Sound Insulation

In responce to Whiplash I have been advised to lay rubber foam over the joists before tongue & grooved timber boards are laid to reduce impact noise travelling below the ceiling to the rooms below,.. Has anyone heard of this product ? I comes in 20mtr rolls 40mm wide and 6 mm thick and is laid along the joists. Can anyone advise on this or any other way of reducing noise to rooms below ? Thanks in advance.
 
Eddie

Have a look at the Building Regulations 1997, Part E (Sound). It deals with the ways in which sounds attenuation should be achieved with regard to the regulations. It is available to download free at http://www.environ.ie (www.environ.ie). The detail you talk about is on Page 17. I don't have any propreirary names to hand, but any dense runbber strip should suffice.

A rubber strip will assist in preventing the transmitting of sounds and vibration through the floor, you could also lay a layer of insulation material such as rockwool between the joists, on top of the ceiling below. This would assist in preventing sound transmission further.
 
If you are still in the process of building and still have the choice than create the rooms one block higher. This would give you more space not only to increase the floor height (insulation) but also that would allow for lowering the ceiling. Usually - not good but standard- the gipsum/plaster boards for the ceiling are nailed/screwed straight to the beams. But using a counter batton structure not only would help to reduce transmission sound but also helps greatly against cracks in the finished ceiling. Timber warps when it dries and the heavier it is the greater the effect. So "countering" this effect would help in both ways. And of course the insulation in between the beams as mentioned by Quinno makes a difference as well. Not only to the sound retention but also to the energy bill.
 
whiplash said:
No worries Sam if you find out let me know and let me know how you get on. Just a matter of interest how bad is the level of sound that you hear from your neighbours ? Its safe to say that I can hear everything from a plastic bag been opened to them talking. The other morning they decided to unload their dishwasher at 05:00 in the morning !!!! It woke me up to say I was pi**ed off is an understatement !


/KK
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Just to come back on this, after a little more research its looking like we are going to attempt to remedy the party walls by filling in the areas at the top of the party wall and supports etc with acoustic rated expansion foam. Leave the existing plasterboard which is just stuck on to the party wall (consisting of 1 cavity block with no insulation) Then apply a layer of acoustic membrane, which I am currently trying to source (although doesnt appear to be cheap!) and then stagger 2 acoustic sound boards (12.5MM) which should mean that we dont lose too much of the overall room size (total loss should be about 30-35MM)

We had looked into placing battens onto the existing plasterboards and then filling with rockwool and doubleboarding it but seems to be taking up a fair bit of room size so the 1st option definitly seems to be the best scenario.

A question though for anyone that might be knowledgeable on acoustic insulation, is there a leinster based supplier for acoustic membrane rolls that can be stuck onto a plasterboard with adhesive (from what I've read up on its only approx 1.2mm thick) such as this one here...

http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/soundproofing/emem.htm

I've checked with a couple of builders providers in Dublin and they dont have stocks of it or anything similar and the cost of that particular roll from the link above is £180 + delivery etc!! If anyone has seen a similar product online for a more competitive price would appreciate the link!

Also, any thoughts on say a substitue like rolls of cork etc that would probably be cheaper and any thoughts on how it compares for airborne noise reduction!

Thanks :)

EDIT/
In reply to the type of noise we are being affected by, you can hear really clearly from next door say someone coughing, conversations, knives and forks hitting against plates, mobile phone incoming text alerts, a toy paino that one of the kids has (like a form of torture that particular noise) and that type of very general everyday noise....as if it were in your own house!
 
OhPinchy said:
Glad to hear someone is looking into lobbying to get the regs changed. I'd be interested in finding out more on what can be done about this.

Poor sound insulation is actually one of the main reasons why I stayed away from new builds - I've heard stories of people being able to hear their neighbours cut their food when the knives hit the plates! I for one would be prepared to pay extra to get it done right from day one and I'd say theres others that feel that way too.
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It's not necessarily 'new builds' that have/had this problem. A friend of mine, when she married about 30 years ago moved into a house in Templeogue. The house next to her was rented by four girls. She could hear their every conversation - including one day when she heard one who was upstairs shout down to one of them that they should get walkie-talkies so that they could continue their conversation. My friend shouted 'Don't bother, you don't need one!' There was a temporary silence!
 
Try softboard, the green stuff they sell for under parquet floors.
Screw softboard onto existing wall apply battons then new plasterboard.
 
Got the letter from the builders saying they'll fix the issue so let the fun and games begin. They say the solution they're going to use with raise the sound insulation by 10dB I'll believe it when I dont hear my neighbours anymore.
 
whiplash said:
Got the letter from the builders saying they'll fix the issue so let the fun and games begin. They say the solution they're going to use with raise the sound insulation by 10dB I'll believe it when I dont hear my neighbours anymore.
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Good stuff, fair play to you for perservering with it, hope your dishwasher laoding neighbours appreciate it too!!!
 
Talk to the building control section in your local county council , they can serve an enforcement notice on the builder, and prosecute if needs be. However you need the proof( sound test carried out €600=) Ive seen a few successful cases taken against various builders
 
Just updating this Thread to let you know that I got my house sorted last week. The builders came in and fixed the sound issue at long last.

They took away the plaster board that was there and exposed the party wall between the houses and then put battens on the wall and in between those put rock wool and then double plaster boarder it up and of course painted it etc.

I've noticed the difference already I haven't heard my neigbours since but I still hear impact noise there's not much you can do about that as impact noise travels differently to airborne noise.

So thanks for all your advice. And if anybody at anytime needs some advice from me about sound insulation and what I got done just drop me message.
 
Dear Whiplash,

I had posted a message re. soundproofing just before I found your messages. I am a first time buyer who has just moved into the house and the level of sound coming through the walls is awful. I have contacted the builders, but no joy. So I would be very interested in any advice you can give me.

Mary45
 
Hi all - I'm trying to contact a sound insulation specialist called Ted Dalton - he's based in Dublin, his website was ejdalton.ie but it's offline now and the landline number i had for him is now disconnected. There's little chance he's gone out of business since he's been in it for years and is said to be reputable, and is hired both by builders and by homeowners. Any help appreciated! Thanks.

Sal
 
Ted Dalton's new company is called EJ Dalton & associates. His number is 087 2609544 and landline is 01 4022665.
 
Hi Guys, just by chance while surfing I came across this website forum. I am an acoustic consultant that has specialised in upgrading parti walls acoustically for the last 10 years and am based in Dublin. I would suggest that you are very careful about any person you might get to carry out work of this nature, bad fitting can actually accentuate the problem. There is a very good system for upgrading parti walls which only need to be fitted to one side of the wall face. It can increase a walls performance by upto 16dB. If you are having trouble with a builder you can indeed get an acoustic test done to ascertain if the walls meet the requirement of 53dB DnTw as required by Building Regulations TGD Section E 1997. If the walls fail to pass the required level I would suggest that you look for the cost of the test, the walls to be put right at the builders expense and a retest be carried out to confirm everything is now as it should be, again all at the Bulders final expense. You can find more information at [broken link removed] regards for now!
 
whiplash said:
They took away the plaster board that was there and exposed the party wall between the houses .
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There is a message in there for a lot of people in new semi d's who are looked to upgrade the walls. The whole problem is the way they bond the plasterboard to the wall using dabs of sticky stuff called bonding, the gaps that are left are like microphones that pass the sound through the wall and the gap on teh far side acts like a speaker and makes the sound even louder than you might have expected.

So if you find that the party wall has plasterboard dabed or bonded not using a full spread of plaster you must remove the plasterboard back to the bare brick and start again.
 
Hi Tedser, please note the Posting Guidelines, particularly & , which require that posters declare any potential conflict of interest and state no advertising.
Leo
 
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