Sound Insulation 4 Internal wall

gandhim

Hi,

I want to sound insulate the party wall beween me and my neighbour because we can hear muffled voices and their movement of furniture, and their footsteps when we are down stairs and they are upstairs.

The party wall is brick made, plastered smooth and clean.
Are 12.5mm plasterboards going to block much sound?
What can I do to block their footsteps noise from coming through to my house?

Please help with suggestions and their costs becuase I need some peace and quiet at home after an awful day at work!

many thanks,

budgetdiyer

Soundproofing can be very tricky to get right as it depends on so many factors, often factors that can't be assessed because they are hidden in a finished property.

In theory your simplest approach would be to lose a few inches from your wall and add a stud framework (infilled with insulation Rockwool RW5 is good for acoustic insulation) and then plasterboard finish (acoustic plasterboard), consider using two layers of plasterboard, then obviously you'll need to fit new skirting, coving etc.

However this would'nt factor in any noise travelling through at ceiling height as that area of wall would remain uninsulated.

panchenlama

i'm just about to do mine. I'm doing what budgetdiyer suggests in his post i.e. stud wall, rockwool filling and then two layers of sound plaster board. I'll also be lifting the floorboards upstairs and acoustic sealing the joists and using rockwool in the voids.

scheduled to do this in June and total cost (without decorating) is c.£1500

budgetdiyer

panchenlama wrote: »

scheduled to do this in June and total cost (without decorating) is c.£1500

Ouch! I'm supplying materials and having a 4m x 2.8m ceiling done for £270 labour, materials probably weighing in at £500.

Tippytoes

If there is a chimney breast on the party wall, don't even bother. It acts like an echo chamber.

panchenlama

should have added that this is for 4 roomsm (2 upstairs and 2 down)

you can block up the chimney