Soundproofing walls in a mid terraced house

3 years ago

we moved in a mid terraced house build in 1900 a few months ago and realise the walls are so thin that we hear voices And music from next doors. It’s not our first mid terrace but it never happened before. We have had someone come over to discuss installing some insulation but were told they don’t do any wall insulation in mid terraced house as theres little point (they said mid terraced house is like hugged by adjacent houses so it should be warm, which isn’t the same ad how we feel...). But now the noise issue is a little bit getting to us I wonder if there’s any other way to sound proof walls? Or has anyone here got installed some wall insulation in a terraced house?

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Comments (5)

Jonathan
3 years ago
You can overboard the walls with a noise deadening plasterboard and add insulation under the floors as some sound travels this way.
Saya Kidby thanked Jonathan
PRO
Ikonografik Design
3 years ago
Ideally, if you have enough space and don't mind the disruption build a standalone partition lining in front of the shared wall. Before building the partition make sure all air gaps in the old wall are sealed with acoustic sealant. Make sure a 25mm stand off air gap between old wall and new partition. Partition could be timber or metal framed, 90 / 100mm frame thickness, filled with acoustic insulation and then boarded with 2 layers of 15mm thick acoustic plaster board. You can go a step further and separate the plasterboard from the framing by using special stand off framing members called resilient bars which create even more separation.

Total thickness of partition and air gap might be about 150-175mm so that's how much space you'll lose.

If you have fancy coving and / or a fireplace this needs to be considered as you may need to replace it or remove it.

Good luck!
Saya Kidby thanked Ikonografik Design
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Sorry, I'm not sure how to (or if I can) respond to each comment, but to address some of the questions: Sarah - agree it would be easiest to make bed 4 the bathroom on the first floor. I think 3 bedrooms (1 for us, 2 spare, with one of the spares being an office) - but I like Jonathan's plan of using one of the back rooms as an office (halving the size of a bathroom to accommodate this) or potentially moving it downstairs, which I hadn't considered Chloe - beds 1 + 2 on the ground floor we'd use as a TV room/living space (bed two to double as an office/spare room), maybe put pocket doors between the two rather than have the wall that's currently there. I think we're open to moving rooms, but the cost of swapping the ground/lower ground uses (moving kitchens etc) will probably be prohibitive, so we were trying to work with the floors that the kitchen/lounge/dining rooms were already on. Jonathan - thank you for the floor plan! Lots of ideas we hadn't considered. I think we're looking at having 2 kids eventually, but think the loft extension if we need it is an option for more rooms, so think we are prioritising the living/working spaces for the next 5ish years, putting in a great kitchen (we'll be pretty poor post purchase so will be eating in a LOT!) I think despite this there is potential for our bedroom, a spare bedroom and office (even two separate small offices?). The kids can share a room for a few years anyway! As mentioned above - I fear the cost of moving the kitchen could be prohibitive, but I love the idea of sealing off the lower ground entrance and putting a loo in there! Perhaps if we did the latter, we could get rid of the loo to the back of the LG floor and open up the dining space + larger kitchen in the back?
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Daisy England
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
When my son bought his house he had acoustic plaster board fitted between his lounge wall and the neighbour. If I’m honest I don’t think it was half as effective as we thought it may be. Then the 3 children moved out as they grew up and silence returned.

Perhaps they are generally loud and noisy and haven’t realised just how loud they speak or have the TV up. Could you speak to the neighbour stressing your concerns?
Saya Kidby thanked Daisy England
PRO
Ikonografik Design
3 years ago
Just acoustic plasterboard on it's own won't do much. Sealing all perimeter gaps and other holes + building a separate partition with a separation air gap should make a big difference but I appreciate it will take up space.
Saya Kidby thanked Ikonografik Design
Daza
3 years ago
this was about 75mm: 10mm gap, 50mm stud filled with rockwool RW3. 15mm soundshield plasterboard. made a worthwhile difference. not sound 'proof' but never expected it to be, there is flanking to consider. worth looking under floors if timber suspended as Jonathan says and especially if joists go into party walls. I have a smaller room to tackle in future and will be looking closer at things like SM20 or noisestop panels for that.
Saya Kidby thanked Daza

Soundproofing walls in a mid terraced house

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Jonathan

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