Impact noise from next door, semi detatched.

[generalidea]

We have recently moved into a 1970's semi-d. There seems to be a block party wall with plasterboard either side.
We are hearing every footstep, door closing, light switches on party wall, and occasional conversation from our neighbours.

The impact sounds are the most irritating and constant. It seem like they only come from upstairs in our neighbours and somehow are transfered in our house. It actually sounds like the sounds are coming from our first floor when we are in the living room downstairs. There appears to be no insulation under the floorboards upstairs as the noise in our downstairs from someone walking in an upstairs bedroom is very audible (think herd of elephants).

Is there any effective sound insulation for such impact noise?
Would insulating our upstairs floors and walls work or am I wasting my time?

Many thanks.

[Randy S]

The 2 units are connected structurally, there are only 2 ways to reduce this problem.

1) decouple the structure/ essentially breaking the connections between the 2 units..( very expensive and a lot of construction involved)
2) absorption of the impact noise at the source side. essentially putting in carpet underlayment, padding and carpet, better foam seals on doors...applications that reduce the force of impact before the structure is involved.

Trying to soundproof your side would be like chasing your tail..you would be just moving the sound  from one area to another....to be effective you would have to soundproof all 6 sides of the cube.

Probably not the news you wanted to hear but you need to understand that vibration is traveling through the structure at 13,000 fps and remits at any area of least resistance.

If you want to reduce human conversation or TV noise we could do that with cost effective solutions.
Impact not so easy.

Let me know if you want to reduce the human speech aspect of the problem and I would be more than happy to give you options.

Randy S.

 

[generalidea]

Thanks for the reply Randy.

The conversational noise isn't often enough to really cause us too much bother.

Is there any way to even reduce the effect of the impact noise? Sealing gaps in party wall, or adding mass to it?
Is it possible that the floor joists/floorboards run from one house to the next and this could be exaggerating the noise?

Thanks again,

Sean.

[Randy S]

Yes you should always seal up gaps and leaks....
Adding mass will reduce the airborne noise issue but when you re screw the drywall back into the structure you turn the final layer back into the speaker. You could float the shared wall but the impact noise will still come through the floor and ceiling areas..and perpendicular walls.

And yes you are correct about the floor joist and subfloor that is why decoupling the 2 units would be a huge undertaking and very costly.

Randy S.

[generalidea]

Thanks Randy.

I may just have to endure this until we can afford a detached house then.

Regards,

Sean.