Sound proofing job

ninanella

I live in a converted flat.  On the other side of the hall wall is the stairway to the upstairs flat.  Nothing by thin plasterboard on each side.  I paid to have soundproofing to two upstairs rooms by a sound proofing company and got the specs to do the hall.  He moved and so I used the specs to get quotes.  I choose a guy whose partner fitted my toilet and had a maintenance company.  He said he could do the job was going to use more expensive material and there would be no need to reduce the size of my hall which is tiny.  I thought how hard can it be if you are a builder to do such a job.  I always tell myself I am a bright woman, but I am not too sure.  I never asked for references and could find little on line.  I based it on their attitude and helpfulness when they fitted my toilet with an old dodgy waste pipe.  Will I ever learn?  This is not the first time I have had Dodgy builders.

On completion I realised the sound proofing made little difference.  But it was the quality of workmanship that horrified me.  The guys who did the job were great and the boss kept coming to the house to check on them.  A cupboard under the stairs was soundproofed with what looks like plaster and is already crumbling and no wood frame so all the surrounding plasterboard is bendy and chipped.  With no frame you can see the wool filling to the wall.  It's a horrific.  

They also fitted a new door bell that I arranged on behalf of the landlord to the upstairs flat to replace one that had really messy surrounds and was a needing replaced.  They did not even do that right which kind of told me everything I needed to know.  I wish I could post a pic.  They slapped plasterboard to a glass frame above my door better soundproofing!

I do not have a lot of money and actually borrowed some off my sister as it was something that had bothered me for ages a total lack of privacy.  But now  I have wasted a week of my life and so far £1400.  I still owe the other half.

I have asked them to make good various things there is no way they can redo the wall.  Any suggestions?

Should I get an independent assessment of the work and ask for a refund?

Small claims court

Get them to make good and never darken my door again

I am on my own and kind of fed up of the !!!!!! takers of this world, pardon my French.

Sandtree

ninanella said:

I live in a converted flat.  On the other side of the hall wall is the stairway to the upstairs flat.  Nothing by thin plasterboard on each side.  I paid to have soundproofing to two upstairs rooms by a sound proofing company and got the specs to do the hall.  He moved and so I used the specs to get quotes.  I choose a guy whose partner fitted my toilet and had a maintenance company.  He said he could do the job was going to use more expensive material and there would be no need to reduce the size of my hall which is tiny.  I thought how hard can it be if you are a builder to do such a job.  I always tell myself I am a bright woman, but I am not too sure.  I never asked for references and could find little on line.  I based it on their attitude and helpfulness when they fitted my toilet with an old dodgy waste pipe.  Will I ever learn?  This is not the first time I have had Dodgy builders.

So you got specs from a specialist company to improve soundproofing in three rooms. That company delivered the changes in two of the rooms but you chose a different company to do the third room (hallway)? How has the soundproofing improved in the two rooms done by the other company?

I'm assuming the company did a good job with the toilet? The wording could be read that they fixed despite a dodgy pipe or that they fixed it using a dodgy pipe.

The challenge of getting one company to spec and one company to do is the inevitable finger pointing when things don't work as hoped. If you want to pursue the doers then you are better off focusing on the quality of the finish/workmanship than the effectiveness of the soundproofing. 

You should give them a full snag list and give them an opportunity to make right, if they refuse to or do another botched job its then time to consider the next steps which would include getting quotes to make good the work and a letter before action for them to pay for the rectification work quote (net of any monies you still owe them).

Sound proofing, once you remember that sound is fundamentally vibration, is simple in theory as its all about decoupling so vibration cannot pass from one side to another or adding mass so the same energy causes less vibration. The secondary consideration is that its not a straight line result... fixing 99% of the issue will not achieve a 99% improvement. In practice its a fairly specialist area with many different products out there and so worth sticking to people who know what they are doing.

pbartlett

The only way to soundproof that plasterboard wall is to use heavier material - ie knock the wall down and rebuild it in concrete blocks or bricks. Anything else will have little effect - as you have found out.