Sound proofing advice required please

I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it makes a "thump" sound.

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I am wi lling to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is next to the "noisy wall".

Slightly unfortuntately, this wall is in a stairwell. However, I can put t he materials anywhere else in the room, immediately next to the stairwell f or instance. Also, I don't mind how much room the materials occupy, as I d on't use the room for anything in particular.

I was thinking of using "free standing sound proof panels", if they exist. The height of the room is 2 metres, and so it would be very convenient to get panels with that particular dimension. It would also be very convenien t if they stood up easily by themselves, although if not, I suppose I could make them upright and stable by wedging something between the top of the p anels and the ceiling.

It really doesn't matter at all about their appearance, so they don't have to be fancy looking panels suitable for an office.

Can anyone recommend anything that might be suitable please? Thanks a lot for any comments!

Reply to
cdr
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In message , cdr writes

Could you *sound proof* the door. Obviously needs approaching carefully but a strip of foam draught proofer might do the job. Stairwell doors are notoriously noisy.

Reply to
Tim Lamb

In article , cdr scribeth thus

Yes you will usually be on a hiding to nothing with this sort of problem. Mass is required and isolation, and they aren't easy to retrofit without some structural modifications. You can try some sort of acoustic panels" but these are normally used to reduce "reflections" in the room in which there're used. They will absorb some of the sound and -might- go toward making the place sound a bit quieter, but they won't really cure it..

The ones you'd normally use aren't panels as such they do exist but would be useless for this application you'd need a stick on tile like these and their not cheap..

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However you'd need quite a few of them and I doubt they'd really -cure- the problem they might however reduce it a bit.

You might be better off seeing if anything could be done to make the door closing quieter like some foam strip around the door where it meets the frame so it doesn't make so much noise to start with. If also something rather absorbent could be placed in and line that area with that might help a bit but its really a structural problem and a lot of modern houses are like that anyway with thin plasterboard walls and suchlike.

I somehow doubt your landlord would be interested in helping. and your co- sharers and flatmates .. some people are it seems impervious to noise they just don't notice it others do and are very conscious of it. Here one of our daughters tends to stomp around like Barney the dinosaur in the middle of the night, it drives her mum up the wall .. she OTOH thinks its perfectly normal and we're wrong to even mention it!!

Perhaps best move;( ......

Reply to
tony sayer

Please note that there are no doors any near the stairwell. The room at th e top of the stairwell where I was thinking of placing sound proofing mater ial has no wall or door next to it. Immediately next to the stairwell is t he "noisy neighbour wall". It all looks a bit like the following diagram b elow. I've squashed the words Room and Stairwell together, to show that th ere is no wall or door here, and I've used a | symbol to represent the "noi sy wall". Thanks.

RoomStairwell|(noise occurs somewhere here, in the neighbour's house)

Reply to
cdr

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I am willing to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is next to the "noisy wall".

Slightly unfortuntately, this wall is in a stairwell. However, I can put the materials anywhere else in the room, immediately next to the stairwell for instance. Also, I don't mind how much room the materials occupy, as I don't use the room for anything in particular.

I was thinking of using "free standing sound proof panels", if they exist. The height of the room is 2 metres, and so it would be very convenient to get panels with that particular dimension. It would also be very convenient if they stood up easily by themselves, although if not, I suppose I could make them upright and stable by wedging something between the top of the panels and the ceiling.

It really doesn't matter at all about their appearance, so they don't have to be fancy looking panels suitable for an office.

Can anyone recommend anything that might be suitable please? Thanks a lot for any comments!

--------------

Approaching it from the other angle. Earsoft earplugs are the best thing I've discovered in ages. I never go on holiday without them. Trouble is, it's quite easy to oversleep if there's no-one around to wake you. Combine them with a sleep mask if you want complete sensory deprivation.

Reply to
Ivan Dobsky

Sound proofing walls will reduce 'air noise' such as talking, music, TV etc. from next door.

However the floors are fixed to the walls by joists, so anything that makes a really deep 'thump' such as a door slamming will go down through the door frame into the floor, into the joists, into the wall, into the joists next door, into the floor next door, then up through the legs of anyone standing on the floor :-)

We have done some sound proofing and the only thing that gets through is a slamming door or really heavy treading on the stairs.

I think a sub-woofer might vibrate the whole structure enough to carry through as well.

So IMHO normal sound proofing is unlikely to solve your particular problem and the suggestions for quietening the door seem most practical.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David.WE.Roberts

s a "thump" sound. [Snipped from O.P.]

Thanks a lot for all replies. Got woken up again twice last night. Tried earplugs, but what's happening is that when the neighbour shuts their door, my floorboards shake, and then so does the bed.

I'll ask the owner if that door can be "fixed". As a backup plan, would pu tting my bed on say 6 "breeze blocks" help to isolate the bed from the floo rboards? And/or would putting additional breeze blocks around the "noisy w all" help to somehow absorb the vibration of the shaking floorboards, befor e it reaches my bedroom?!

Thanks a lot for any additional comments.

Reply to
cdr

Well if your floorboards are shaking then no amount of sound-proofing of the walls is going to help.

Situation sounds a bit like a terraced property which I rent out; bizarrely, the original Victorian 1st floor ceiling joists actually run through the party wall and become next door's joists which makes soundproofing a nightmare.

I agree that especially with you renting, you've got no real chance of deadening the sound/vibration directly; you need to tackle it by other means as discussed.

Not sure whether standing your bed on something would help or not - probably worth a go as it's easy to try - however breezeblocks would certainly not be the answer; you want something like thick blocks of rubber to absord it. Can't think of anything off the top of my head that you could use. How about trying a couple of paperback books under each bed leg? Wouldn't be as good but dead easy to try.

Reply to
Lobster

Based on the idea of "thick blocks of rubber", I had a look on the net and came up with "rubber bench blocks". On ebay there's one (item number 360450863823) which is 5KG! but it's only 20mm thick. It's an idea perhaps...

Reply to
cdr

On Monday 01 July 2013 08:14 Lobster wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I can think of a couple of things:

1) Antislip silicone rubber mug coasters. Often sold as a disability aid. Stick 2-3 under each leg.

2) 4 wheel barrow inner tubes, 8 squares of ply and make 4 pneumatic pads. Need to fix the top ply plate to the bed leg or add something to make the leg captive so it can not slip off.

I reckon 1) would be worth a go and likely to help. 2) is more complicated but would give near 100% isolation to this type of transmission.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Well if it had been loud music, then yes, but structure borne sound like this is hard to get rid of as by definition it is vibrating the building and can be transfered by any surface attached to it. Maybe a word in the ear of the owners to put some kind of device on the offending doors to stop them being slammed.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

provides no isolation whatever Try chopping rubber mats into squares, stack them. Ensure its stable :)

only if you used a vast weight of them

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Sorry but putting your bed on breeze blocks won't do anything to sort this one:(..

Large rubber or similar blocks might make a slight difference.

But..

You need isolation and absorption. Sound is energy, and it either has to be insulated from or absorbed and dissipated.

Seeing that the premises are rented I very much doubt the landlord would or will do anything about this one. It seems to me that all you can effectively do and this won't be that much, is to reduce the original "noise" and by that to "absorb" it with perhaps some carpeting that might dampen down the level a bit.

Much the same in your room, but if its moving the boards and your bed what is this place made of!;?..

Some thick carpeting might help a bit but as to breeze blocks they'd only be of much use in forming a wall to make a cavity that would help but its a serious project to undertake!.

Can you post up a few pictures of this and then we might be able to see if anything can be done to help?..

Can you see if you can get some agreement over the force used to shut this bl^^dy door"!?.

Else take it up with your landlord as a "nuisance to your enjoyment of the premises" and see if you can dump this contract and move elsewhere.

Simpler said than done of course...

Reply to
tony sayer

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