Modern Houses - Sound Insulation?

BaldySmurf

Hi All,

My partner and I currently live in a first floor flat, so get noise from both upstairs and down, as well as next door. It's a modern enough flat (4 years old), so is built pretty well. To alleviate the noise issue, we were recently set to purchase a 3 bed detached property. However, a week before completion the seller pulled the property from the market and the chain collapsed :mad: We still have the buyer for the flat so now just have to find somewhere else.

Detached properties round here are few and far between on the market at the moment, and a 4 bed end terrace town house has recently come on the market which is very impressive.

Would anyone be able to advise from their experience what sound insulation in modern semi / end terraces is like? I really want to be as noisy as permits and not hear my neighbours (hence the preference for the detached), but this 4 bed is tempting.

Does anyone also have any comments regarding sound insulation? (costs / effectiveness)

Many thanks!

Neil

nelly_2

Builders will put in the exact minimum requirements to appease the local councill I can guarantee you that mate.

There is quite a lot you can do but it aint cheap.

British gysum will have info on their website and almost certainly the sound abatement society

daleyd

We used to live in a reasonably new (1992) semi, and you could hear everything through the walls. What made it worse was the fact that the stairs were up against the dividing wall - you'd swear you were being invaded by elephants when someone next door ran up the stairs.

The couple who lived next door when we first moved in owned the chinese takeaway up the road, and whenever they had an argument he would fetch us a curry round the next day, so not all bad.:D

epz_2

i dont know what makes you think newly built houses are well built, in my opinion they tend to use the cheapest possible techniques they can get away with and cut corners. personaly i would recon a 70s house is the last point where they had reasonable build quality., after 30 odd years most probs will have been sorted.

sound deadening is a component of 2 real items the density and their changes, basicly a lump of concrete if good, so is a foam insulator with tiny air bubbles may be better. really what you need to worry about is thin plasterboard walls with only an air gap between them.

one neighbor has to be better than 4 but you might want to check it they are a half deaf geriatric with a habit of playing the tv really loud, might be an idea to explain to the buyers you are concerned about noise possibly offer the neighbors say £50 if they let you blast a stereo at a load level in each of the adjoining rooms to see the insulation for yourself.

i cant remeber what sound travels furthest but its probably bass, might be worth a bit of heavy metal then the begees to test the different frequences as well.

beachbeth

We live in a 3-bed semi built in the 1930's and the houses are sort of sideways on with front doors round the side, lounge at the front, dining room in the middle and kitchen at the back. The houses therefore aren't very wide but go further back than they look from the front.

I will say that we have had a problem with noise since we've been here. With our previous neighbour we always knew exactly what room in her house she was in at any given moment because she did nothing but shout all the time. Our neighbours now are lovely but we can hear them running upstairs, their dog howling and their bedside alarm going off. They therefore must hear plenty from our side too as I have teenagers and dogs. So it seems that it doesn't matter when these houses were built the noise element is the same.

The only way I can see to change this is to buy a detached, which is what Im trying to do at the moment.

epz_2

last i heard you could get specialist sound optimization engineers to come out and give you a quote on work done pretty cheap, certainly less than the accociated costo of moving, if its only that that makes you want to go then why not give them a try.

Tiddlywinks

I have lived in two semis in my time - and can say that the layout is really important.

In my first, the stairs, kitchen and upstairs bathroom were on the adjoining wall and the bedrooms and living room were on the "outside" wall - this was a great set up as we only heard the neighbours going up and down stairs and washing up BUT the real everyday living room noise such as TV and music or bedroom noise was not an issue.

In my current semi the layout is reversed - our living and dining rooms and bedrooms are on the adjoining wall. It is a 1980s build and we can hear the arguments and TV etc which is a bit of a pain.

I will never make this mistake again - choosing the right layout does make a big difference.

T

tomstickland

I live in a ground floor 1 bet flat built in 1989. I can hear my neighbour upstairs and to the side, but it's only normal sounds, like doors closing and cupboards being shut. Since they're all 1 bed, then there's no children and I've not heard an argument yet. I'm lucky to have good neighbours, though they're moving out upstairs and leasing it out, so wish me luck. When I first moved in the sounds of footsteps upstairs really bugged me, but I don't notice it any more.

Hazy

We might be really lucky with our neighbours but in our 2003 mid terrace we just don't seem to hear them. Occasionally in the very early morning if I'm up I might just hear something but very rarely. In our old house edwardian mid terrace you could hear everything.

BaldySmurf

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to reply, it's all useful information to have on board.

The housing market round here is really quiet at the moment and it's becoming increasingly frustrating. What makes things worse is house prices have risen since we had the offer accepted on the house that fell through (which we should have moved in to last week )

lush_walrus

The new Part E (which covers sound) of the building regs came into effect after July 2003, and as Nelly rightly said builders will in most instances build to this minimum level. But, the minimum level is fine and regardless of the construction you will definately find that properties built after this came into effect will be the best.

But, the trick is to find a property built to these standards, which is harder than it sounds. The reason is you really need to find out when Building regs were applied for rather than when the property was completed if that makes sense! Basically, if Building regs were applied for prior to the July, then they would have been required to meet the previous Part E. If they were applied for after July then it will be the new regs.

Sorry that doesnt really help your question as such, but definately anything built to Part E, 2003 will be better acoustically than any property prior to this where sound was either not an issue or was considered to be less of an issue!