Anyone had success soundproofing the party wall on a semi detached?

[Josh95]

Hi everyone, fairly new to the forum and just looking for some advice in relation to soundproofing the party wall on a semi detached house.

 

I've consulted with soundproofing companies online, I'm just wondering if anyone has had real world success with the sound proofing of a party wall? I'm cautious of potentially spending thousands for little to no gain.

 

I've recently moved in to my first house on my own and immediately noticed I could hear the neighbours voices and footsteps on the stairs and upstairs footfall (especially when their kids are running around upstairs). 

 

From looking in the attic I can see that the party wall is of a breeze block construction with a cavity. The wall has noticeably bad mortar joints in the attic atleast (pic attached) which I'm guessing could be a major contributor to the sound transfer if the wall is like this throughout. All of the walls in the house are also dot and dabbed.

 

Annoyingly the staircase goes up from the living room along the party wall so I'm cautious that losing between 6-8cm on the wall of the stairs could be quite intruding.

 

So on the party wall I have the hall, living room running up to the landing, the box room, dining room and bathroom. Unfortunately the dining room and bathroom would be far too Intrusive to get done as they've fairly newly decorated with the bathroom suite and tiles, cupboards etc.

 

I've lived in a semi my whole life and Never experienced anything like this.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If anyone's soundproofed a similar layout?

 

Thanks, Josh

 

 

[Moonshine]

28 minutes ago, Josh95 said:

I'm just wondering if anyone has had real world success with the sound proofing of a party wall?

 

the party wall is of a breeze block construction with a cavity.

 

Yes I have.

 

Do you know when the house was built or if there is any insulation in the cavity?

 

The flanking noise via the roof void is unlikely the be a significant transmission path, though the mortar on that block work does not give the impression of good workmanship.

 

Subjectivity does the noise from the neighbours sound as though it's coming from the wall perimeters or from the whole wall, also is it mainly low or high frequency noise you hear through the wall.

 

To treat it you are probably going to have to loose 5-10cm of room.

[Josh95]

Glad to hear you've had success!

 

It was built in 1990 and from a small gap in the mortar I can just about see into the cavity which seems to be empty.

 

Seems to be the whole wall. If they're in their living room for example the noise of them talking at times seems to sound right along the wall like an echoing effect. Erm it's usually impact noise from footfall or conversation. Weirdly never hear TV, music, washer, toilet flushing or anything like that which I've seen people complain about. I don't think they're the most considerate which doesn't exactly help.

 

May I ask what kind of noise you were dealing with and has it gone completely or just reduced. 10cm seems a lot of space to lose of the staircase. Are your stairs on the party wall?

 

Thanks, Josh

[tonyshouse]

Is the party wall dot and dabbed? Do floor joists or trimmer run into it? 

[Josh95]

25 minutes ago, tonyshouse said:

Is the party wall dot and dabbed? Do floor joists or trimmer run into it? 

Yeah every wall in the house is dot and dabbed (well the external ones and party). Floor joists run into the party wall. From when I had a floorboard up (on the other side of the house) I did shine a torch across and looked to the party wall from a distance and couldn't see any obvious gaps around the joist I could see going into the wall. Not entirely sure what a trimmer is but stairs are on the party wall.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Josh95

[tonyshouse]

Check this out - https://readinguk.org/draughtbusters/going-further/first-floor-void/

 

any tiny air path between you and a next door will let in a disproportionate amount of sound/noise 

 

my advice is to strip off the plasterboard linings to the party wall, Re plaster with sand and cement including in the floor void, sealing flexibly round all joists. I would also fill the party wall void with rockwool fibres.

 

alternative is to fill the gap between the sheets and blocks with foam and seal the joists - difficult to do foam as it needs to be very liquid and non expanding 

[Vijay]

I have an issue with noise from my neighbour too (they play piano every evening). The noise environment people came round and said that even sound proofing walls doesn't stop all noise, as I would need to insulate under floorboards, as the sound would travel there too

[nod]

I do a lot of soundproofing in my business You would be wasting your money doing any remedial work As already stated much of the sound will pass via the floor joists and both sets of stairs will be fixed directly to the block work 

 

pictured is a building conversion we did from commercial to residential Single skin block on party walls 

These homes had to pass a stringent sound test 

 

[Josh95]

2 hours ago, tonyshouse said:

Check this out - https://readinguk.org/draughtbusters/going-further/first-floor-void/

 

any tiny air path between you and a next door will let in a disproportionate amount of sound/noise 

 

my advice is to strip off the plasterboard linings to the party wall, Re plaster with sand and cement including in the floor void, sealing flexibly round all joists. I would also fill the party wall void with rockwool fibres.

 

alternative is to fill the gap between the sheets and blocks with foam and seal the joists - difficult to do foam as it needs to be very liquid and non expanding 

Thanks, just had a read of that link and it's very interesting! The attention to detail when building these houses appears to be non existent. If the visible part of the wall in the attic is to go off, I imagine the rest of the wall is filled with gaps just like this. Sounds like it's going to be very hard to retrofit without destroying the house in the process :(. Ive enquired with a few companies about getting the cavity filled as I thought this would be a cheap and easier place to start for atleast some levelling of sound dampening. Unfortunately nobody seems to want to touch it with it being a party wall. Soundproofing companies just keep mentioning removing dot and dab and attaching a clip to wall system with rockwool, techsound, soundplank and acoustic board but they never mention gaps, or the floor void so definitely useful information thank you! 

 

I have to admit, the sound does seem like it coming directly through the wall (as if it's a piece of cardboard) alot of the time rather than it sounding like it coming from edge etc but it's hard to work out.

[Josh95]

1 hour ago, Vijay said:

I have an issue with noise from my neighbour too (they play piano every evening). The noise environment people came round and said that even sound proofing walls doesn't stop all noise, as I would need to insulate under floorboards, as the sound would travel there too

Sorry to hear that and the advice you were given doesn't sound very reassuring. The easy answer every mentions is "move house" but that's not so easy in practice. Especially if you only afford to play the semi detached lottery again 

[Josh95]

40 minutes ago, nod said:

I do a lot of soundproofing in my business You would be wasting your money doing any remedial work As already stated much of the sound will pass via the floor joists and both sets of stairs will be fixed directly to the block work 

 

pictured is a building conversion we did from commercial to residential Single skin block on party walls 

These homes had to pass a stringent sound test 

 

Thanks for the advice. I thought the stairs being in the wall would be a big contributor. In my parents house the stairs are attached to the outside wall and I never heard anything from the neighbours. The joists also ran from front to back instead of into the party wall. Wow that's a lot of wool in your picture! Their actual upstairs walking around is probably worse than them going up and down the stairs to be honest. It's like they don't actually use the downstairs of their house alot of the time.

 

I was thinking that maybe I could fill the inside of the staircase with wool as well as a clip to wall system on the wall running up the stairs and in the cupboard beneath but spending £££s for next to no difference does not sound very appealing. I think I'll just start saving my money to eventually buy them out if they move hahaha!

[ProDave]

3 minutes ago, Josh95 said:

Sorry to hear that and the advice you were given doesn't sound very reassuring. The easy answer every mentions is "move house" but that's not so easy in practice. Especially if you only afford to play the semi detached lottery again 

That is true to a point, but we lived in a semi detached house for a while, and the layout was such that the entrance doors and stairs were on the party wall.  So the living rooms of the properties were separated by more space and more walls, not just either side of a single wall.  That's a layout I would look for again if buying another semi detached house.

 

And I hate stairs going up from a living room, the stairs on the party wall had an internal wall between them and the living room.

[Josh95]

7 minutes ago, ProDave said:

That is true to a point, but we lived in a semi detached house for a while, and the layout was such that the entrance doors and stairs were on the party wall.  So the living rooms of the properties were separated by more space and more walls, not just either side of a single wall.  That's a layout I would look for again if buying another semi detached house.

 

And I hate stairs going up from a living room, the stairs on the party wall had an internal wall between them and the living room.

Yeah thats a very fair point! Definitely helps to have a proper hall with more walls and not just a little box by your front door. My living room is pretty big so one option I have thought about is to put a separate wall up between the living room and stairs to atleast improve things in the room where I spend most of my time. The saving grace bedroom wise is that everything goes gracefully quiet between 8pm and 7am. Trying to watch TV before then is just "bump bump bump bump" every 10 mins which gets rather annoying.

[nod]

The picture is of housing association property to be rented 

They go to extraordinary lengths for fire and sound protection 

Whilst homes for sale are pretty poor 

[TonyT]

Good quality underlay and carpets will also absorb a lot of noise, along with all the measures above.

 

I’m in an end terraced Victorian property, and spend a lot of time in the loft building walls, sealing gaps etc, same in adjoining small bedroom when I insulated, sealing holes etc. Used loads of foam,tape  and silicone but it’s definitely worth it.

for me it’s a room by room project and I will never reach perfection as too many period features that I don’t want to remove,damage, cover up so a compromise for me.

[Josh95]

3 minutes ago, TonyT said:

Good quality underlay and carpets will also absorb a lot of noise, along with all the measures above.

 

I’m in an end terraced Victorian property, and spend a lot of time in the loft building walls, sealing gaps etc, same in adjoining small bedroom when I insulated, sealing holes etc. Used loads of foam,tape  and silicone but it’s definitely worth it.

for me it’s a room by room project and I will never reach perfection as too many period features that I don’t want to remove,damage, cover up so a compromise for me.

I can't believe how much I took my silent neighbours for granted at my mum's house haha! From the action you're taking it definitely sounds like it's one of those problems that grinds you down rather than just getting used to it. Thanks for the advice. I've got thick underlay and carpets in most rooms although it doesn't sound like next door have. I genuinely can't create footsteps as loud as theirs in my own house even if I try. 

 

Poor workmanship strikes me as the main problem for my house. 1 exterior wall also needs repointing and multiple burst bricks replacing which seems a bit bad for a 30 year old house!

[JP1994]

Hi,

 

Appreciate this was a little while ago now. I’ve read through this thread and just want to know if you ever resolved the issue?

 

I have recently moved into a Semi detached property and am experiencing a lot of intrusive noise from our neighbours. Couple with 3 young kids who run around and scream like maniacs. Constantly hear them running up and down their stairs and on the landing.

 

Can also hear everything the family do in their kitchen as it backs onto our lounge. (Cupboards closing, appliances, switches/sockets being used). Can hear all of this clear as day as if it’s a hollow wall separating us.

 

We also have a breeze-block party wall with a layer of plasterboard on our side.
 

Downstairs we have a lounge and kitchen along the party wall with the stairs going up through the middle separating the two. Then upstairs we have our landing and two bedrooms along the party wall. So currently we are going to look at getting the lounge, bedrooms and landing done first and then potentially the kitchen in the future when we get a new kitchen!

 

I am in the process of looking for quotes as I’d want the professionals to come in and sort this properly as it’s doing my nut in!

 

Just wanted to know if you had any soundproofing installed and if you’ve had much joy?

 

Thanks,

 

Jack