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HELP: New Ceiling comes with a lot of Noise!


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Hi, I have just had my old lath and plaster ceiling replaced due to a flood that come through from the bathroom in the flat above & caused my ceiling to collapse. My ceiling before was over 2inches thick in parts but the Landlords of the flat above have replaced it with 1 layer of 12.5 sound board with a light skim over the top which is screwed directly to the joists in the ceiling. The amount of noise now that comes through is waking me up 3-4 times a week. I can hear when they're talking up there now, toilet being flushed, draws being pulled in and out and constant heavy footsteps and boards creaking, I don't have this issue with in any other rooms and never really had an issue with noise in the 14yrs I've lived here. I'm told by others in my building the ceiling should be double boarded for Fire and Safety regulations and meet the 1hr fire resistance, would 1 layer of 12.5 and a light skim meet that?. Also is it worth me getting a sound test done?. If anyone would be able to advise on these issues that would be much appreciated. Thanks

Edited by ACA
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Should be 2 layers of 15mm pink fireline board with staggered joints.  Mounted on resiliant bars for reduced noise.

 

Was there any insulation in there that came down with the ceiling that might not have been replaced?

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The only disappointment with my build was noise between floors with a single skin of board and sound insulation, wish I had resilient bars. But surely there are noise regs regarding flats 🤷‍♂️

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2 minutes ago, joe90 said:

The only disappointment with my build was noise between floors with a single skin of board and sound insulation, wish I had resilient bars. But surely there are noise regs regarding flats 🤷‍♂️

 

There will be in flats, also a requirement as part of the lease hold agreement.

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11 hours ago, ProDave said:

Should be 2 layers of 15mm pink fireline board with staggered joints.  Mounted on resiliant bars for reduced noise.

 

Was there any insulation in there that came down with the ceiling that might not have been replaced?

 

Hi, thank you for your reply. I said they should of done a MF ceiling from the start and been double boarded. They did put insulation between the joist but it wasn't any kind of soundproof insulation, 200mm i think.

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11 hours ago, Moonshine said:

 

There will be in flats, also a requirement as part of the lease hold agreement.

 

When i spoke to the building management about fire regulations for the building, i was told they have none for inside our flats, all fire regulations stop at residents front doors and is up to resident/landlord what they do inside? That can't be right can it? I live in an 160year old seafront hotel that was converted to flats many years back. Thanks

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12 hours ago, Moonshine said:

 

also a requirement as part of the lease hold agreement.

Well that would depend on the agreement. Not all lease agreements provide this. In fact, the ones I’ve seen talk about floors, not ceilings.

Edited by Adsibob
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1 hour ago, ACA said:

When i spoke to the building management about fire regulations for the building, i was told they have none for inside our flats

My understanding is that the Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified that the building owner is responsible for the fire-safety of the structure (which would, no doubt, include the floor & ceiling with the flat above yours), and the leaseholder is responsible for the fire door into the flat. I'm sure that it's more complex than that, but it may be worth checking it out. I doubt that it says anything about noise though.

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8 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Well that would depend on the agreement. Not all lease agreements provide this. In fact, the ones I’ve seen talk about floors, not ceilings.

 

usually it's to limit the flat above not changing carpets to hard flooring. there are recent cases where people have done this and got fined daily until it was put right.

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2 hours ago, Moonshine said:

 

usually it's to limit the flat above not changing carpets to hard flooring.

 

I agree with this, save with the word “usually”.

 

 

2 hours ago, Moonshine said:

there are recent cases where people have done this and got fined daily until it was put right.

Really? Fined by whom? The carpet police? Leases are contracts, breach of which entitles the wronged party to claim damages from the counterparty, in this case the landlord. Unless the landlord has a contractual right to levy fines on the other tenant in the lease between the landlord and the other tenant, I cannot see where the power to fine would arise. Even if such a power existed, it is likely to be unenforceable as a penalty clause, given it bears no relationship to the landlord’s cost or to the wronged tenant‘s loss.

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16 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

I agree with this, save with the word “usually”.

 

 

Really? Fined by whom? The carpet police? Leases are contracts, breach of which entitles the wronged party to claim damages from the counterparty, in this case the landlord. Unless the landlord has a contractual right to levy fines on the other tenant in the lease between the landlord and the other tenant, I cannot see where the power to fine would arise. Even if such a power existed, it is likely to be unenforceable as a penalty clause, given it bears no relationship to the landlord’s cost or to the wronged tenant‘s loss.

 

The courts

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/family-lose-legal-battle-millionaire-31434575

 

https://www.bdbpitmans.com/insights/noise-nuisance-and-unlawful-alterations/

 

And the one i referred to for the daily payment, where the person below sued the flat above and won over £100k, rising £40 a day until the work was done.

 

https://www.nationalsolicitors.com/mandy-peters/latest-news/banker-wins-compensation-in-noisy-neighbour-row/

 

https://www.jpclaw.co.uk/latest/noise-nuisance-flat-owners-beware

Edited by Moonshine
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It sounds like you are renting the flat which would mean asking your landlord to sort this out.

 

He should have ensured that the adjacent owners had the ceiling replaced with one of at least the same fire and acoustic performance.

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He also ordered a compensation payment of £107,397.37 to be paid to the claimant and ordered this would rise by £40 per day until the work has been done.”


This is reporting the payment of compensation (ie damages) not a fine. The £40 a day is the quantification of daily damage, not a fine.

 

 The country courts do not impose fines for breaches of contracts.

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I know someone who bought a ground floor flat with wood flooring but when she went to sell it was told hard wood flooring was not allowed and had to take out indemnity insurance in case the new owner was made to change back to carpet. (Note the upstairs flat also had hard flooring and was very noisy, but she didn’t know about the carpet clause).

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£100k for not having a carpet would feel like a fine to me, unless I was the one getting the tax free cash, then it would be a Porsche and  holiday in Barbados.

And a lot of laughing at the neighbour. I would laugh so loud it would keep them awake at night.

Edited by SteamyTea
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