Tell me if Sound Proofing works please

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

Hello. I can see that there i another thread in this section about a company to be avoided if you're thinkning about soundproofing, but I would like to know of anyone who has been successful with soundproofing their house. Ours is a 1950s semi, with appaling to non-existent soundproofing and it's having a really detrimental affect on our day-to-day lives. Can anyone give me some positive soundproofing stories.... please!
TIA

We've just renovated our terraced house after a fire and took extra money and time to put additional sound insulation in the both the party walls in the loft (building regs requirement) and also in all the floors and internal stud walls inside the building. Has made bags of difference to us. However, I don't really know much about how you'd go about it without ripping your entire home apart.

In our 1960s semi we had theadjoining wall with our neighbour soundproofed. Before doing it we could hear every word of their tv but afterwards this was reduced to a dull hum. Not perfect but made life bearable.

rememberingnothing is yours an older property? I think they tend to have better soundproofing as the walls are thicker. Newer builds nowadays also have better regs re the soundproofing, it's just the 50s/60s/70s/80s houses that seem to be the problem, to me anyway!
alittlebitwibbly, that sounds like an improvement. CAn you still hear your neighbours chatting? At the mo, we can hear if they plug something in, listen to music, clear their throats - everything really

I'm a big fan of products by a company called Sound Service, much of which can be easily retrofitted by an unskilled person.

Can still hear shouting and loud stuff, but you can no longer have a conversation through the wall without raising your voice, as was previously the case.

As alittlebitwibbly says, it makes life bearable...

Retro fitting sound proofing costs big money. One average sized room can cost over £2000 once the replastering and painting has been done, and it will still only block out the noise from sounds, not movement (so you'll be stuck with footsteps on floorboards, for example).

It's cheaper than moving, I guess .

Sorry, I've just seen that your problems are due to a party wall.

Can you do bookshelves on the wall between you? Books are fantastic sound insulation.

thisoldgirl, we've had 2 quotes, one for £1,500, the other for £1,900. I was thinking of doing it, and then adding bookshelves . Do you think it wouldn't work for a party wall?

we have a victorian terrace. We didn't have massive problems with party wall noise but inter-floor noise was not good.

I would second bookshelves as a really easy way to reduce noise transmission.

fitted wardrobes, floor to ceiling, are good, and even better when filled with clothes which absorb noise.

Sound will sniff out and travel though any gaps, so cracks in walls (especially in loft or between floors when not covered with plaster) let noise through. You can fill cracks with sand and cement pushed well in; or caulk for small cracks. Joists or pipes set into the brickwork can have the dust hoovered out, and fireproof expending foam injected into the crack (this is a good DIY job as easy but labour-intensive)

A common source is back-to-back fireplaces where there may only be half a brick thickness between the firebacks

staircases are a problem as the wood is fixed to the wall so impact noise has an easy path. Carpet both sides will help.

If you ever do any DIY work, be sure to use dense mineral wool batts (which are heavy) when filling cavities, not the lightweight loft insulation mineral wool, which is mostly made of air.

Professional soundproofing that is anything more than drylining tends to be startlingly expensive.

p.s. I live in a detached house but packed mineral wool betwen the joists when renewing a bedroom floor. Easy job if the floor is coming up for any other purpose and I will do it again.

Avon Sorry for late reply, no internet yesterday (bloody 02).

I misread and didn't see your problems were due to a party wall. These are the easiest to soundproof and acoustic insulation and bookshelves combined will probably do the job very well. You may still find noise coming through the chimney breast or airbricks. If the chimney isn't active you could look into having that soundproofed as well I presume, but I'd leave that kind of info to PigletJohn

Great. THanks very much everyone. Am feeling much more positive now.

AvonCallingBarksdale, did you soundproof your house? If so, what material did you use and did it make much difference?

Thanks!

I've been doing some recently - rockwool between the joists (Ground floor ceiling/first floor floor), 15mm acoustic plasterboard on a number of walls as a couple of downstairs ceilings. You'll pay vastly less for any similar work if you do yourself or get in relevant trades rather than paying for a services of a professional soundproofing company.

Thank you, RCheshire. I have been reading so much information about it lately that my head is swimming!