Soundproofing-David Wilson semi detached

stevoh

At the moment I live in an apartment with a concrete floor. I can hear the person on the other end of the phone when my neighbours below are talking to them, it’s that bad. So any faint bangs of very muffled noise is a big improvement to me 

stevoh

molenpad said:

I had a DW home, a three story townhouse. I thought the soundproofing was pretty much ok until new neighbours moved in next door. They weren't overly noisy or offensive, just generally noisier and less considerate than the last family. All general household noise and nothing too dramatic. I'm sure they could hear the same from our side.

I know one issue we had in those houses were the sounds of integrated kitchen appliances reverberating through the walls - dishwasher droning, washer spinning, microwave bleeping. As a row of 4 houses we talked about it and got DW back a few times to look into it, but it seemed to be one of those things.

I could never hear the TV or the talking really, just general thumps, bumps and raised voices on occasion. 

Do you know when it was built and what the style name of it was?

otherwise were you happy with the build quality?

otb666

@stevoh I dont think the neighbours are exceptionally quiet as they have been here 13 years as well as us.  I think soundproofing done well.  During Covid there was four people in my home working from home and the neighbours were the same and still no noise problems I am also over sensitive when it comes to noise ( hubby says i could hear a pin drop) so I am surprised as well thinking about it.

[Deleted User]

ReadingTim said:

rigolith said:

This is the sort of thing that developers should be required to specify.

But specify what, exactly?  

Read any review of noise cancelling headphones and it's clear that certain sounds, pitches and frequencies are cancelled more effectively than others. Some sounds (and associated vibrations) travel more effectively than others, as I'm sure everyone appreciates.  

All any material could do would be to state that it offers a noise reduction of a set number of decibels, perhaps within a certain frequency range, but that's of limited value if the sound they're trying to deaden is too loud in the first place.  Which in turn leads to the question of what is 'too noisy'?  Different people have different views on that, which means you're trying to objectively quantify something which is inherently subjective.  

The way to test it would be a standard set of sounds played at a fixed volume, and sound meters next door. Design and sounds to stimulate common every day home life, such as taking, TV with subwoofer, and washing up.