How can I soundproof my dd's window TODAY?

[schroeder]

My neighbours 2 doors down love to sit in their garden and get drunk when the weather's fine. They talk loudly, shout and there's is some dubious singing too. They start about 5pm and finish between 12-2! During this time my dd (8) tries to get to sleep. [busad]

I'm going to look into secondary glazing, but I have no idea how much it will cost and we're pretty skint. In the meantime though what can I do so it's a bit quieter tonight (and next weekend too)?

She has a large sash window with thick thermal lined curtains at the moment.

I woudl ask the neigbours to keep it down first of all

I don't think it would help to complain. Tbh chatting in your garden in the evening is not really that bad is it? I'm sure I did it when I was younger and never thought about other people's kids trying to get to sleep.

It is annoying and the swearing/threats etc on occasion, are very unpleasant for an 8 year old to hear.

Mostly though they are just a very loud family they drive me mad; But I can't really suggest that they don't socialise in their own garden, especially because the time when it's most bothersome is so early-about 8-10pm after which time it does annoy me, but dd has finally crashed out.

I would just like to make it so her room was a bit quieter, so she can get to sleep at the usual time.

The last flat I had was a first floor conversion in a very quiet area...but then new neighbours downstairs converted their second bedroom (below DS's room) into a dining room and fitted french doors out onto the patio. To be fair they'd only entertain at home maybe twice a month but it did get noisy.

Luckily my DS had always gone to sleep with a CD playing quite quietly either favourite tunes or gentle music when he was younger so was able to get into doing this again. It allowed him to focus on the music in his room and shut out disturbances outside.

You will need to build a window plug, or get secondary glazing I think.

In the very short term have you got some thick wool blankets or a spare duvet that you can pack into the window to muffle the noise.

The easiest thing will probably be to play some music or tv in her room untill she drops off. Or could you let her fall asleep in your room and then move her later?

if you have a sash window that is set well into the wall (i.e. there is a "windowsill" on the inside) measure it carefully, see if you can get a piece of insulation board cut to fit in the reveal. It will act like a shutter. Paint the board or it will make dust, especially the cut edges. You could just lift it into place as a temporary measure, I expect the neighbours are taking advantage of the warm weather.

Longer term, secondary glazing will be better. It is quite difficult to track down a DIY system that has vertical sliding sashes. It will be more effective for sound reduction if it is spaced away from the existing window, with the track fixed to the wall or reveal. It will be almost invisible if the glass is very clean and/or you have net curtains.

Draughtstrip on the old window to fill gaps will make it more soundproof. Fir sliding sashes you need the furry kind, it is called "brush" or "velvet" or "pile" strip. Other kinds will interfere with the sliding.

If you are fond of advanced DIY you can inject expanding foam in any gaps between windowframe and wall to block sound paths, but this can be very troublesome if not done correctly.

p.s.

having read oreo's link, I see she's already covered the board idea with good diagrams.

Zombie thread alert

No doubt bumped by a spammer.

this thread is nearly a year old

aluminiumwrought.com are in Singapore!!!

that's a long way to go for windows

yum yum, I love Spam fritters.

Pigletjphn, can you advise about possible things to retrofit a modern house with to improve sound insulation generally. We can hear everybody wee here, and when the kids are walking about quite normally upstairs it's so loud it sounds like they are about to fall through the ceiling! We've got carpets, btw.

are the floors chipboard?

are they cracked and broken yet?

how old is the house?

what sort of underfelt and carpets?

do you wear shoes indoors?

are the ceilings smooth plastered?

are the floors chipboard?

I think so. It looked like that when I replaced the carpet in the shower room.

are they cracked and broken yet?

No, but I think there's be expansion and some bits creak because they have shifted about a bit, perhaps. It's particularly bad on the top landing and in DS2's bedroom over the living room.

how old is the house?
1997, standard construction.

what sort of underfelt and carpets?
Standard entry level underfelt and wool carpets that have been there since the house was built apart from the shower room.

do you wear shoes indoors?
Yes, about 50% of the time probably, but the sound is the same whether you have shoes on or not. It sounds like the ceiling is about to collapse if you are underneath it when someone is upstairs, and when the DCs come downstairs an aircraft landing would probably be quieter. TV sound travels both ways a lot as well, as does conversation. If DS1 is talking with his friends on x-box in his room, which is above my study, I simply can't work. If DC3 is being cared for in the house I can't work either, I have had to rent a study outside the home at great expense just to get some writing done, it can be so bloody noisy.

are the ceilings smooth plastered?
Yes, roughly done IMO as the developer was a cheapskate, but smooth plaster.

PS We lived in a Victorian cottage before this in just the same way and never had any of these problems, especially hearing people wee.

You usually look at two types of noise, airbourne and impact.

Airbourne (conversations, radio) can be muffled by extra mass (weight) forming a barrier with no holes in it. For example, next time you take the floors up (chipboard is an awful material and will crack and break, usually where most loaded, for example by the bottom of stairs where people step or jump down, and in front of the sink where people often stand) you could put mineral wool or fibreglass batts between the joists. You can use the loft insulation for this as it is usually cheap because of the energy subsidy, or you can buy special batts which are denser and heavier but more expensive. A heavier felt underlay will also deaden airbourne noise. Look for any holes in the ceiling or floor, for example around pipes or if somebody has made holes to poke lights through, and seal them shut. Sometimes there are unsealed pipe holes out of sight behind kitchen cupboards and around the boiler and bathroom. If the plaster ceilings are thin, it is possible to add an extra layer of plasterboard and skim it, the extra thickness and weight will make a difference, this will cost some hundreds of pounds per room but may be worthwhile next time you are decorating.

Impact noise is mostly footsteps. Heavy felt underlay will deaden it. It is possible, but difficult and expensive, to do more with isolating floors and ceilings. It seems to me that chipboard flooring is worse for footsteps as it seems to vibrate like a drum. When yours has to be replaced, I recommend 18mm or 25mm WBP ply, which is also far more strong and rigid, and longer lasting, and will not degrade into mush or weetabix, like chipboard will when it gets wet in the bathroom and kitchen.

I have reported this back to DH, who announced that we do in fact have floorboards, and he says when he gets five minutes he is planning to start nailing them back into place so they creak less. However I am wondering if one of the new special noise-reducing underlays might be worth an investment as well - I imagine this would be cheaper than getting loads of plasterboard ceilings installed? (Any building work costs an absolute fortune around here). What do you think?

screws not nails. With pilot holes.

A dense underlay will cut down noise and less intrusive.

Replastering ceilings is surprisingly inexpensive, usually a few £hundred per room. Have yours got any holes in them? Some people like to make holes in celings and poke lamps into them.

btw

"The (wo)man who's never put a nail through a water pipe, is the (wo)man who's never nailed down a floorboard"

Sound Service are my favouritest people in the whole wide world. I'd have had to move house if it weren't for them or run amok among the neighbours with a machete.

PigletJohn, I was indeed very afraid of DH doing that. He's keen, and all that, but prone to bad luck on the DIY front.

I might start by soundproofing one room and see how it goes. We've got central light fittings that were put in when the place was built, but that's it. Ceilings are a mess anyway - nail pops coming out all over the place and they've been skimmed apparently by an inebriated teenager.

PigletJohn, will we have to take the coving off and run any plasterboard right up to the edge?

Kipper, I have emailed them!

if you have coved ceilings, it would certainly be preferable to take it off and do the whole thing. Plasterers can fit new coving, they use a plaster one as they sneer at plastic.

Only if you have an old house with ornate plaster coving and cornice would I try to keep it.

No, they are plain plaster.
Do you think putting in solid wood doors instead of the virtually cardboard ones we have would help too?