Planning for Living Room renovation

[MikeGrahamT21]

Starting to make plans to gut the living room this year, and one thing which is on the must list is to add acoustic insulation to the party wall which leads onto next door. Luckily at the moment my neighbour is pretty much stone deaf, but if its quiet in my room, i can almost clearly hear his TV and telephone conversations, so keen to do something in case the next resident have better hearing.

 

I have a home cinema, which I have measured on my iphone using the A filter, and seem to peak at around 61dB at a volume which I would normally listen at, watching something i would normally watch. Have 7 small speakers and 2 100W subwoofers which are set at 1/4 volume (previously had just the one sub which was at 1/2 volume).

 

Currently wall situation is 100mm block either side, with a 70ish mm cavity, which has been retrofit filled with party wall insulation pumped in (Knauf product). On my side there is then solid plaster on one alcove, plasterboard mounted on timber battens on the other alcove (false wall for cabling to go down), and then dot and dab plasterboard on the chimney breast, which is a solid square that runs between the 2 properties with no cavity. We each have a fireplace which is set into each others living rooms seperated possibly by just a single brick, mine is currently blocked up.

 

The plan is...

 

• Open up the fireplace on my side, board out with 15mm acoustic PB, this will house my AV receiver and other boxes
• Drill a matrix pattern into the dot and dab on the chimney breast and fill with FM330
• Remove the false wall PB, timber, and stick the PB direct to the wall with drywall adhesive (full bed)
• Install 2x2 timber battens to the entire party wall, 600mm ctrs, and fill with Rockwool Acoustic slabs
• Airtight membrane taped to ceiling, and floor membrane
• 15mm Acoustic PB
• Skim

 

Hoping this will fix any potential future issues. Thinking to keep the existing plaster/PB in place firstly to save having to throw it away, but also to keep it as additional acoustic mass, good idea? Losing 70mm of space isn't an issue, and filling all the existing empty cavities should help to reduce sound bouncing around and potentially amplifying before travelling to next door.

 

Anything anyone would do differently? I had thought about using the metal framing system with the runner tracks screwed to the ceiling and floor so that there is no contact to the wall, and if you think this will be a better option i'll look into it, but it will need to hold a TV (which at the moment is an old LCD, approx 25kg).

 

Thanks for any additional ideas.

Edited February 19, 2021 by MikeGrahamT21

[TonyT]

Mass loaded vinyl seems like a cheap option at adding density.

 
the independent wall not touching the original would be good, fit18mm plywood where the tv will go and then plasterboard over that will support tv no probs

 

good luck

 

[MikeGrahamT21]

4 minutes ago, TonyT said:

Mass loaded vinyl seems like a cheap option at adding density.

 
the independent wall not touching the original would be good, fit18mm plywood where the tv will go and then plasterboard over that will support tv no probs

 

good luck

 

 

Will have a look into the MF system and see what components i may require. 

 

Had a quick search for the MLV, seems fairly expensive, but perhaps worth it if it adds a lot. Would this be stuck to the existing surface, and then topped with acoustic rockwool?

[MikeGrahamT21]

I think for the MF System i'll need the following:

 

50FEC50 - Floor and Ceiling

48S50 - C Stud for the verticals

99FC50 - Fixing Channel, could be used instead of plywood for mounting TV on?

 

Does anyone know what centres these run at? 400 or 600?

Edited February 19, 2021 by MikeGrahamT21

[TonyT]

Personally 1 would go with 400mm centres just makes for a solid wall.

 

i looked at the MVL. Some cost effective  on Amazon it but then decided just to make an 8” thick partition  from the existing wall.

 

Fixing Chanell can be fine, but I prefer to add 18mm to all walls where TVs, radiators, hand rails, etc are all fitted, just makes fitting onto a finished wall all that easier.

 

32mm flexible conduit is handy for taking hdmi cables from the back of TV to source location.

 

[MikeGrahamT21]

34 minutes ago, TonyT said:

Personally 1 would go with 400mm centres just makes for a solid wall.

 

i looked at the MVL. Some cost effective  on Amazon it but then decided just to make an 8” thick partition  from the existing wall.

 

Fixing Chanell can be fine, but I prefer to add 18mm to all walls where TVs, radiators, hand rails, etc are all fitted, just makes fitting onto a finished wall all that easier.

 

32mm flexible conduit is handy for taking hdmi cables from the back of TV to source location.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up. Yes, plan on using some kind of conduit for the few cables which will come up to the TV, 32mm flexi sounds ideal.

 

How do you deal with airtight membrane onto the MF? or should I make airtight before the MF system goes on, thats probably easier to achieve.

[TonyT]

Just tape it to the metal frame with double sided tape

[MikeGrahamT21]

49 minutes ago, TonyT said:

Just tape it to the metal frame with double sided tape

 

?‍♂️why did i not think of that ?