Cheap wall soundproofing

[Deleted member 160668]

Hi folks,

Ive recently moved to a solid walled semi house and the divider wall between ours and neighbours is very thin. When there is no background noise we can hear normal conversation next door, clear as day.

Now I love my tunes, but don’t want to piss off my neighbours and therefore have the volume very restrained, probably far more so than needed.

I’m about to decorate the front room and would like to add something to the house divider wall to add some form of cheap soundproofing so can get my tunes back. Can be an inch or two thick and can easily get it plastered over so won’t notice a bit of room loss.

Any suggestions please? Thanks.

NB - already have speakers in spikes to shoes which are on granite plinths, then with sorbethane pads underneath. So zero bass carry to suspended floor.

 

[lpv]

open back phones.. hopefully that wont leak much next door?

every audiophile should consider house construction, location, neighbours prior to moving.. lesson learned, next time you’ll do better.

also, I read on another forum that going from proper hifi to soundbar is good decision ( oh boy, we sold our audi rs quattro and bought micra and we’re happy with our decision)

is it semi you live in? flat? any room with no friends behind the wall?

edit: it’s semi

 

[insider9]

I'd first go and talk to your neighbours and see how they feel about you playing music and how does it actually sound on the other side. It's one thing to hear it which should be acceptable and another thing completely to be a nuisance. You never know their hearing might not be as good as yours and they've not noticed anything so far.

As to isolation, any isolation would bets work with an air gap. It's likely it won't be cheap. You usually need build a timbre frame with Rockwool insulation and plasterboard over it. I haven't done anything like it for 20 years but the principles wouldn't have changed much.

 

[macdiddy]

and more than a bit sarcastic in a few places, maybe the OP doesn't have the money to buy a big house far away from anyone so that they can play their music at any level like most audiophiles wish they could.

*music2*

 

[Samd]

https://www.soundstop.co.uk/soundproofing_walls.php?gclid=CjwKCAiAoqXQBRA8EiwAIIOWsr257YSwIMUj-LxYcr1fQNzeBDuB3PhlzlL2okUE7UhBWQOEAm2MehoCVZ0QAvD_BwE

I haven't used them but might give you some ideas.

 

[lpv]

and more than a bit sarcastic in a few places, maybe the OP doesn't have the money to buy a big house far away from anyone so that they can play their music at any level like most audiophiles wish they could.

*music2*

and where did I mention buying big house, hey?

also, get real mate.. I used to live in house like op.. I managed 10 months, not able to listen music at normal levels wasnt the only problem.. next door lesbians sex and constant arguments as well as barking dog were more annoying..

I suggest headphones or other room in the house.. so what’s yours ( aprat from not understanding my post)?

 

[insider9]

When my house was refurbished I used this insulated plasterboard in the rooms, they just dot and dab onto the existing walls which leaves a small air gap between them.

It works extremely well to hold in heat but an unexpected bonus was a huge drop in noise from outside which resulted in a 5 to 10 db drop in noise levels in my listening room.

It would probably work to stop noise reaching you neigbours and vice versa and it is completely invisible

https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/Celotex-PIR-Thermal-Laminated-Insulation-Board-2400mm-x-1200mm-x-72-5mm-%282-88m2-SHEET%29/p/629245

This one is cheaper .

https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/British-Gypsum-Gyproc-Thermaline-Basic-Plasterboard-Tapered-Edge-2400mm-x-1200mm-x-30mm-%282-88m%C2%B2-Sheet%29/p/752767

This looks very nice and half the hassle of doing it the way I suggested.

 

[Gazzip]

What you are proposing is not possible without considrable de-construction and re-construction. Anybody who says they can sell you/make you soundproofing panels are lying to you.

Have a look at the Robust Details. This is the construction methodology required to become exempt from sound testing under Part E of the Building Regs. Sticking panels all over the place will make little/no difference in terms of sound transfer. In short you would need to rebuild your house to achieve your goal. Hopefully this helps. *biggrin*

 

[bigboss]

What you are proposing is not possible without considrable de-construction and re-construction. Anybody who says they can sell you/make you soundproofing panels are lying to you.

Have a look at the Robust Details. This is the construction methodology required to become exempt from sound testing under Part E of the Building Regs. Sticking panels all over the place will make little/no difference in terms of sound transfer. In short you would need to rebuild your house to achieve your goal. Hopefully this helps. *biggrin*

 

I was given the option of soundproofing my lounge / cinema room by the builder I employed to build my cinema system. This was an already built house.

 

[Electro]

When my house was refurbished I used this insulated plasterboard in the rooms, they just dot and dab onto the existing walls which leaves a small air gap between them.

It works extremely well to hold in heat but an unexpected bonus was a huge drop in noise from outside which resulted in a 5 to 10 db drop in noise levels in my listening room.

It would probably work to stop noise reaching you neigbours and vice versa and it is completely invisible

https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/Celotex-PIR-Thermal-Laminated-Insulation-Board-2400mm-x-1200mm-x-72-5mm-%282-88m2-SHEET%29/p/629245

Edit ,

I have removed the link to the optional cheaper one as it is too thin and not fire resistant.

 

[Gazzip]

What you are proposing is not possible without considrable de-construction and re-construction. Anybody who says they can sell you/make you soundproofing panels are lying to you.

Have a look at the Robust Details. This is the construction methodology required to become exempt from sound testing under Part E of the Building Regs. Sticking panels all over the place will make little/no difference in terms of sound transfer. In short you would need to rebuild your house to achieve your goal. Hopefully this helps. *biggrin*

I was given the option of soundproofing my lounge / cinema room by the builder I employed to build my cinema system. This was an already built house.

It can’t be done B.B. Trust me, I’ve been an architect for 17 years. If it could be done then I would know about it!

 

[Electro]

What you are proposing is not possible without considrable de-construction and re-construction. Anybody who says they can sell you/make you soundproofing panels are lying to you.

Have a look at the Robust Details. This is the construction methodology required to become exempt from sound testing under Part E of the Building Regs. Sticking panels all over the place will make little/no difference in terms of sound transfer. In short you would need to rebuild your house to achieve your goal. Hopefully this helps. *biggrin*

I agree, to completely sound proof an existing room would require a new specialist room to be built within that room, but noise leakage can be significantly reduced using the board I linked to previously .

http://www.whisperroom.com/

 

[andyjm]

What you are proposing is not possible without considrable de-construction and re-construction. Anybody who says they can sell you/make you soundproofing panels are lying to you.

Have a look at the Robust Details. This is the construction methodology required to become exempt from sound testing under Part E of the Building Regs. Sticking panels all over the place will make little/no difference in terms of sound transfer. In short you would need to rebuild your house to achieve your goal. Hopefully this helps. *biggrin*

I was given the option of soundproofing my lounge / cinema room by the builder I employed to build my cinema system. This was an already built house.

It can’t be done B.B. Trust me, I’ve been an architect for 17 years. If it could be done then I would know about it!

I was fortunate enough to be able to specify the design of my listening room as part of an extension build. The design is classic 'room within a room'. The internal walls are cavity blockwork, and the room above uses separate floor joists to the joists supporting the ceiling below. I used two thicknesses of 12.5mm plasterboard for the ceiling and dense acoustic wadding in the ceiling void. The room above has fitted carpets with thick underlay.

At high listening volumes, it is still possible to hear low level bass in the room above. Although relatively small physically, my sub (Revel B15) is rated at 1KW continuous, 1.5KW peak, so perhaps I am asking a bit much of the contruction to be able to eliminate all of the sound transfer.

My point is that even being able to specify a realtively isolated design as part of a new contruction (though to be fair my implementation certainly wasn't perfect) it has proved to be impossble to block the sound transfer. It is very difficult to 'soundproof' a room within an existing construction.

 

[Deleted member 160668]

Thanks for replies.

Maybe the use of the word ‘soundproofing’ was incorrect. I appreciate it won’t be perfect but it’s gotta be possible to improve upon this.

I’m going to give the Insulation a go. I actually plan on insulating under suspended floor with this too. Didn’t realise it has a benefit of sound reduction.

Cheers all. Will report back with results once done.

 

[Gazzip]

Thanks for replies.

Maybe the use of the word ‘soundproofing’ was incorrect. I appreciate it won’t be perfect but it’s gotta be possible to improve upon this.

I’m going to give the Insulation a go. I actually plan on insulating under suspended floor with this too. Didn’t realise it has a benefit of sound reduction.

Cheers all. Will report back with results once done.

Good luck with it all. If you want to get as close as you can to your goal in a scientific way (rather than best guessing) then have a look at the British Gypsum “White Book”. It is available for free online and has different buildups (diagrams and specifications) along with dB reduction ratings.

http://www.british-gypsum.com/literature/white-book