What do you think of this advice re banging doors from next door?

L

lanie

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Posted previously. Have a real problem with noise from next door. Hear every door, cupboard banging and when they play music hear that too.
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Somebody suggested that we may have a cavity wall between us and next door (semi-detached) as the houses are not level. Ours is higher than next doors. Said that there would have to be a cavity at the top where the roofs are and that this may follow on down the house too. Does anyone know anything about that. They said maybe filling this cavity with noise insulation specific product may help.
Secondly they said that the builders may not have put enough or any
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rockwool/insulation fibre? in the floorboards of upstairs/ceiling and as such, that void would echo any noise travelling from next door.
They said lifting the floor boards in the hotpress or built in wardrobes and having a look should give us an idea. Anyone experienced anything similar
 
Just out of interest Lanie, are the parti walls between you and your neighbour dry lined. You can check this by knocking on the parti wall. If they sound hollow, they are dry lined.

You might be able to check if the cavity wall construction carries down into the parti wall by looking at the parti wall in the attic. What vertical distance is there between the joints in the block and does it change near the bottom?

3CC
 
yup.simular problem.i have lovely neighbours but we(kids and i) can hear everything.tv,doors,kids,you name it.houses are 20 yrs old.but i think cheaply built.you can even see the wall joinings.
 
No they don't seem to have a hollow sound and am thinking it is not dry lined. Would this make a big difference?
When you say check the measurements, comparing top and bottom, how do you see the botttom? (Sorry if that's a silly question)
One other thing, somebody said that many builders may not bother putting in the fibreglass insulation in the floorboards/around the joists, saying that they may not bother if it was not in the specification. If they havn't would this make a huge difference if we put in now?
 
I think u can buy a sound insulating board similar to plaster board,u can line ur walls with this.
 
sparkeee said:
I think u can buy a sound insulating board similar to plaster board,u can line ur walls with this.
Click to expand...
Would be interested in getting more advice on where to purchase and how to fit, anyone?

Similar problem with my home, can hear everthing next door, even normal conversation. In the upstairs bathroom, you would think the person next door was in your bathroom with you..... When they slam their built in wardrobes in the wee small hours it is like a bomb going off in my bedroom... When yer wan is loading the dishwasher you would think she was coming through the kitchen wall. Would love to move...:(
 
sounds to me that the people who are posting about noise from neighbours are not taking into account that these people may also hear you..its not about the noise they make next door ,its about the building and insulation,they are probably just getting on with their lives but to you its heightend noise,its was called when some sub standard houses were built..semi detacted living
 
thedaras said:
sounds to me that the people who are posting about noise from neighbours are not taking into account that these people may also hear you..its not about the noise they make next door ,its about the building and insulation,they are probably just getting on with their lives but to you its heightend noise,its was called when some sub standard houses were built..semi detacted living
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Yep painfully aware that of course noise will travel to neighbours house in similar way. However, the level of noise that can be heard is really not acceptable. ie. conversation
 
conversation noise is not acceptable.what do you want your neighbours to do?not speak?
Like another poster mentioned about the dish washer being loaded and he wanted to move,but the neighbour im sure wouldnt be doing this to annoy him..
The problems isnt the neighbour but the building and if he moved he may have the same semi detached noise level..
 
lanie said:
No they don't seem to have a hollow sound and am thinking it is not dry lined. Would this make a big difference?
When you say check the measurements, comparing top and bottom, how do you see the botttom? (Sorry if that's a silly question)
One other thing, somebody said that many builders may not bother putting in the fibreglass insulation in the floorboards/around the joists, saying that they may not bother if it was not in the specification. If they havn't would this make a huge difference if we put in now?
Click to expand...

The reason I asked about dry lining is that it was used commonly in recent times and has been found to increase noise transmission in parti walls.

Re the blocks, I am assuming that when you go into your attic and look at the parti wall, that the upper part of that wall has the great outdoors on the far side and the lower part has your neighbours attic on the far side because of the difference in level you menitoned. It is plausible that the builder would have changed the wall construction half way up your attic. If he did, you might notice that the joints change from 4" vertical spacing to 9" vertical spacing when you look at the wall.

Have a look at this link for a suggested remedy. I have no connection with these guys - just found the link on Google.

http://www.pickapro.ie/sound-proofing/Acoustifire/gallery/1/
 
thedaras said:
conversation noise is not acceptable.what do you want your neighbours to do?not speak?
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I believe the point was the fact that conversation noise is audible is unaccetable, i.e., the acoustic insulation properties are unacceptable.
 
We used insulating plasterboard (kingspan I think) on walls and significantly reduced noise from/to neighbours house. It's about 50mm thick.
 
Jessie, can I ask you, did you put up the kingspan boards over all your party wall? Did it decrease sound of impact noise?
 
thedaras said:
conversation noise is not acceptable.what do you want your neighbours to do?not speak?
Like another poster mentioned about the dish washer being loaded and he wanted to move,but the neighbour im sure wouldnt be doing this to annoy him..
The problems isnt the neighbour but the building and if he moved he may have the same semi detached noise level..
Click to expand...

In short the sound proofing in the houses is really sub standard. I do not care if my neighbours speak or not!! Even if semi-detatched living you should not be able to hear this level of 'noise'. I should not be able to hear neighbours having an normal volume conversation or loading the dishwasher!... We can hear EVERYTHING so, aahhh..... :( You seem to have missed my point entirely, oh well. I will definitely consider sound proofing.
 
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I too live in a semi, concrete construction no plasterboard. The party wall is a 9" block on the flat with a plaster finish. House 4/5 years old. The noise from next door is appalling!
Is there any "good" alternative for party wall construction? How do they construct dividing walls in apartments on the continent? I've never noticed noise transmission abroad!
Any engineers or builders care to comment??
 
Hello folk, my freind had problems with noise from nent door last year.To sovle the problem we put up a new stud wall over the original wall and insearted acoustic insulation,bought in ballymount from IIS (irish insulations solutions).This does mean losing about 3 inches in your room but he is delighted with the differance.
 
Regarding your question about a cavity between the two houses - it wouldn't be standard practice to have a cavity party wall in a typical semi-detached build. The builder will have added an outer leaf at roof level, where the step in level between the houses occurs, and the cavity will only exist at roof level.

I know that Kingspan do an acoustic plasterboard, which depending on the property and the condition of the walls could probably be fixed directly to the existing party wall and plastered - this would only take the depth of board (approx. 25mm / 1") off the room. Otherwise, a new stud wall with acoustic insulation behind, as suggested above, would be another option.

If the floor joists are fixed to the party wall, chances are you're still going to get some impact noise travelling through (particularly when there is a step between the houses and joists are fixed at different levels). Taking up a floorboard at first floor level will allow you to check which direction the joists are running. If they are spanning crossways - you might want to check if there is any acoustic insulation in the celiing void and add some more along the junction with the party wall.
 
Jetblue said:
I too live in a semi, concrete construction no plasterboard. The party wall is a 9" block on the flat with a plaster finish. House 4/5 years old. The noise from next door is appalling!
Is there any "good" alternative for party wall construction? How do they construct dividing walls in apartments on the continent? I've never noticed noise transmission abroad!
Any engineers or builders care to comment??
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Am suprised at this. I have 38 yr old house of similar party wall construction, in terms of transmission sound i really only hear doors slamming. The main problem with my house is the external walls which are constructed of cavity or hollow blocks. I don't think the point at which my house adjoins the neighbours house on the external wall has anything but hollow blocks therefore we get alot of flanking sound transmission i.e. sound from neighbours TV (big problem) is travelling through the hollow blocks and then into my house. Ear to the wall at various points confirmed this. The TV sound travels from their downstairs living room up to my bedroom. Am woken up with this every morning. I can also hear their electric shower too. Total pain in the. Have come to the conclusion that the only option is to move home to a detached house but this will have to wait due to cost.
 
sparkeee said:
I think u can buy a sound insulating board similar to plaster board,u can line ur walls with this.
Click to expand...
These are insulated slabs (I think) also called Thermal liners.
They are similar to plaster slabs, (but are insulated as the name suggests lol :() Therefore reduce noise level whilst keeping in the heat. If your handy at DIY at all, You can put them up yourself and cthey an be bought in a hardware store.
 
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