How do you soundproof a wall?.
Discussion
Hi.
I live on the end house of a lot of 30 year old terraced house. The house isn't brilliant but it is my home.
The neighbours are great people and we regularly visit each other for coffee and have a genuine friendly relationship and that is great.
What isn't great is him, either for her or because he can hear it himself, texting me to turn the TV down.
The TV has rear facing speakers and is a 42" Samsung, if anybody knows which one I mean. The walls are not great for mounting anything more than picture frames.
The previous owner left his wall mount for his TV in situ because he said "it took ages to find a spot that it mounted on safely and he dare not take it down and cause me hassle".
The wall is the seperating wall of my house and the neighbours, any other wall is too weak or in the wrong spot. The headboard for their bed is on the 1st floor of their house, directly above the TV.
Now, most of the time, I have the Volume on 6 of 100, they keep asking for it to be turned down until it is on 3 of 100. At this point, I have to strain and remain motionless to hear it.
I'm fed up. I have been told that by sacrificing about 1/2 a foot of room space, I can create another wall and fill the space with insulation. I don't fancy this option as the space in this room is limited anyway.
Is there any other way?
Thanks.
Chris.
I live on the end house of a lot of 30 year old terraced house. The house isn't brilliant but it is my home.
The neighbours are great people and we regularly visit each other for coffee and have a genuine friendly relationship and that is great.
What isn't great is him, either for her or because he can hear it himself, texting me to turn the TV down.
The TV has rear facing speakers and is a 42" Samsung, if anybody knows which one I mean. The walls are not great for mounting anything more than picture frames.
The previous owner left his wall mount for his TV in situ because he said "it took ages to find a spot that it mounted on safely and he dare not take it down and cause me hassle".
The wall is the seperating wall of my house and the neighbours, any other wall is too weak or in the wrong spot. The headboard for their bed is on the 1st floor of their house, directly above the TV.
Now, most of the time, I have the Volume on 6 of 100, they keep asking for it to be turned down until it is on 3 of 100. At this point, I have to strain and remain motionless to hear it.
I'm fed up. I have been told that by sacrificing about 1/2 a foot of room space, I can create another wall and fill the space with insulation. I don't fancy this option as the space in this room is limited anyway.
Is there any other way?
Thanks.
Chris.
Amp and forward facing speakers?
You can get noise reducing plasterboard.
You can also get insulation and plasterboard bonded together in one sheet. I believe that this was designed for thermal insulation over noise though.
Would you be willing to take the wall back to the brick and start again? That way you'd loose the least amount of space. Either way you'll have to make good one way or another.
The AV subsection might have a good expirence.
You can get noise reducing plasterboard.
You can also get insulation and plasterboard bonded together in one sheet. I believe that this was designed for thermal insulation over noise though.
Would you be willing to take the wall back to the brick and start again? That way you'd loose the least amount of space. Either way you'll have to make good one way or another.
The AV subsection might have a good expirence.
New t.v with speakers forward (not going to help much)
Headphones (wireless or cabled) (not really very comfortable)
False wall (like you say a lot of hassle and means sacrificing space and they will probably still moan as it sounds like 'he' is listening for it by now!
Move (not great fun)
Put tv on a table like good old fashioned days (easiest)
Or put on countryfile (I'm sure they'd like that)
Or porn.
Hth Matt
Headphones (wireless or cabled) (not really very comfortable)
False wall (like you say a lot of hassle and means sacrificing space and they will probably still moan as it sounds like 'he' is listening for it by now!
Move (not great fun)
Put tv on a table like good old fashioned days (easiest)
Or put on countryfile (I'm sure they'd like that)
Or porn.
Hth Matt
I've had do do this for a client, dry line the wall with 12.5mm plasterboard then bond a sound deadening layer of solid rubber sheet(about 3mm thick) and then dry line again with another 12.5mm plasterboard, maximum affect with the smallest of loss of room space. I can't remember the name of the product I used but google will help as I'm sure that's how I found it.
Thanks for the responses.
I'm not so sure what will help.
The speakers are rear facing, yet they are hearing the TV upstairs, not in their living room. I've, on days that I have popped round, had my girlfriend playing music channels with the volume at 20 of 100. That is loud, yet I can just about hear it in their living room.
The wall is hollow in places, yet solid where the speakers and mountings are.
I'm unsure about how to/if I should soundproof the ceiling too. It has that crappy plaster twist pattern. Artex?.
I may just strip it back to brick and re plaster the sucker.
Thank you all, again.
I'm not so sure what will help.
The speakers are rear facing, yet they are hearing the TV upstairs, not in their living room. I've, on days that I have popped round, had my girlfriend playing music channels with the volume at 20 of 100. That is loud, yet I can just about hear it in their living room.
The wall is hollow in places, yet solid where the speakers and mountings are.
I'm unsure about how to/if I should soundproof the ceiling too. It has that crappy plaster twist pattern. Artex?.
I may just strip it back to brick and re plaster the sucker.
Thank you all, again.
read5458 said:
Thanks for the responses.
I'm not so sure what will help.
The speakers are rear facing, yet they are hearing the TV upstairs, not in their living room. I've, on days that I have popped round, had my girlfriend playing music channels with the volume at 20 of 100. That is loud, yet I can just about hear it in their living room.
The wall is hollow in places, yet solid where the speakers and mountings are.
I'm unsure about how to/if I should soundproof the ceiling too. It has that crappy plaster twist pattern. Artex?.
I may just strip it back to brick and re plaster the sucker.
Thank you all, again.
I'd think part of the issue is that the TV is attached to the wall & so the sound is travelling back through the mount into the wall.I'm not so sure what will help.
The speakers are rear facing, yet they are hearing the TV upstairs, not in their living room. I've, on days that I have popped round, had my girlfriend playing music channels with the volume at 20 of 100. That is loud, yet I can just about hear it in their living room.
The wall is hollow in places, yet solid where the speakers and mountings are.
I'm unsure about how to/if I should soundproof the ceiling too. It has that crappy plaster twist pattern. Artex?.
I may just strip it back to brick and re plaster the sucker.
Thank you all, again.
One of those sound bar thingies (not attached to the wall!) might be your friend.
OP, the problem you have is you're putting energy directly into a wall - it's transmitting up mechanically into their bedroom. A different TV with forward facing speakers won;t make much difference (if any), because it'll still be physically attached to the wall.
A small set of speakers off the wall may help (Accounstic Energy Aego P2 used to be great, but that's years ago!), but IMO your best bet is to reverse the room layout, and put the telly on the non party wall.
A small set of speakers off the wall may help (Accounstic Energy Aego P2 used to be great, but that's years ago!), but IMO your best bet is to reverse the room layout, and put the telly on the non party wall.
If it's your house and moving isn't an option then I'd strip it back to the brick and start again. The problem will only continue. My rented barn conversion has exterior walls a metre thick but the new interior wall which separates us from the neighbours appears to be made from crushed yoghurt pots. I can hear my neighbours talking, farting, snoring, arguing and walking about on the s
te quality squeaky first floor. They had a baby the year before last which squealed like a pig at all hours of the day and night and literally drove us to insanity as it sounded like it was in the room with us. This went on for months.
Privacy and the ability to listen to the telly and music as loud as you want is worth throwing a bit of money at IMHO.
te quality squeaky first floor. They had a baby the year before last which squealed like a pig at all hours of the day and night and literally drove us to insanity as it sounded like it was in the room with us. This went on for months. Privacy and the ability to listen to the telly and music as loud as you want is worth throwing a bit of money at IMHO.
Reduction of sound transmission needs to be designed into the building and needs attention to detail on site. Modern houses are sound-tested but 30 year-old houses certainly wouldn't be.
You could make a small difference if you were to clad the party walls with extra material to add mass or isolation but there will still be flanking transmission of the sound.
You're onto a bit of a loser here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_transmission
You could make a small difference if you were to clad the party walls with extra material to add mass or isolation but there will still be flanking transmission of the sound.
You're onto a bit of a loser here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_transmission
On marine enginerooms you try to cut down on noise and vibration by isolating engines, gensets and pumps from the hull, which is solid. This must be the same for speakers too. Maybe put speakers on sheet rubber/sponge?
Or chat to these chaps.
http://www.noisyneighboursnomore.co.uk/home-audio-...
Or chat to these chaps.
http://www.noisyneighboursnomore.co.uk/home-audio-...
What I struggle to understand is..
Why when my wife is in the next room can we not hear each other even when shouting, yet I'm sat in bed and I just heard the woman next door say to one of her kids "have you lost that game already" as clearly as I would have if she was sat in bed with me.
House is 1930's semi and internal walls are all brick as I assume is the party wall.
Why when my wife is in the next room can we not hear each other even when shouting, yet I'm sat in bed and I just heard the woman next door say to one of her kids "have you lost that game already" as clearly as I would have if she was sat in bed with me.
House is 1930's semi and internal walls are all brick as I assume is the party wall.
rsv gone! said:
Modern houses are sound-tested...
Really? admittedly I haven't been in anything built in the last 5 years, but all the newbuilds (built between 2000 and 2005) I've been in have had zero sound insulation. (i.e. you could talk between rooms with the doors shut without raising your voice, and anything louder than queit conversation could easily be heard from the neighbours)Mainly due to crap practices like using metal studwork for internal walls and and ultra lightweight blockwork for party walls...
read5458 said:
Thanks for the responses.
I'm not so sure what will help.
The speakers are rear facing, yet they are hearing the TV upstairs, not in their living room. I've, on days that I have popped round, had my girlfriend playing music channels with the volume at 20 of 100. That is loud, yet I can just about hear it in their living room.
The wall is hollow in places, yet solid where the speakers and mountings are.
I'm unsure about how to/if I should soundproof the ceiling too. It has that crappy plaster twist pattern. Artex?.
I may just strip it back to brick and re plaster the sucker.
Thank you all, again.
You're assuming the dividing wall is brick though. It might not be, so if you strip it, you might end up in their living room, which I'm sure they will likeI'm not so sure what will help.
The speakers are rear facing, yet they are hearing the TV upstairs, not in their living room. I've, on days that I have popped round, had my girlfriend playing music channels with the volume at 20 of 100. That is loud, yet I can just about hear it in their living room.
The wall is hollow in places, yet solid where the speakers and mountings are.
I'm unsure about how to/if I should soundproof the ceiling too. It has that crappy plaster twist pattern. Artex?.
I may just strip it back to brick and re plaster the sucker.
Thank you all, again.
As has been said, if they're hearing it upstairs, not down, it's probably mechanical transmission, up the wall and into the floorboards, or perhaps into the upper wall supports and resonating off the plasterboard upstairs. Some thin rubber between the TV Mount and the wall may help, or simply de-coupling the speakers from the wall altogether somehow.
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