Trying to improve soundproofing and air tightness in 80s Brick and Block house

[RachelGodfrey]

Hi all,

 

I just bought a little 80s back to back end of terrace house and for some reason there are deep holes in the breeze block underneath the existing plasterboard. A lot of the neighbours complain about hearing their neighbours so I suspect the whole street is built like this. Given the pattern, it looks like maybe the builders ordered blocks with holes at the sides and then tried to fill them in and gave up, who knows. Anyway, I've been stripping off the plasterboard and filling the holes with this mortar- is this a sensible approach? It seems to work with little holes but the ones all the way through to the party wall (like 12 inches deep) never really end so not quite sure what to do there. The house is supposed to have cavity wall insulation but I haven't actually had it checked to see if it really does.

 

Any advice please?

 

Thanks

Rachel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jayc89]

Sealing gaps is always a sensible move. The stuff you're using likely isn't the cheapest but should do the job.

I don't think it will fix your noise problem alone though. You'd likely want to stud that wall out and infill it with some sound insulation before plaster boarding again. 

[RachelGodfrey]

Thanks Jay. Would making my own mortar from cement and sand be as good?

 

I'm weighing up the cost vs benefit of either studding out all walls, putting insulation in and plasterboarding over or just the party walls for the sound insulation. I think it's probably worth removing the plasterboard and filling the holes throughout the property as it's likely to have similar issues everywhere. 

 

 

[MikeGrahamT21]

They're tongue and groove blocks laid on their side, probably just what they had to hand at the time!

 

Assuming thats your party wall, id say that there will be no cavity between you and next door (on my street, 70's bungalows, some are like this and some are 2 blocks and a cavity in the middle, very bizarre the difference).

 

Best thing you can do, aside from filling the gaps, and also putting a layer of soundcoat (https://www.british-gypsum.com/products/finishing-products/gyproc-soundcoat-plus), you could use a metal frame, pack it with acoustic insulation and then top with 15mm soundblock plasterboard, all depends how much space you can free up for it, if any. Take a look at my blog, i did a similar project in my living room, might give you some ideas.