spray foam insulation for noise?

Spray foam insulation for noise reduction can come in two forms; Rigid foam and semi rigid foam.

Rigid foam will insulate against, noise transfer, heat loss, vapour (moisture) and allergens. It is excellent at noise abatement but as any individual who lives in a property that has been built using foam boards for insulation will confirm; it also keeps in noise which can reverberate around a room and make it echo. Please be aware also that No form of Rigid foam will breathe so special construction requirements must be met to use this product.

Semi rigid (or open-cell) foam is breathable so can be used to insulate against Noise, heat loss, and allergens but not vapour (this shouldnt matter if a vapour menbrane is in place). As it's structure is different to that of rigid foam it will soak up noise and not allow a room to echo.

It cannot be pumped into cavity wals, but it can be poured. It will fall to the bottom of the cavity as a liquid and then very slowly expand (appx 4 sq ft in 45mins) to completely fil the cavity and make it airtight.

The other more intrusive & expensive option is to batton the inside, then spray foam between the battons and then lay plasterboard on top. This will mean however that you will have to move any electrics/plumbing etc on the wall.
 

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On a slightly different note.

Hindsight is a great thing but did up the house and combined the kitchen and dining room into one large room (aprox 10m x 4m). Unfortunately in the two bed rooms above this large room, the noise from below can be easily heard. The bedrooms currently have floorboards, so worst case scenario these could be taken up if some form of rigid solution is possible. Ideally, if something could be pumped into the floor joists it would be less hassle and we'd probably then put another floor layer on top of the floorboards (which would be best carpet or wooden floor with a sound barrier of sorts?). And finally the kitchen ceiling has some spots in it to complicate matters.

Would any of the solution mentioned here be applicable in this scenario?

Thanks
S.
 

in your situation suzie, most of the sound transfers directly through the construction rather than the air gaps between.
Ie Impact - floorboard - nail/screw - timber joist - plasterboard - air below.....

what i would recommend is taking up the floor boards, filling between joists with rockwool or any qulited wool material, laying a layer of either corkboard or a rubber / EPDM on top of the joists, and relay the floorboards.
 
Thanks for the reply,

What you say about the route the sound takes is correct and your solution will improve it no doubt, but perhaps I didnt make it clean initially, its the noise in the opposite direction that currently concerns me. Obviously when the kids are asleep, we are still up and pottering around in the kicthen doing normal tasks (cleaning, watching TV etc) but this noise can be easily heard from upstairs, its not be dampened by anything really.

So is your solution our only option for the noise from either direction?

Thanks
S.
 
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