[soomrox]

Hi All

I need some advise.

First of all I want to make it clear that I understand I cannot Completely soundproof my room due to various reasons mentioned on this forum. The advise I am looking at its reducing as much as possible noise.


I live in a converted victorian apartment. I have the top 2 floors and my neigbour has the 2 below.

Under my lounge is his bedroom. The issue is we can hear eachother when we talk or can really have a decent conversation. (not that I want to)

I can hear him snorning. Because of this sound issue I have never sat or watched tv in my lounge after 11:30 as he keeps threatening to call the police and council. I understand the noise does not let him go to sleep.

I have wooden floors and some of them have gaps between then. Under the floor as far as I can see is no insulation and I can see a huge gap to his ceiling.

I was thinking to sovle the issue or maybe just reduce it.

I was thinking of speanding around £1000 to £1200. I would prefer not to take the floor out as this can be very costly and in the end of the day the flanking noise will remain. I am planning to put a carpet in with some sort of underlayer. I searched arouynd and found Quietfloor PLUS Underlay but its very expenisve.

Can you experts please suggest what I can do as I want to get to the stage where I and My Mrs can watch a movie in our lounge with normal volume.

Thanks

[drivinscool]

Nightmare situation mate.

Sound proofing can be really expensive.

Have you considered..........

1. Moving?

2. Having your movie setup in the bedroom upstairs and just a regular TV in the lounge?

[soomrox]

It is a nightmare situation - Once he threatened to kill me and I had to report it to the Police....

1. Well I own the house and moving is an option but Ill be renting this one out. In that case I wont have tenents living more than a month after finding out they can sit in the lounge after 11:30.

2. I had to buy an entire new movie setup for my Bedroom, Pioneer 32 LCD, DVD Player, Sky Box, Wii and Xbox - all are upsatirs in the room.

But I really want to see Hi-Def movies on my 50in which is in the lounge

[ARNOLD AKIEN]

Originally Posted by soomrox

It is a nightmare situation - Once he threatened to kill me and I had to report it to the Police....

1. Well I own the house and moving is an option but Ill be renting this one out. In that case I wont have tenents living more than a month after finding out they can sit in the lounge after 11:30.

2. I had to buy an entire new movie setup for my Bedroom, Pioneer 32 LCD, DVD Player, Sky Box, Wii and Xbox - all are upsatirs in the room.

But I really want to see Hi-Def movies on my 50in which is in the lounge

" Well I own the house ... "

Thats the one advantage that you have. You must have read the various posts on sound/NOISE Reduction in Victorian Houses on the forums and so it seems at least possible that you desperately Hope that a Magical solution WILL appear.

I'm truly sorry but it wont.

You can soundproof your building so as to reduce your personal noise to a very low level indeed but that is going to cost you rather more than ...

" I was thinking of speanding around £1000 to £1200. I would prefer not to take the floor out as this can be very costly and in the end of the day the flanking noise will remain. I am planning to put a carpet in with some sort of underlayer. I searched arouynd and found Quietfloor PLUS Underlay but its very expenisve. "


" ..very expenisve. " and it wont be as effective as you hope it will be.

Soundproofing seems to be what you are after rather than just noise reduction.


YES, it can be done if you do have complete control of a Detached Building .. yours wouldn't be a Terraced Victorian House would it ? .. but alas, it really really is a Very Expensive Undertaking unless you are a Builder who can do all of the Grunt Work - of lifting floors and so on - yourself.


Your best bet would seem to be a rearrangement of the living rooms within your house but even if your re-arrangement places your bedroom above or below that of your paying guests you will still have the problem of snoring or conversation or indeed boisterous SEX that will cut through any amount of carpeting by way of flanking noise ...


" Flanking noiseFlanking noise is more often perceived in flats where noise is transmitted through the fabric of the building. Flanking noise is more often caused by impact noise and often travels through the walls of the building.

This is more of a problem if the walls are of a lightweight construction so it is important the correct density blocks are used in the construction of new flats today. Normally a minimum 7 kilonewton density block is specified today to reduce flanking noise nuisance and also help comply with the current regulations for noise control in flats and other multi-occupied buildings. Read more about flanking noise here " ...



noise defined, What is Noise?


Believe me if there were a magical solution to this sort of problem then it would be all over the Internet in a moment.


Since you neighbor/ tenant has already stirred up trouble and you have already invoked the authorities you must be aware that, in the UK, anyone buying your property must be notified of the problem at the time of sale.

[soomrox]

Hey if you read my question I never asked for a magical solution. I am sure I can atleast reduce the noise that goes downstairs.

The Building is a Victorian terrace flat. The freeholder is the council. The people who live downstairs are the council tennants. I have already spoken to them and the council if they can chip in with the cost of soundproofing his ceiling or my floor. They have said they cannot and the tennat says he cannot afford it.

As building work is going to be very expensive I have almost made up my mind I will put a carpet in even if it reduces 5% of sound thats great. Or maybe you will just tell me that it wont make a difference at all.

Can anyone help me before I put the carpet on what should I be putting under the carpet to just get a bit extra more sound reduction.

Thanks

[AngelEyes]

I am no expert in this at all but I wonder if you can have paper pulp or some other form or insulation pumped into the gap between your floorboards and his ceiling.

This would only require some holes to be drilled and after fitting a good underlay and carpet on top you might not even need to fill them afterwards.

Just a thought that might be worth pursuing.

This company use some consultants that specialise in sound insulation and not just for the products seen on this website. The service is free, just call Insulation Express and ask to speak to one of their 'experts', they will probably get someone to call you back.

Acoustic Insulation | Insulation | Insulation Express

Adam

[ARNOLD AKIEN]

Originally Posted by soomrox

Hey if you read my question I never asked for a magical solution. I am sure I can atleast reduce the noise that goes downstairs.

The Building is a Victorian terrace flat. The freeholder is the council. The people who live downstairs are the council tennants. I have already spoken to them and the council if they can chip in with the cost of soundproofing his ceiling or my floor. They have said they cannot and the tennat says he cannot afford it.

As building work is going to be very expensive I have almost made up my mind I will put a carpet in even if it reduces 5% of sound thats great. Or maybe you will just tell me that it wont make a difference at all.

Can anyone help me before I put the carpet on what should I be putting under the carpet to just get a bit extra more sound reduction.

Thanks

I was afraid of that ... the Buildings Construction that is. You did seem -to me - to indicate that you might own the entire building/ house in a terrace.


I really do apologize if it seemed to you that I hadn't read your post or that I was talking down to you.


You see it seemed to me that you must have read those posts in this forum that had related to your problem -Including my own - and that you must have realized that, barring some sort of High Tech .. MAGICAL .. solution your problem wasn't solvable by any conventional means.


Such High Tech Means are Foreseeable .. even Star Trek, 'Shields UP ' solutions have been anticipated given the advance of technology -but not just yet in terms that are applicable to your situation.

Whilst I have been obliged to live in your sort of building once upon a time and long ago ...it was a long time ago.

My, Professional Experience of dealing with your sort of building was rather more recent than Victorian, and rather more fraught, but it was still nearly 15 years ago at it's most recent.

SO, Victorian buildings and so on are a problem in as much as Designed Flats/Apartments were a bit of a rarity and even then they didn't plan on .. well ANY form of home entertainment system beyond a piano.

In the 21st century the rights and obligations of the occupiers of Council Property are a Bloody Nightmare that awaits the Establishment of Case Law ...examples prov-en in Court .. before your Human Rights can be established.


Do I take it that you aren't interested in Political Confrontation?

Assuming that then your best bet will be to ...

Assume that the Local Council is desperately hoping that you wont go to Law ... with the aid of Pro Bona Legal advisor's.


SO THEN, say to them ... via Your Local Councilor and his political interest .. I really DO NOT want to Fight But I'm, Desperate!!!!

This is The Problem ... insert Problem ... You do have Sound Insulation for people who live next to main roads don't you ? SO ... here is a problem .. what NOW ?


Don't give up because They .. Local Council .. WILL Hope that you WILL, for Budgets are Tight and if you can be persuaded to give UP ...GREAT !!! Problem Solved.


First Piece of Advice .. SLOW DOWN and do nothing in haste .. Take Your Problem to Citizens Advice as a LEGAL PROBLEM IN AS MUCH AS ...well you know the rest of the problem.

As for the immediate Stuffthe under the floor with STUFF ? No, it wont work, though people of Good Will will hope that it will and that any insulation will Squirt through the Victorian Joists to which the floor boards are nailed ... normally you would need to Lift all of the, non tongue and groove, Victorian Floor boards and lay insulation between the joists ... and then not achieve much in the way of sound insulation.


Carpet would help with foot-fall but not with sound transmission via flanking ..or whatever quirky means will emerge in OLD,OLD buildings.


In the Mean time you best option is to plan on moving house some-day soon whilst in the short term you discover just what you can force from the Local Council ... they wont expect that Little Old You Will make a Legal Case of it.... it is Aways the first Response of The Powers That Be.


Sorry that I offended you,


Arnold.

[soomrox]

Thanks for your reply. No offense taken.

I did try to give the legal talk to the council and they said, long time ago a test case was done and favour was given to the coucil. The logic they gave me that if we fix one house floodgates will open up to do every house and then every council will need to follow.

Does everyone think have a good underlayer and carpet I will still be able to hear him talking and snoring?

[Ted White]

First and formost seal up those cracks on your side and his. This will help a great deal. Please don't spend money on expensive materials until you've sealed the ceiling and floor.

Use standard latex sealant