JMPS

Our fireplace isn't bricked up, but it has a gas fire in it. Unfortunately sound problems weren't even a consideration for ourselves or our neighbours when the work was being done - disappointing that the builders, architects, etc didn't raise it.

Thanks Adrian. Unfortunately not - I'm in the North West. I've attached a couple of pictures to show the changes.

Thanks again everyone - really useful. I'll pull together a simple layout and post it up over the weekend. My wife spoke to an audio survey company this afternoon, and they quoted around £350-£400 to do a sound survey (which would obviously require access to next door so they can make some noises), after which they'd make some recommendations. It was reading comments from people who've had this sort of thing done that rang a few alarm bells for me when I was reading up about it - the findings often seem to be fairly obvious (you can hear noises from next door), and the recommendations often seem to be somewhat limited (the more you spend, the better your chances, but no guarantees).

Thanks folks. Adrian - does Part E actually relate to just domestic alterations? I can't figure out if it applies only to new buildings and work where a building has been converted from business use to domestic. If it's already domestic, and it's simply been altered a bit, does that still fall under the regs? It's very tricky. We get on with the neighbours pretty well and don't want to cause any upset, but we really need to get this sorted. They've already done a bit themselves by adding additional soundproofing to the walls, but it's still bad. I fear we're just going to have to stump up and do some pretty significant work to the walls, crossing our fingers that it has an impact. Not great.

Hi Our neighbours recently had a pretty significant single storey extension built, going out a few metres at the back and wrapping round the side. With that new space at the rear, they opened it up to include the old back room and kitchen, so they have one large open plan area. This new open plan area has tiled flooring, and there are very few soft furnishings as they have a long line of bi-folds out to the back, so not really suited to curtains. Prior to the work being done, we could hear very little indeed from their side - the old back room was smaller, carpeted, and had curtains. Since the work though, the noise is pretty awful - some of it (for instance furniture being moved and scraping the floor) seems to reverberate around their side, but still comes through as sound rather than shaking, etc. Just general conversations are incredibly loud too though - we can often make out exactly what is being said at a fairly normal level of conversation, and if they're being louder (having guests around, etc) then it's difficult to even watch TV as the sound from next door overpowers the sound from the TV. We raised it as an issue after the work was all completed and we realised what it was like, and they installed some slatted wood soundproofing panels to the walls on their side, and although that had an effect to a degree, the noise is still too problematic to put up with. Has anyone else been in this position and managed to resolve it satisfactorily? I've looked on loads of sites where people offer all kinds of solutions, but it seems pretty hit and miss. It often appears that it's pretty much guesswork as to how to resolve things, and a lot of money can be spent without any real improvement. Are there specialists out there that can actually pinpoint accurately what the issue is, and then guarantee a fix? Any help would be greatly appreciated, JMPS

Hi Our neighbours recently had a pretty significant single storey extension built, going out a few metres at the back and wrapping round the side. With that new space at the rear, they opened it up to include the old back room and kitchen, so they have one large open plan area. This new open plan area has tiled flooring, and there are very few soft furnishings as they have a long line of bi-folds out to the back, so not really suited to curtains. Prior to the work being done, we could hear very little indeed from their side - the old back room was smaller, carpeted, and had curtains. Since the work though, the noise is pretty awful - some of it (for instance furniture being moved and scraping the floor) seems to reverberate around their side, but still comes through as sound rather than shaking, etc. Just general conversations are incredibly loud too though - we can often make out exactly what is being said at a fairly normal level of conversation, and if they're being louder (having guests around, etc) then it's difficult to even watch TV as the sound from next door overpowers the sound from the TV. We raised it as an issue after the work was all completed and we realised what it was like, and they installed some slatted wood soundproofing panels to the walls on their side, and although that had an effect to a degree, the noise is still too problematic to put up with. Has anyone else been in this position and managed to resolve it satisfactorily? I've looked on loads of sites where people offer all kinds of solutions, but it seems pretty hit and miss. It often appears that it's pretty much guesswork as to how to resolve things, and a lot of money can be spent without any real improvement. Are there specialists out there that can actually pinpoint accurately what the issue is, and then guarantee a fix? Any help would be greatly appreciated, JMPS