Acoustic insulation

[S P O N I X]

We have some noisy neighbours who are always stomping up the stairs which unfortunately run against an adjoining wall.

What is the best way to insulate against this noise?

sPoNiX

[Christian McArdle]

Are your stairs adjacent to the same wall? How much space can you afford to lose on this wall? Are there any door frames or original features abutting it?

Christian.

[S P O N I X]

No..

Ummm, probably about 1" to 2"

There is a window at 90 degrees to the wall in question which will limit how far out I can come.

The noise in question is mainly "thud thud thud" of teenagers running up/down stairs.

sPoNiX

[Christian McArdle]

You might have difficulty. The standard technique is to build a stud wall against it, but not touching, with insulation and double plasterboarding. You can get it down to about 10cm/4in, but not 5cm/2in. Maybe someone else knows of a solution for tighter situations. I suppose just adding weight to the wall with plasterboard might help a little, but it won't be the holy grail.

Christian.

[Andy Hall]

Realistically, in the space that you would perhaps want to dedicate to this - (perhaps 50mm?) there is a limit to what you can do. The best effect can be obtained by adding mass to the wall, but since a staircase is attached to the structure of the building, even that won't work miracles.

I bet that they bang doors as well. Some people are inconsiderate like that.

You could go the route of talking to the Environmental Health people at your local authority, but the problem is that as soon as you do that, the complaint is logged and will show up in a search if you want to sell the place. It would be a bit hard to argue the noise aspect of this as well, although arguably it is a nuisance.

I suppose that short of

the pragmatic answer if it really agrieves you is

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Jim]

If all else fails, talk to the neighbouring house owner and offer to pay for him to have thick underlaid fitted carpet up his stairs. I think that would be the most effective solution as far as sound-deadening goes. It might even garner some goodwill from the neighbour.

[Dave Liquorice]

Move, sorry.

Structure borne LF noise is very difficult to insulate. Short of building another, floating, but acoustically sealed wall inside your property that covers the entire shared wall...

[dg]

This type of sound travels mainly through the structure and not the air, so it is very, very difficult to stop. It has to be designed out at the building stage.

Dense = good for sound insulation, so something like fibreboard linings or rockwool quilt may help, but are not always the answer

Do a Google search for "Fermacell", who make sound insulation products.

dg

[Robert Laws]

This is good: ISBN 0-07-026942 "Noise control for residential buildings" Douglas (sic) Harris, but it does not seem to be available o nAmazon uk, maybe in the USA.

Robert

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , Christian McArdle writes

If it is a low frequency thud..thud..., the noise might be being transmitted from the stairs to the wall, then to the joists in the OP's house, so any soundproofing will be difficult.

[The Natural Philosopher]

If its a stud wall, then adding a lightweight block wall your side will help.

[Martin]

Baseball bat?

[Robert Laws]

adding mass to the wall is not as good as adding a second wall (wood/doubleplasterboard) not mechanically connected to the existing one.

Robert

[S P O N I X]

In this case I think it's coming through the wall as opposed to joists etc as the noise is less in the kitchen below.

sPoNiX