I can hear my neighbour coughing

[OrangeMabel]

Large Edwardian semi. Every night, every bloody night, I lie in bed grinding my teeth listening to my neighbour cough. It's not even a hacking cough, sometimes he's just clearing his throat.

Anything I can do to insulate bedroom from his noise? prays he never gets a ladyfriend

[flow4]

I live in a back-to-back terraces house, so I know a thing or two about neighbour noise.

It would be possible for you to 'line' your bedroom wall - effectively building another wall on top of the existing wall, filling the gap with insulation if you wanted to. You could even use professional sound insulation, like the stuff they use in music studios, but it's not cheap. Your room would become 4-6" smaller, and of course you'd have to replace any fitted cupboards etc. on that wall.

Or, if you need fitted wardrobes and don't have them, you could fit them on the party wall, and that would help keep the noise out, especially when they're full of clothes.

Alternatively, and much more cheaply, you could change rooms, use ear plugs, or learn some relaxation techniques that will help you not to mind so much about the noise. :)

[MrsFlorrick]

Very easily. You can get sound insulating plaster board. It's essentially plaster board with a polystyrene backing which is 2" to 3inches thick.
It's very easy to put up. The messiest part is removing the skirting board and and any coving.

In order to get a good finish, I would recommend getting a plasterer/dry liner professional to do it. I expect labour will be £250 plus materials. Obviously depending the size of your wall.

I used this previously in an ensuite adjoining a neighbours stairs. I couldn't really hear them but it was unsettling to sit on the wc and hear them bounding up and down plus I was worried they could hear up iyswim
It's excellent and really does block noise.
No need for the very costly stuff they use in recording studios. That stuff will give you total silence but the point is somewhat defeated
In a room with windows.

[PigletJohn]

a house of that age probably had, or has, fireplaces. Often the web between the flues in the adjoining houses is only half a brick thick. Often is is cracked and holey. Often the fireplace or chimneybreast is removed. Do any of those apply?

sound gets through gaps. There are probably cracks and gaps in the walls, and where these have not been hidden with thick plaster, sound will easily penetrate. This will certainly occur in the unplastered brickwork under the floor and above the ceiling.

If you want to take some boards up, start by looking for cracks and packing them with sand and cement mortar. Inject expanding foam around theends of any joists that are built into the wall. Before putting the boards back, pack dense mineral-wool batts (from a builders merchant) into the space to muffle noise.

The built-in wardrobes will certainly help, and their frame should be fixed to your floor and ceiling, not the wall.

[AliceWChild]

We had that board put up. Didn't help much. My understanding was it blocks you out for them, but it's hard to achieve the other way round. That will just be what I understood from googling though, I'm no expert

[soaccidentprone]

I agree with the insulation and false wall. Also what flooring do you have?

I watched a programme the other day which showed a chimney being filled (some kind of concrete I think) which would help if the chimney is between the 2 houses.

Also maybe move your bed to the side of the room furthest from the party wall.

[ajandjjmum]

Sound will find any hole available, so if you block up one route, it will find another, until there are none left!