Sound proofing on a new build

kathryne

Does anyone know where I can get someone to come and legitimatley check if the soundproofing in my new build is what it should be?? I can hear my neighbours television through the wall and when he has his parties I can hear him and his mates singing word for word in the living room when I'm in the bedroom on the other side of the house.

aberdeen2

You shouldnt need anybody to come and test your flat for noise levels, from what you say clearly the builders have missed the soundproofing out on your flat....when was it built.. it would be the council that you would go to for info on this as it is them that the builders need to sign of the building inspection tests...iam sure they get away with testing one flat in ten or something ridiculous like that so in other words one in ten of the flats is soundproofed the rest are duds...its criminal...40years after man walked on the moon man is walking on the floor upstairs and you hear every footstep..somethings far far wrong.....get to the council but be prepared for a long wait.

missile

aberdeen2 wrote: »

get to the council but be prepared for a long wait.

and if you live in Aberdeen ............. a very long wait for them to clear the pavements :rolleyes:

natman

Hi we moved from a detached house to a new build 3 storey town house. Attatched on both sides and the builder was morris homes and part of teh NHBC Gurantee scheme.

To be honest we also were reluctant coming from a detached to a new terrace type due to the noise.
In reality, it has been fine, you can hear the odd door slam, or a kid jumping down the stairs, but other than that we climatsed to the change quite quickly.

If you go ahead with the purchase try not to compare the two houses - i.e your detached to this town house as clearly they are diffrent type of properties with different positive and negatives.

After being out of my detached for 10 months now, how am i feeling, the slight noise does not bug more and i wouldnt move back.............. but thats just me!!

chappers

the sound proofing for adjoining properties nowadays should be excellent, however large scale developments are allowed to use what is known as robust building methods.This involves using a tried and tested system that is known to pass the relevant tests, however incorrect installation by careless builders, such as missing insulation, seperated walls touching, screws screwed completely through etc. can cause the system to fail.
I very much doubt that the council will be bothered and most large scale developments don't even use the council to sign off their building regs.
Your first course of redress should be to the developer to find out a) if actual testing was carried out or b) they used a robust method.
If any actual testing was carried out you should ask to see the test results.
You may need to employ a noise consultant(see yell) but to carry out any testing they will need access to both your property and your neighbours , whilst there is no one in each property and probably the rooms being tested will need to be empty of furniture, you will probably need to fund the costs of these tests,probably in the region of £450-500 (for one impact and one airborne test)If the tests fail you will then be into a legal wrangle with your developers(remedy may involve the complete rebuilding of your party walls/floors and ceilings or a bodge involving some upgrades).
If they pass well then they pass.

To the OP modern houses built within the last 4-5 years should have excellent soundproofing between neighbours.
If the property is still being built ask about the sound insulation ask for a copy of the working drawings and maybe ask a noise consultant of their opinon as to whether the system employed is good or bad.

System

This thrread has been very interesting for me also.
Thanks for bringing this subject OP!
I currently live in a 1930's semi detached and the sound proofing is horrendous (I can hear everything my neighbours do, even if they breathe loudly in the night!)
We are hoping to move and were considering a new build (need 4 bedrooms) this thread has given me some things to think about.
Linda
PS Hope you all had a nice Christmas
PPS Sorry if I've hijacked this thread

pinkshoes

I'm currently in a 1970s semi, and it also has horrendous soundproofing! I can hear the neighbour going up and down the stairs, the dining chairs scraping on the wooden floor, their phone ring, and their tv. I actually miss my newbuild flat which had amazing sound proofing!

When viewing anything new, see if they'll let you view the next door property, then jump around a bit and see what sound you can hear through the wall! (obviously one of you staying in the other property...)

marcg

Echo everything that Chappers said and add:

There are basically four forms of standard construction - timber, concrete or steel frame and loadbearing masonry construction (bricks and mortar).

Timber, concrete and steel frames rely on clever design and lots of plasterboard to create sound insulation. Typically this means making sure the walls of one house are completely separated from the walls of the other house. So whilst it looks like there is one wall between the houses there are actually two thin ones side-by-side and NOT touching. This addresses the impact sound part (heavy footsteps shaking the floor). The airborne aspect (music or speech) is dealt with by heavy plasterboard linings to the walls and/or fibreglass wool in the walls.
The flaw in this system is the workmanship - as Chappers says, a screw might go all the way through to the other wall, or a floor joist might not be cut short enough so touches the next wall. Or there isn't any fibreglass wool behind a light switch so sound seeps in that way.

Much more foolproof is the old traditional loadbearing masonry - typically concrete blockwork. It still needs skimming to seal up all the gaps in the modern concrete blocks but this is very low tech and hard to mess up.

Modern houses are much better built that ten years ago - the regs have tightened up massively and are a real headache to achieve now. Nevertheless, the lowest risk is still with the traditional blockwork walls.


One aspect that is indisputably better the newer you get, is floors between flats. Unless you are lucky enough to be in a 50's concrete floored block you will most likely have timber floors. Modern regs force the installation of a "floating" floor. This is a tongue and groove system of boarding installed over a thick version of carpet underlay. The boarding is glued together and not fixed through to the structure beneath. This means impact sounds (shoe heels) are far more insulated even with tiled floors. Old Victorian subdivisions (unless done recently) are a nightmare for neighbour-noise.