Sound problems

[Deleted User]

We bought our first home June 2016 and have lived happily in it up until around 6 months ago. It is 3 bed semi detached, needed some work doing in terms of decorating etc but we saw it as a long term home for us so were happy to do the work in dribs and drabs, first getting the bedrooms done, then re-painting the kitchen. Last September we decided to start work on the downstairs toilet and hallway. The downstairs loo had pipework which we wanted to box in so my dad who is quite a handy guy did that for us and installed a new loo and sink, then in the hallway we painted the walls, took up the old horrid orange coloured carpet and put vinyl planks down in the downstairs toilet, hallway and then carpeted the stairs.  

Now, somewhere between doing all of this, and I’m not entirely sure when, something has happened to whatever soundproofing we had between us and next door and now we can hear every noise they create. We can hear them talking, closing doors, closing kitchen cupboards and drawers. I can even hear the TV sometimes when I sit in our lounge in silence. The offending party wall adjoins our hallway and our lounge. When they close their doors and drawers it sounds like they are slamming them and the noise travels all the way through our house. I have even hear the lounge radiator vibrate at time when they have closed the drawers particularly hard. 

My partner went round to speak to our neighbours about it as we assumed that they were likely also hearing noise from us on their side. To our surprise they said they couldn’t hear us and when asked if they had made any changes to their property their side they said that they hadn’t changed a thing. The guy unfortunately speaks several decibels too loud and to his own admittance is a bit of a loud mouth which makes the noise even worse as its not just occasional shouting we can hear its every time he opens his mouth. 

Now, giving that only major change we had made was the flooring, logic suggested that it was the vinyl planks causing the issues, so we ripped up the planks and had carpet re-laid, with a nice thick underlay. 

The result – absolutely nothing. We can still hear all the noises. 

I contacted a professional soundproofing company and after explaining the issues we were having and the layout of the house, he gave an over the phone quote of around 4 grand. That was just for treating the party wall. The flanking wall he said would be an additional 1.5 grand. We simply don’t have that kind of money sitting around. 

At this point we have been living with this for around 5 months and it is causing me severe stress, anxiety and depression. Everytime I hear a door or a drawer slam or hear them having a chat my heart sinks. I have been in tears. The neighbours who we used to get on well with I have now started feeling very resentful towards, even to the point where I am now convinced they are making the noises on purpose because they know how much it upsets me. 

If I am at home alone I have to put music on simply to drown out the noises they make otherwise its unbearable and I have to leave the house. 

We now have a quote off a builder to put a stud wall up in the lounge for around a grand, which my partner is convinced will cure the issue but I just don’t see how it can. It will I suppose at a minimum make the lounge bearable to be in but will do nothing for the noise travelling through the rest of the house through the hallway. 

We are at a complete loss of what to do or what has happened to cause this issue. Other than painting we haven’t touched the party wall and as I said we took the vinyl up and restored it to a better than it was before carpet and underlay. The house that I once loved has now become a nightmare to the point where we are considering selling, although deep down its not what I want to do and I know my partner doesn’t want to move. 

Every time I speak to any family about it they all just tell me that I "need to stop listening to it" but they simply don't understand what I am going through or how bad the noise can be at times. If I could shut it off in my brain then I would but its like telling someone to ignore a baby crying its impossible. 

I’m not even sure why I’m writing this or what I think I am going to achieve. I guess what I’m wanting to know is has anyone experienced this before? What could have possibly happened to the wall, house or anything else to cause these issues when we lived peacefully for three years prior to this? And what would you do if you were in my position? 

Mistral001

I have not been in this situation, but I have seen many posts on this subject on this forum.  Try a search of the forum.  

If I was to guess, it looks like a problem that comes with the design of the house exacerbated by a noisier than average neighbour 

ElephantBoy57

Deleted_User said:

Last September we decided to start work on the downstairs toilet and hallway. The downstairs loo had pipework which we wanted to box in so my dad who is quite a handy guy did that for us and installed a new loo and sink

Has this maybe opened something up? Is the noise downstairs?

Grenage

Were you living there during the home improvements?  If so, surely there must have been a particular point at which the noise became apparent.

I would suggest that either something has made a change (as suggested directly above), or that you have become particularly sensitive to noise that was already present (be that through depression or whatever).

Let's assume the former, because nobody here can help with the latter.  Sound through walls can be quite deceptive, and it could be that relatively trivial work such as in the downstairs toilet has made a difference.  You neighbours might also have changed things on their side that they don't imagine would make a difference - or aren't being forthcoming.

mwarby

One consideration is whether the floors are suspended or not.

I have noise issues in my place with music and shiuting coming through the party wall. I got a plasterer to add 2 layers of soundbloc plasterboard in the alcoves), which did very little. I suspect that's on part down to lack of mechanical isolation (was trying to keep the alcoves).

However I also think a big part is that while you might be able to block sound coming through the wall, if the sound is going into their floor void through the unenhanced wall under the floor then echoing around and coming up through the floor, there are limits as to what adding extra wall soundblocking materials will achieve

In my case I believe(not ripped up the laminate floor yet) the joists don't rest on the party wall, if they did there will be opertunities for gaps which would allow the noise straight through

The stud wall if not fixed to the existing wall would make a difference (the new wall would be less coupled and less able to pass the vibrations through), adding accoustic rockwool(not loft insulation) would help. I've witnessed Rockwool being effective I  cutting down noise between rooms in an office I worked in.There are also special soundproofing boards which have foam and rubber layers, although I'm not sure if they are worth the money

You mention noise of slamming doors, these as far as I know are far more difficult to block as the sound couples very well jnto tbe structure. If you can the best way of tackling those would be to see if you can persaude neighbors to have soft close doors or drawers, you might find that £100 spent on stopping the slamming is far more effective than £1000 trying to block the noise

in my case one thing which I found made a big difference to my experience is that random noises I don't pick up on, however music has a very recognisable pattern which can be difficult to ignore

Norman_Castle

Do you know if they had a new kitchen recently? My kitchen wall shares a wall with a neigbours kitchen. A few years ago a new neighbour moved in and was incredibly noisy in the kitchen. The sound of narrow cabinet doors slamming shut due to sprung hinges and drawers slamming shut was impossible not to hear. If I was touching the worktop it could be felt moving, all through a two layer thick brick wall. If the majority of the noise is this, as above, fitting soft closers on their cupboards and drawers could be the solution.

As for the work you did pipework through walls and floors often has a gap around it which could allow airbourne sound through. Is the area worked on fully sealed?

BrowndOff

You have my sympathies, and I have the same issue. We have new neighbours and all I hear now is cupboard slamming.  The best way is to ask them to fit door piston dampers, and pay for them. Any reasonable person would be agreeable to that. Your plight should not be trivialised; I've gone through exactly the same 

carefullycautious

Maybe it is because you have spent the last few years doing your own DIY and making noise that you did not hear it. Now that everything is done and you are quiet it is more prevalent. 

RelievedSheff

On the flip side if you can hear noise from the neighbours then they could certainly hear the noise from your DIY. So spare a thought for the noise they put up with as well.

[Deleted User]

carefullycautious said:

Maybe it is because you have spent the last few years doing your own DIY and making noise that you did not hear it. Now that everything is done and you are quiet it is more prevalent. 

RelievedSheff said:

On the flip side if you can hear noise from the neighbours then they could certainly hear the noise from your DIY. So spare a thought for the noise they put up with as well.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, but as said in my post we have done DIY slowly over three years, tackling one room per year, spending maybe a week or so on each room so hardly think thats an issue. We haven't spent three solid years making constant DIY noise. 

[Deleted User]

Thanks everybody for taking the time to reply. 

Unfortunately with lockdown we have not been able to address the issues we are having as we can't get anyone round to look at it and discuss soundproofing options. 

I like the suggestion of buying sound dampeners for the kitchen cupboards and would be more than willing to invest in something to help in that regard. 

With regards to the work in question - we only made changes to the hallway floor when we put laminate down, however this has been rectified with the re-instalment of carpet and thick underlay and as I say has done nothing to help the issue. The only other thing we did was simply painting the walls etc. No structural changes have been made. 

The neighbours claim they haven't made any changes to their side of the house. 

As the weather has been nicer recently it has been a little more bearable as the neighbours tend to spend the majority of the day sitting in the garden rather than indoors, so we are at least getting a few peaceful days a week. 

The depression I felt before has mostly gone but has now turned into an overwhelming sense of anger. Sometimes when they are being particularly bad I end up going on a counter-attack of slamming my own doors or making the dog bark on purpose, which I know is a childish and stupid way to behave!