, and a lot of leakage is mechanical - through joists, floors etc, and very little is airborne hitting party walls. Basically if it's got out of wherever it's being made you've got very little chance of stopping it getting in.

 

[simonjay]

If you can really now hear everything as if they are in the room with you and it does not sound muffled, then you have an air path between the two houses. Can you also smell their cooking smells ?
Check all joists where they enter the party wall for gaps and seal any with mortar or expanding foam.