Why are some party walls noisy and others not?

[senfre]

I've lived in quite a few solid-wall terraced properties in my time, and have just moved into another. I've never had any neighbour noise to speak of coming through the party wall, until now. More strange is that it's only one side - the other side is SILENT, I don't hear a peep even though we share a living room, dining room, and two bedrooms! (and no, they're not on holiday)

Now I'm trying to figure out if this is just a case of me having lucked out all my life with having mute neighbours, and finally running into someone who actually makes normal human noise, or if there's something different with this one party wall like bricks missing or bad mortar. I'd like to rule that out before splashing out on elaborate soundproofing systems.

Just looking to hear about other peoples experiences, particularly if you've had a house with something dodgy about the wall that you figured out?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

You've lucked out, although TBH both my dad's neighbours (back in the 70s and 80s) were pretty quiet when he had a terraced house. But it might also be that attitudes have changed - at one time people were a bit more considerate towards their neighbours (in terraces), nowadays a lot less so, at least from talking to friends who also live in "bijou artisan dwellings". My neighbours now aren't too bad - but possibly only because I installed a lot of sound proofing (and it keeps us warmer in winter, too)

 

[senfre]

You've lucked out, although TBH both my dad's neighbours (back in the 70s and 80s) were pretty quiet when he had a terraced house. But it might also be that attitudes have changed - at one time people were a bit more considerate towards their neighbours (in terraces), nowadays a lot less so, at least from talking to friends who also live in "bijou artisan dwellings". My neighbours now aren't too bad - but possibly only because I installed a lot of sound proofing (and it keeps us warmer in winter, too)

There seems to be a lot of variation in experience with post-war / mid-century houses, I suppose because councils were flinging up homes like no tomorrow and there was a lot of unproven innovation with building methods & materials, but for solid-wall houses (pre-war) I'd expect the experience to be pretty consistent seeing as the technology hadn't changed for a century or more..

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Some Victorian terraces have a single skin brick party wall, some have double skin, and some even have a double skin with a cavity. It makes a difference. We've had 5 different neighbours on one side in 15 years - only one if them was a noisy, inconsiderate one. That also makes a difference

 

[johnny2007]

My party wall is solid 9inch bricks.
There's no way to stop the noise, however, they built these houses with a bit of common sense and the stairways are at party wall, mirroring the 2 properties.
So unless you are on the stairs and neighbours are going up or down, you won't hear anything because the stairwells act as a buffer zone for the noise.
I tried putting music on full blast, close the living room door and gone to my neighbour house.
You can only hear the bass faintly.
But if I open the backdoor somehow the sound travels to the other side of the estate, possibly because the open plan acts as an amplifying tunnel.

 

[senfre]

Some Victorian terraces have a single skin brick party wall, some have double skin, and some even have a double skin with a cavity. It makes a difference. We've had 5 different neighbours on one side in 15 years - only one if them was a noisy, inconsiderate one. That also makes a difference

Is looking at the bond a foolproof way to determine if it's double skin? In the loft I can see it's flemish bond so those headers must be going somewhere!

My party wall is solid 9inch bricks.
There's no way to stop the noise, however, they built these houses with a bit of common sense and the stairways are at party wall, mirroring the 2 properties.
So unless you are on the stairs and neighbours are going up or down, you won't hear anything because the stairwells act as a buffer zone for the noise.
I tried putting music on full blast, close the living room door and gone to my neighbour house.
You can only hear the bass faintly.
But if I open the backdoor somehow the sound travels to the other side of the estate, possibly because the open plan acts as an amplifying tunnel.

Yeah I've got the same, except that also means their bedroom backs onto mine. I've also tried playing music loudly with the speaker facing the living / dining room wall and could barely hear it.. very strange

 

[big-all]

not sure but believe they can have through joist ???
but may just be misremembered ??

 

[Deleted member 174758]

not sure but believe they can have through joist ???
but may just be misremembered ??

Noise can transmit along the length of
solid brick interior walls which connect to solid party walls (from personal experience) and also through large timbers such as purlins which commect to solid party walls.