1950 Semi going to Buy party wall Sound Proofing

shaz408

Hi

I am in middle of purchasing a 1950 semi detach house. I am sensitive to noise. I am currently renting is a detach bungalow for last 5 years.
I have doen a home buyer report on the house too. I asked agent to ask owner if he hear any thing from the neighbours but he said he does not hear noise from neighbours
How I should know if the build is not good enough and is there any proper working solution (expensive even) to use to sound proof the party wall.

please share your feedback. thanks

jojo9239

Unfortunately you won't know this till your in plus you may down the line get new neighbours who may be noiser we looking into getting ours sound proofed but I was too costly

david1951

With the vendor's and neighbor's approval you can get a sound check done. Google noise insulation testing (or similar) and you should be able to find a few companies. Doesn't take long and is probably worth it if you are very sensitive to noise.

G_M

Do a sound test yourself (with vendor/neighbour's agreement).

Friend/relative goes next door with a radio/cd player etc and plays music/conversation etc at various volumes (keep in touch by mobilephone to identify at what level it becomes noticeable)

Don't rely on the vendor!

Or the neighbour.

david1951

^^ ...or that

You also get a good idea as to what your new neighbour is like

shaz408

I went today and knock on the neighbour door, but no body was there I am login to leave a note tomorrow morning. In the mean while i have contacted a sound insulation testing company lets see if they come up with a better quote. I am not sure if vendor and neighbour will allow family in both houses and allow us to run the tests .. but thanks a lot for all your replies. My wife really like the house but I am very reluctant now after reading lot of horrible stories.

penguingirl

What is the layout of the house like? I've found that makes a big difference in semi-detached houses. In our previous semi both of us had our front doors in the middle with the downstairs toilets next to each other (so we didn't hear each other's doorbells or door opening) and then the stairs were next to each other and lounges then next to the stairs (with a door). I don't know if that make sense but it basically went [our lounge][our stairs][their stairs][their lounge] which meant that you never heard each others TVs. Upstairs we had the ensuite between our bedroom and theirs (they didn't have an ensuite) and the other bedrooms adjoining were the smallest so weren't used much.

Our current house has stairs on the outside walls of the house, rather than the inner and the TV aerial points are on the adjoining wall, and tbh the noise is much worse. Likewise upstairs the bedrooms are next to each other. Our neighbour lives alone and is pretty sensitive to noise (and is in general highly strung!) and tbh we feel like we're on tiptoe sometimes as she has complained about us watching a film at 9pm on a Saturday and having the washing machine on. When she's had guests we can easily hear someone coughing, dogs barking or if a conversation gets a bit heated. Personally I'd be reluctant to buy a house with this design again, but would have no concerns about our former house because we honestly never heard anything.

david1951

I was a neighbour and was happy to let people come round and do the testing. It kind of reassured me that the people moving in were at least conscious of noise levels.

Good luck!

shaz408

Hi Thanks a lot for the detail reply.

So it look like house i am buying is moe similar to your current one. So at ground floor Lounge and dining room are separated by party walls and on first floor bedrooms are seaprated by party wall. the stairs are other side of the property that is not attached.

Davesnave

I lived in a semi with that layout for 21 years and had no problems, although my neighbours weren't especially noisy.

If noisy neighbours had moved in, I might have moved, but noisy neighbours are just one issue that might affect housing, including detached properties. For example you might buy a detached house and still have barking dogs nearby, or students who hold noisy parties till silly'o clock. There are few properties that can be considered safe from thoughtless neighbours.

As far as soundproofing goes, it's a specialist area, so I wouldn't trust a general builder with it if I needed any. People willing to learn the mechanics of it can DIY, but all methods involve losing some space in the rooms treated.

DRP

In an attached house, at times you will hear noise from next door.

Whether or not it is enough to irritate you depends on:

*Your threshold for irritation - sounds quite low, else you wouldn't be posting!
*The layout - if either side's living rooms & bedrooms are 'together' it will be worse.
*Your neighbours - even if you decide the current ones are 'good' (i.e. you only hear occasional, unavoidable noise), they may move out in a day/week/month/years time and be replaced by .... ?

I am speaking as someone who has never lived in a detached house - only semi & terraced. I have never had problems with neighbour noise, perhaps through a combination of decent neighbours and fairly high threshold of tolerance for noise??

The only guarantee is not to buy an attached house.