Soundproofing - double drywall hasn't helped

[4cyberspace]

Hello
Doubling up on drywall on one wall in my living room hasn't helped with the neighbor's noise. It has reduced a little, but it is still extremely noisy. The wall is adjacent to the neighbor's living room. What could be wrong?

Should I try adding another set of double drywall on top of the already existing double drywall?

 

[Jonatan79]

You need to bring in air and insulation, check the construction for e.g. brandvägg.

 

[pontuskarlsson]

Hello
Double drywall on one wall in my living room has not helped against the neighbor's noise. It has reduced a little but it is still extremely noisy. The wall is against the neighbor's living room. What could be wrong?

Should I try putting up another set of double drywall on the already existing double drywall?

how much space do you have to work with? As the person above wrote, you need to achieve air and insulation. Maybe something like this if you have the possibility.

 

[4cyberspace]

What do you mean by how much space? It's a living room. It can be extended a bit if needed to make it quiet.

It wasn't me who did the work, it was the craftsmen. I will ask those who did it. So, they didn't just put up drywall, because then you're saying it won't be good?

 

[justusandersson]

Two things matter when choosing an insulation method. 1) What does the apartment-separating wall look like, and 2) what kind of noise is coming from the neighbor? A basic principle is that the material used for insulation should be as separated as possible from the wall.

 

[Peter_Ker]

The neighbor might have a fat home theater with twelve-inch subwoofers and floor speakers playing at full volume.

 

[4cyberspace]

I only know that it is a thin wall made of lightweight concrete with nonexistent sound insulation capabilities. The noise includes screams, thuds, talking, etc.

I will ask the contractors how it was done. If it is just drywall installed, should it be taken down and insulation put in or should two new drywall panels be added to the existing ones but with insulation material instead? I read that mineral wool can be used.

 

[tergo]

I read that mineral wool can be used.

Regular mineral wool doesn't block much sound; it should be hard-pressed insulation like an elephant mat if it is to help against noise.

 

[4cyberspace]

Regular mineral wool doesn't block much sound; it should be hard-pressed insulation like an elephant mat if it's going to help with sound.

Okay thanks, good to get tips on this. However, when you read around online, mineral wool seems to be praised for being sound-dampening, insulating, etc. But is the elephant mat even better?

If the installed wall hasn't helped much at all, something must have been missed or excluded if I understand correctly. Because such a wall should do something against the sound. And just plasterboards don't help much.

 

[imported_Benno]

If it is structural noise, wall insulation won't help. You would need to build a room within the room like a recording studio.
It sounds like those who designed the house didn't consider soundproofing. I heard about a newly built semi-detached house in Täby that they had to saw apart due to poor soundproofing. I don't know how it turned out.
So the safest choice is to choose housing far away from neighbors, but of course, that's not an option for everyone.

 

[4cyberspace]

If it's structure-borne noise, wall insulation won't help. You'd need to build a room within a room like a recording studio.
It sounds like the house designers didn't consider soundproofing. I heard about a newly built semi-detached house in Täby that they had to saw apart due to noise issues. Not sure how it went.
So the safest bet is to choose a home far from neighbors, but that's not an option for everyone.

The house was built in the 40s, so soundproofing is probably nonexistent. I mean, I can hear when the neighbors talk, that's how thin the walls are. And it feels like the sound goes straight through the walls. Double drywall didn't help much for some reason.

 

[justusandersson]

Lightweight concrete is an unsuitable material for apartment partition walls. It has too low a bulk density. Difficult to make it comply with current standards. The best option is to build a new wall a bit in front of the existing one, which doesn't touch it and also creates a small air gap. A stud frame plus insulation plus gypsum. Very good insulation is ground boards, which have high bulk density. I would try 50 mm thick ones.

 

[4cyberspace]

Lightweight concrete is an unsuitable material for walls between apartments. It has too low a density. Difficult to meet today's standards. The best option is to build a new wall a bit in front of the existing one that does not touch it and also creates a small air gap. Frame structure plus insulation plus gypsum. Very good insulation is floor panels that have high density. I would try 50 mm thick.

Okay, building a whole new wall sounds expensive and extensive. It also takes up a lot of space, I think. I will try to find out which insulating material best reduces noise, someone mentioned elephant mat above or floor panels as you wrote. It should improve soundproofing, in my opinion, along with gypsum boards.

I can add that it is not as noisy vertically in the house as it is sideways between the apartments.

The alternative might be to consult with a company that specializes in soundproofing.

 

[fiskbuggaren]

Okay, building a completely new wall sounds expensive and extensive. It expands a lot too, I think. I will try to find out which insulation material soundproofs the best, someone mentioned elephant mat above or the ground boards as you wrote. That should do something for the soundproofing, I think, together with the plasterboards.

I can add that it's not as noisy vertically in the building as it is sideways between the apartments.

The alternative might be to contact a company that deals with soundproofing.

A new wall is perhaps slightly, but not unreasonably, more expensive than just adding more plaster to the existing one. The new wall has no load-bearing function. If you really hear as much as it sounds like, make sure there is no completely open path for the sound, such as leakage through electrical boxes, ventilation, or cable TV.

 

[justusandersson]

Adding insulation material directly to the aerated concrete wall is not very effective. Consider that the entire wall functions like a speaker diaphragm. A new wall with 45 mm studs extends 10+45+12=67 mm. It’s not that bad. The house has concrete slabs, so the vertical sound dampening is much better. Hiring a soundproofing company naturally gives a good result but at a significantly higher cost.