Soundproofing a party wall.

[Tolkienista]

This question is for anyone who has solved noise issues from neighbours through soundproofing. My neighbour is 91, obviously hard of hearing and her t.v. Is so loud and on non stop all her waking hours. I've literally given up now, her family don't want to know. Her carers turn it down but then she turns it up again when they've left. I've lived in the house for 18 months and while it is beautiful, I really think I'll have to investigate soundproofing as a solution, because I can't put up with this much longer.

Any ideas, suggestions on soundproofing would be most welcome. Thank you.

You can put up a metal stud partion wall relativley cheaply and quickly with acoustic insulation against the party wall and in between the metal studs and sound bloc plasterboard plastered

it will be 115mm overall from the party wall

Did one recently with two of us , put up and plastered in a day approx 4 m x 2.3

Client pleased with results

Watching with interest.

We have ridiculously thin party walls in our terraced house and every year I think, I really must look into soundproofing.

It's raised voices that seem to carry the most.

Metal studs are used as they are only 50mm thick

This method will stop most airbourne noise and some impact , the stud wall is fixed to the floor and ceiling only

Difficult to do well as there is also flanking transmission ie the sound leaking into both the floor and ceiling and finding its way in via that route too. You’ll achieve a handful of decibels in reduction and this will get worse the lower the frequencies drop. Speech from a tv much easier to deal with than low bass but I’m guess your neighbor isn’t listening to hip hop or club tunes

One easy thing to add to a floating partition would be green glue (google it) between the layers of plasterboard. Improves performance quite a bit.

Ps just to say I sympathise with you op, my DF is 80 now and has his tv absolutely blasting

But her soMe headphones! Cheaper

You can buy people headphones but you can't make them wear them ... unfortunately.

Well I went round at 6.45 because her TV was even louder than usual. She was just opening her front door, so I donned my mask, asked her if she was having trouble with the TV volume, to which she said yes. Went in and it was on 86........ turned it down to 15, she said great, that's better. Now an hour later, I reckon it's back up to where it was when I went round. As I say, her family aren't interested. She's lived in the house since it was built in the early 60's and I feel that they think she's got the right to have her TV at any volume. It's so frustrating.

Family would not go for headphones, believe me. The most frustrating thing is, her next door neighbour, (not attached by a wall) found a code to input and limit volume on her TV, sent it to her son who he's friendly with and nothings been done. That was over a month ago.

86!!? That's ridiculous. That's contact-the-council ridiculous.

I have a false wall on metal bars and you’ll achieve 20- 30db reduction in most circumstances. But if the tv is attached to her wall it won’t help as much. Also once past a certain sound level your flanking walls/ceilings etc will vibrate which will bypass the system unless it’s on every wall and ceiling/floor.

If she was originally happy with setting 15 or even say 30. A lot of TVs have hotel mode Well most LG’s and Samsung’s do. This setting can limit the max TV volume to a more reasonable level unless you access this not so readily available menu. But that would take their co-operation.

I had family members who instead of finding their hearing aid would blast the tv to max. When we enabled hotel mode they would use their hearing aid much more. Which was certainly better for the neighbours health but probably theirs too

Seems you’ve tried that one... too late

You could contact the council and someone would have a word with her. Could be awkward though...
What about a sound bar if she won’t have headphones..

I have a false wall on metal bars and you’ll achieve 20- 30db

I very much doubt it.

@Lonelycrab

I have a false wall on metal bars and you’ll achieve 20- 30db

I very much doubt it.

Umm pretty typical result... unless installed incorrectly or in an unsuitable house with massive gaps in joists etc.

1cm air gap, 75mm stud attached to ceiling and floor with a vinyl foam spacer all the way around, acoustic insulation between the studs, spaced resilient channel, blue plasterboard, mass loaded vinyl, plasterboard and final plaster finish.

Join an audio visual or sound recording forum and you’ll see this set up typically gets that result on top of solid wall.

I can hear my neighbours tv at about 35dbish. Get in the soundproofed room which is between their lounge. Nothing unless you put your ear to the wall or it’s put up super loud and it starts short circuiting the system.

-6db is halving the sound level.

30db of soundproofing is halving it five times which is actually very hard. Sorry to be pedantic but there’s plenty of snake oil salesmen out there and often the real world results aren’t all that. I’ve built several commercial recording studios and practice rooms so understand all this quite a lot.

Join an audio visual or sound recording forum

I’ve been on all the big forums for about 15 years as it’s my job

Bookcases with backs & lots of books & magazines
My husband would probably volunteer to donate some of mine...(& his)

@Tolkienista

Family would not go for headphones, believe me. The most frustrating thing is, her next door neighbour, (not attached by a wall) found a code to input and limit volume on her TV, sent it to her son who he's friendly with and nothings been done. That was over a month ago.

Can you or your neighbour input the code for her? Why does her son need to do it?