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Housing - Renovation: Improving sound insulation between rooms

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  1.  
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      CommentAuthorCitrus
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    Just wanted to run an idea for improving sound insulation between the rooms in our house. Some sections of solid wall have been removed and replaced with (what we presume is) stud walling, and the sound transmission is pretty appalling.

    I'm sure I've read somewhere that a fix for this is to take off the plasterboard, fill the spaces with insulation batting, add rubber or cork stripping along the studwork and then put plasterboard back up over the rubber/cork strips. I realise the fixings would be a sound bridge but from what I recollect this method was the suggestion.

    Many thanks, Hannah
    • CommentAuthorTimber
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    Take the wall linings off and install mineral wool insulation batts between the studs. The re-line with sound rated board on one side and sound rated board fixed to horizontal resilient bars fixed to the other side of the studs. Use two layers of board each side for better performance.
  3.  
    Hannah,
    I know the feeling.
    Interesting idea. My partition walls are also poor. The BC officer told me that the minimum insulation was 50mm in the wall. I filled mine and the standard is still poor. I would not fancy pulling all my plaster board down though. I would wear ear plugs first!
    :cry:
    • CommentAuthorTimber
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    Insulation alone won't make much difference. You need to add mass and isolation to the linings. Acoustic board is much better (and heavier) than standard board, and the metal resilient bars (installed horizontally) add the isolation.
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      CommentAuthornigel
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2012
     
    My understanding is that insulation removes the higher frequency sound and mass the lower frequency.

    You need a combination of the two together with an air gap as well and also ensuring there is no direct passage for sound (flanking).

    see this website for suggestions: http://www.noisestopsystems.co.uk/how-to-soundproof-walls?zenid=f05mk7sv37tjtuvjnbds8et7q0
    • CommentAuthorCWatters
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2012
     
    Two layers of plasterboard is sometimes used to add mass (and increase fire protection) to ceilings. Mounted on "resilient bars" - google that. Some sound reducing batts are twice the price of thermal batts but I've no idea if the difference is worth it.
    • CommentAuthorTimber
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2012
     
    "Some sound reducing batts are twice the price of thermal batts but I've no idea if the difference is worth it."

    The short answer is no they are not! Mineral wool is mineral wool, just get it in the correct density range (30 to 60 Kg/m3).
  8.  
    Hi,
    The green water resistant board is heavier than normal, likewise fire proof (pink) is heavier again. If you cant double board becuase of fixtures etc use the heavier boards which are easily available if you cant get the sound rated boards. This will depend a little on how/who is doing this - if you need enough to warrant a delivery order up the accoustic stuff, if its a casual weekend job green and pink are easy to as an over the counter sale on sunday - just depends. Denser thermal insulation batts offer less insulation so anything that looks fluffy wont make any difference, look for rockwool slabs which are fairly solid.

    Noise is like draughts it will find its way through holes and gaps. So gaps for example at sockets where there are sockets in the same place on the other side of the wall will leak noise through.

    Cheers, Mike up North
  9.  
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      CommentAuthorCitrus
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2012
     
    Thanks for the link, Viking House. The room in question is really big, so we're ok to lose a bit of space. We put together a plan this evening based on the bottom picture on the link in the post above, let me know what you think.

    - existing wall
    - 20mm air gap
    - 70mm studwork filled with dense insulation
    - 2 layers of plasterboard
    • CommentAuthorTimber
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2012
     
    That should work very nicely.

    Not too much to add really, other than follow the advice about air gaps. Making sure doors seal well when closed should also make a noticable difference (depending on where the doors to each room are relative to each other.
    •  
      CommentAuthorCitrus
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2012
     
    The doors are fire doors so make a good difference when closed. Forgot to add that we're going to price up doing the floor too. Ceilings have already been upgraded for fire purposes with an extra layer of plasterboard, but we'd like to improve things further.

    Now I just hope that we can afford it once it's costed up :neutral:
    • CommentAuthordavid2686
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2012
     
    I did an extension almost 2 years ago, for the stud walls and between floors used Hemp insulation, quite a dense material worked really well, put two layers of plasterboard on these walls also. Was concerned about the noise between the bathrroom and the bedroom and the kitchen below. Really noticeable the difference in the extension versus the old part of the house. Just starting another project ( the last one !) will use the same material again, went to see their factory at Black Mountain about 2 years ago see my comments from previous discussion. if you give them a call very helpful the boss is a person called Evens was always happy to answer my questions. Have priced up current project but will call him before I place order to see if he will tell me which customer of theirs has any special deals this autumn.
  14.  
    As already mentioned, electrical sockets and switches often provide an open sound path particularly if they are mounted back to back in the partition wall.

    Hilti do putty pads which whilst primarily designed as a fireproofing measure, function very well as a soundproofing measure around sockets.

    http://www.hilti.co.uk/holuk/page/module/product/prca_rangedetail.jsf?lang=en&nodeId=-476081

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