Apartment noise trouble!

[Amy Vidrine]

Okay, here's the problem.  My husband and I moved out of an apartment because the office refused to do anything about our neighbors below us that played music so loud it drowned out our TV.  Now, we're having similar problems in our NEW apartment!!!  It's not as bad, though.  We keep asking the guy to turn it down, but it's very annoying going over there every day to ask him.

We CANNOT tear down walls to install stuff like MLV.  We've put bookshelves loaded with books on our common wall, and that seems to help...minimally.  Is there anything out there that we can put behind the shelves that would help?  Inexpensive and removable from the apartment is preferred.  We've heard about roofing styrofoam?  Or some sort of sound-deadening board?

Please help us!  We don't want to move again!

Amy Vidrine

[agtrojan]

Here is what you do:

Buy a grommett kit from your local Home Depot.

Install 4 grommetts equally spaced across the top of a 4' or 4.5' wide sheet of MLV that is equal in length to the height of your wall.

Install heavy-duty screws or picture hangers with a load capacity between 20-30 lbs each.  The spacing must equal the spacing of the grommetts.

Hang your soundproof curtain over your wall and voila...enjoy the sound reduction.

Now then, if you're adventureous enough to take the next step then conisder adding two layers of the MLV.  If you do make sure you stagger the wall mounts to overlap the MLV.

Using the MLV with closed cell foam will further enhance the quality of the soundproof curtain since the closed cell foam will dampen vibration from the wall.  Place the closed cell foam against the wall and the MLV towards your room.

Check out the MLV spec:

http://www.soundproofing.org/brochures/mass_loaded_vinyl.htm