House noises and how to prevent them

[puntloos]

Mainly 'thinking ahead' to prevent it in the future, but..

 

My current rental house generates 3 types of annoying noise - anyone have suggestions on how to avoid this?

 

1/ The boiler - very recently replaced if that matters - apparently sometimes works on such a resonance frequency that it generates a very audible resonance upstairs in the master bedroom (yay.). 

2/ Creaking when people walk. I'm sure it's all wood-on-wood (haven't bothered to lift the carpet). 

3/ Expanding/compressing pipes I guess. Again when the heater's on, there's all types of 'tick tick tick tick' noises that I attribute to things heating up. 

 

Are any of these avoidable? Fixable? (for example I imagine I might have to put rubber spacers between boiler and the wall?)

[markc]

All of the above a fixable.

insulation around boiler cupboard or room.

glued and screwed floors should not squeak.

pipes clipped/ secured (but still allowing expansion). Not touching each other etc.

you will always get a bit of noise as rads turn on and off etc but much of the noise can be reduced.

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by markc

[ProDave]

1: A monoblock ASHP puts the noise making bit outside.  For some strange reason this bothers some people but I would rather have it outside than in.

 

2: GLUE and SCREW the F out of your floor boards and they won't squeak or creak.

 

3: Pipes need to be free to expand and contract.  What you describe is usually where pipes are in a slot under the floor and are tight, so they can't just expand quietly, the expand a bit, winding up like a spring then go "click" as there is enough force to nudge them along a bit.

[SteamyTea]

Get the correct screws for doing floors, not just any old number 8 or 10.

 

Plumb in plastic.

 

ASHP, or any boiler outside.

 

You can also design in sound proofing with resilience bars and insulation. Make sure stairs are not attached to internal stud walls.

Be careful of holes between one room and another. Make sure ventilation systems have dampers fitted.

Cellulose insulation is very good at sound deadening.

[JohnMo]

We mounted the boiler on a large piece of 18mm ply, on an external insulated wall.

 

Plumbed in plastic.  Except close to boiler.

 

Floor in Caberdeck chipboard 22mm thick, glued with D4 expanding wood glue used at all joists and all joints.  Expansion gap at perimeter. 

 

[puntloos]

Obv since this is not our own house I'm not sure what I can do here. I wonder if perhaps adding some rubber spacers might help with my particular problem. The creaking... interesting one. I suspect the landlord might want to retrofit this house once we move out.

 

39 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Plumbed in plastic.  Except close to boiler.

 

Sounds like a solution that could work, but there are also downsides to plastic plumbing, no? (not to mention health of water leeching chemicals in?)

 

 

[JohnMo]

Used PERT-AL-PERT pipe which can be used for the UFH, general plumbing throughout the house including supply water to drinking taps.

 

[joe90]

1 hour ago, puntloos said:

but there are also downsides to plastic plumbing, no?

Not that I am aware of, which is why I did all mine in plastic and from manifolds to give more control and less interference (drop in pressure when under the shower!). My only gripe with our new build is sound transference between floors if I did it again I would double board and use sound bars and pay more attention to sound holes.

[ProDave]

2 hours ago, puntloos said:

but there are also downsides to plastic plumbing, no?

The big one for me is mice can chew through them.  Ask my neighbour who had 2 leaks and 3 bits of ceiling down before he caught the mouse.  Of course make your house air tight and mice won't get in.

 

And the previous static caravan, could not stand our high water pressure and a lot of the plastic push fit fittings started bursting.

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, puntloos said:

not to mention health of water leeching chemicals in

And copper oxide, hydride, nitrate and sulphate are just pretty colours in a crystal garden.

Good job they still use lead piping to get to the property.

Edited January 19, 2022 by SteamyTea

[JohnMo]

And piping from water main to house is usually plastic and the water main is either plastic or lined in plastic - plastic everywhere

[Iceverge]

Don't forget about the first floor ceilings. A cheapish upgrade from 12.5mm standard to 15mm sound block plasterboard would be a good start. Carpets +curtains do a good job of dampening sound. Our hard floored rooms with no curtains are much noiser. Back to back sockets on a stud wall will need treatment. Beware undercuts of doors into plant rooms/laundries ets for machine noise. Our extractor fan is mounted on a sheet of MDF as part of the kitchen. It makes a racket. Some fridges are louder than advertised. I think someone on here wisely put some acoustic foam in the recess behind it. We can hear the roofing membrane flapping in the wind. We wouldn't if we sheathed the roof first I imagine or had a warm roof. 

 

Plastic pipes all the way every day every time. Less water hammer too. 

 

Also you need to make sure you get your recommended daily dose of microplastics. You can't simply rely on the MDPE water mains, plastic food containers, additives to detergents, synthetic clothing materials, dust from car tyres, plastic drinking bottles, tea bags, cosmetics, facial scrubs, and disposable face masks to provide all that wonderful plasticky goodness.........................  

[puntloos]

On 19/01/2022 at 21:22, Iceverge said:

Don't forget about the first floor ceilings. A cheapish upgrade from 12.5mm standard to 15mm sound block plasterboard would be a good start. Carpets +curtains do a good job of dampening sound. Our hard floored rooms with no curtains are much noiser. Back to back sockets on a stud wall will need treatment. Beware undercuts of doors into plant rooms/laundries ets for machine noise. Our extractor fan is mounted on a sheet of MDF as part of the kitchen. It makes a racket. Some fridges are louder than advertised. I think someone on here wisely put some acoustic foam in the recess behind it. We can hear the roofing membrane flapping in the wind. We wouldn't if we sheathed the roof first I imagine or had a warm roof. 

 

This is a great list actually, thanks

On 19/01/2022 at 21:22, Iceverge said:

Plastic pipes all the way every day every time. Less water hammer too. 

 

Also you need to make sure you get your recommended daily dose of microplastics. You can't simply rely on the MDPE water mains, plastic food containers, additives to detergents, synthetic clothing materials, dust from car tyres, plastic drinking bottles, tea bags, cosmetics, facial scrubs, and disposable face masks to provide all that wonderful plasticky goodness.........................  

Is this a vaccination story where I need to build up an immunity to microplastics? ;)

[MAB]

Not sure I would want to glue down floors everywhere, at least in an older house like mine where I have needed to access pipework and cables in the void below on many occasions for maintenance or improvement works.....