Does soundproofing work?

[onthehill]

Hi, we live in a 1930's semi, and get occasional noise through the party wall. It's impact noise, on the stairs which are not next to the party wall, also airborne such as music. Our neighbours are lovely, some of our best friends, and not particularly noisy so the issue cannot be solved in that way.
Just interested to hear if anyone has used soundproofing products, and if they worked? Don't want to move really, but it is doing my head in! Thanks xx

My sisters dh is deaf, when she's away he puts his mobile on some Bluetooth dock thingie and it flashes when it rings and wakes him up!

yes we soundproofed our party wall many years ago. it wasn't the neighbours who were noisy, but we wanted to play music and films loud and didn't want to upset them. I have been next door when feeding their cat and dh has cranked up the volume, can only vaguely hear low level sounds. can still hear their piano though

You sound lovely, toomuch. I hope your neighbours appreciate you.

Snap! re avoiding earplugs for fear of not hearing important family phone calls.

But driven to desperation I did try them: turns out I can hear a phone ring through foam earplugs even when asleep. They take the edge off the noise and are slightly better than nothing.

Can you tell I tried everything before the wall installation?

This is great! I feel hope for the first time in months...

Any legal chance of getting any dosh out of the neighbours if they are the noisy ones? (Assuming there are logged complaints to landlord, Council, etc.)

I wouldn't go down that route, LineRunner, especially if you own the house and have plans to sell in the future. You have to tell the new buyers whether you've had problems with the neighbours if they ask you

PPhhhwwwoooaaarrr builders are lush aren't they????

sorry

I wouldn't know, my dh is a pr consultant
Potato, that's helpful, thanks, and thanks hamburger....
Something that I've read though, that supports what you said toomuch, is that the insulation needs to be on the side of the wall where the noise is coming through, as once it's in the building it can't be stopped? I'm wary of spending lots of money and it not working. And me crying.

I was told that, OP, but it seems from posters on here that you can get a benefit from putting it on your own side?

I think that Sound Service site has information about stopping sound leaving a room, as well as stopping sound coming into a room.

It's very informative - but I'm too lazy to re-read today!

But yes, it can work to put insulation on your own side. Sound is vibration, so you try to identify the objects conducting vibration (party wall, any rigid structures passing through both houses), and isolate and damp those.

well in their defence the piano is against the party wall, so the low frequency noise does travel a bit, the same with us blasting led zep very loudly. but it's only noticeable if there are no other sounds going on in the house.

we used soundproof mats, bit like rubber, double layer cross patterned and then battens for plasterboard

So toomuch, did you make a stud wall to put the plasterboard on? I've heard that the matting stuff I good too, also a lot about green glue. My builder will do the work for me, I cannot get a soundproofing builder in Devon for love nor money! Should I do the chimney breast too?
I've looked at sound service, also good stuff on soundtop, and soundproof systems, but I guess they're all going to say it works cos they're selling soundproofing materials

I think the key is not to have the studs touching the party wall. So no conduction of vibration into the studs.

as parsingfancy says, the studs shouldn't be touching the party wall. these were actually metal strips which you screw plasterboard to. so we glued the mats to the wall, glued second layer, installed battens then plasterboard and plaster. it is very easy to diy

we bought the whole kit from specialist supplier, but can't remember who, sorry
hope that helps

Thanks toomuch, one final question, did it make a noticeable difference? Do you regret getting work done or spending the money?

it made a huge difference and worth every penny. but I can only comment on using proper soundproofing mats from a reputable supplier. I don't know what difference just insulation makes

the best thing is I know I can turn it up to 11 and not disturb anyone