Gorgie Boy
Standard Member
Hi All. I've read some great advice on this forum with regards to sound proofing, so wondered if I could get some advice on my own project before buying material.
I have recently moved into a semi detached house and found that the soundproofing on the party wall is pretty bad. We can hear muffled conversations from next door and when I put my ear to the wall, I can make out exact words (not that I am in the habit of doing that of course)! This impacts the ground floor living room and two upstairs bedrooms.
The construction of the existing party wall is dot and dab plasterboard over two layers of brick with a cavity in between the brickwork and presumably dot and dab plasterboard on the neighbour’s side.
We have already done some work in one of the bedrooms (and have made some mistakes). We removed the dot and dab plasterboard and built a 2"x"2 stud frame approximately 15mm away from the brick. We also lifted up the flooring and filled any gaps on the joists and on the brick wall with expanding foam. We then filled the stud frame with acoustic rockwool (trying to maintain an airgap) and then sheeted with one layer of acoustic plasterboard. We then plastered over the top. We did use some expanding foam in a few points on the brick wall behind the stud frame to stop the bounce in the wall. I now know that wasn't a good move. :S
After the work was completed, we later found that we could still hear voices in the upstairs bedroom that I suspect was emanating from the neighbours’ downstairs living room. Sound must bounce up the party wall. I’m hoping that this will be improved when we repeat the soundproofing process in the other bedroom and living room as there will be more holes/gaps in the brick wall that we can cover up.
I now want to make some improvements for the sound proofed walls in the other two rooms. My proposal is:
I've reached out to soundproofing companies and they have all suggested that using a resilient clip system on top of the new stud frame would be worthwhile but that takes the cost of materials to more than I want to pay. Is it really required if we are building a new wall? Does my proposed build sound reasonable? At this stage I just need to block the muffled voices from entering my house.
The wall in the living room is approx. 7.5m by 2.4 and the bedroom walls are 3.6m by 2.3m
I am a complete amateur, so any advice is greatly received.
I have recently moved into a semi detached house and found that the soundproofing on the party wall is pretty bad. We can hear muffled conversations from next door and when I put my ear to the wall, I can make out exact words (not that I am in the habit of doing that of course)! This impacts the ground floor living room and two upstairs bedrooms.
The construction of the existing party wall is dot and dab plasterboard over two layers of brick with a cavity in between the brickwork and presumably dot and dab plasterboard on the neighbour’s side.
We have already done some work in one of the bedrooms (and have made some mistakes). We removed the dot and dab plasterboard and built a 2"x"2 stud frame approximately 15mm away from the brick. We also lifted up the flooring and filled any gaps on the joists and on the brick wall with expanding foam. We then filled the stud frame with acoustic rockwool (trying to maintain an airgap) and then sheeted with one layer of acoustic plasterboard. We then plastered over the top. We did use some expanding foam in a few points on the brick wall behind the stud frame to stop the bounce in the wall. I now know that wasn't a good move. :S
After the work was completed, we later found that we could still hear voices in the upstairs bedroom that I suspect was emanating from the neighbours’ downstairs living room. Sound must bounce up the party wall. I’m hoping that this will be improved when we repeat the soundproofing process in the other bedroom and living room as there will be more holes/gaps in the brick wall that we can cover up.
I now want to make some improvements for the sound proofed walls in the other two rooms. My proposal is:
- Remove dot and dab plasterboard
- Fill any holes in brick wall or on joists in the floor with cement (rather than expanding foam)
- Build a stud frame 15mm away from the brick wall but use 3"x 2" instead of 2"x 2". Also put some rubber strips on the sides of the stud frame that is in contact with the floor, ceiling and side walls.
- Fill stud frame with a denser and thicker rockwool this time (75mm with 60kg density rather than 50mm with 45kg density).
- Sheet with acoustic plasterboard
- Add tecsound 50 over the plasterboard
- Sheet with another layer of acoustic plasterboard
- Plaster wall
I've reached out to soundproofing companies and they have all suggested that using a resilient clip system on top of the new stud frame would be worthwhile but that takes the cost of materials to more than I want to pay. Is it really required if we are building a new wall? Does my proposed build sound reasonable? At this stage I just need to block the muffled voices from entering my house.
The wall in the living room is approx. 7.5m by 2.4 and the bedroom walls are 3.6m by 2.3m
I am a complete amateur, so any advice is greatly received.