Sound proofing

[Dave Bartram]

Moving out of parents place soon (about time) into an as yet undetermined flat. My question is my current neighbours don't really like my home cinema (not that I play it that loud or late), It'll probably be worse in a flat, what can I do to stop the sound penetrating through what could be walls, floor, ceiling or maybe all three......?

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Dave

I have had no past experience on sound proofing, but I wll have a go at answering your question

Over the last few days I have learnt a bit on the subject, as I am going to get a room built on the side of my parents house (going to live at home for a bit longer so I can afford all the equipment )

One thing I have found is a product called RockPlusHD Slab which is good for acoustic insulation on party walls and floors.
If you want to buy it, purchase from Wickes as they offer 20% discount if you buy more than £100 worth.

May I ask what equipment you use in your Home Cinema at the moment?

Anne

[pointon]

The only way to totally, 100% soundproof a room is to have a layer of vacuum surrounding it. This isn't a job that can be very likely be done with a trip down to B&Q or Wickes. More like a visit to NASA.

The best way to avoid upsetting neighbours, is not to have any. Other than that, you're going to be building a room within a room to insulate the sound.

Every little helps, especially thick carpet, thick rugs used as wall hangings and thick curtains. Unfortunatley it can have a detrimental effect on the room's acoustics.

[Dave Bartram]

Thanks for the quick responses…The Audio side of my equipment is nothing drastic: Sony STRDB 930 amp connected to the Sony SV-705 pascal speaker system inc sub, & an aging Toshiba SD3107 DVD player. I don't want to or even need to totally sound proof a room, just cut out some of the noise which it a flat will probably penetrate worse then the house I'm in at the mo. Certainly don't use the system to anywhere near it's potential. Deaf neighbours will be a good start though....

Rockwool sounds interesting will check that out.

Thanks again

Dave

Simple techniques for decreasing the amount of transfered energy are:

1) put spikes under any speakers/speaker stands that sit on the floor

2) construct a removable false wall, filled with insulation behind the equipment

3)make movable sound absorbing panels place them where most effective

3)use furniture mounted tractile transducers instead of a subwoofer

[Gary Lightfoot]

When I did my loft, I built new walls an inch in front of the existing walls.

To do this properly, you should use 4 x 2 wood, with 4 inches of insulation, and two layers of plasterboard. If you don't want to lose 6 inches of room, then use ordinary studding wood (around 2 x 1), and wickes 30mm sound proofing slabs in between (I think these are the same product as mentioned by annefromuk). Then fit two layers of plasterboard. Build this wall in front of, but not touching, the existing walls.

Fill all gaps around the old wall first (especialy at floor level), and then fill all gaps around the new wall. Fit new skirting and fill all gaps. I used high modulus silicon rubber, but even decorators caulk will do the trick (to a lesser degree).

Anywhere that air can go, so can sound.

Fit thick rubber underlay or soundproofing padding before fitting the carpet. You could use the Wickes 30mm sound proofing slabs on the floor, and fit new flooring using the 8' x 4' tongue and grooved flooring you find at Wickes and B&Q. This will raise the floor by two inches, but give good sound profing for downstairs.

Not too sure about false ceilings, but a shallow false ceiling with insulation above it will help.

If you can only afford to lose about an inch of room space per wall, you could just glue and screw two layers of plasterboard. Don't forget to fill all gaps.

HTH

Gary.