I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it makes a "thump" sound.

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I am willing to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is next to the "noisy wall".

Slightly unfortuntately, this wall is in a stairwell. However, I can put the materials anywhere else in the room, immediately next to the stairwell for instance. Also, I don't mind how much room the materials occupy, as I don't use the room for anything in particular.

I was thinking of using "free standing sound proof panels", if they exist. The height of the room is 2 metres, and so it would be very convenient to get panels with that particular dimension. It would also be very convenient if they stood up easily by themselves, although if not, I suppose I could make them upright and stable by wedging something between the top of the panels and the ceiling.

It really doesn't matter at all about their appearance, so they don't have to be fancy looking panels suitable for an office.

Can anyone recommend anything that might be suitable please? Thanks a lot for any comments!

In message , cdr
writes
I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it
makes a "thump" sound.

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I
am willing to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is
next to the "noisy wall".

Could you *sound proof* the door. Obviously needs approaching carefully
but a strip of foam draught proofer might do the job. Stairwell doors
are notoriously noisy.
--
Tim Lamb

In article , cdr
scribeth thus
I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it makes a
"thump" sound.

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I am
willing
to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is next to the "noisy
wall".

Slightly unfortuntately, this wall is in a stairwell. However, I can put the
materials anywhere else in the room, immediately next to the stairwell for
instance. Also, I don't mind how much room the materials occupy, as I don't
use
the room for anything in particular.

I was thinking of using "free standing sound proof panels", if they exist. The
height of the room is 2 metres, and so it would be very convenient to get
panels
with that particular dimension. It would also be very convenient if they stood
up easily by themselves, although if not, I suppose I could make them upright
and stable by wedging something between the top of the panels and the ceiling.

It really doesn't matter at all about their appearance, so they don't have to
be
fancy looking panels suitable for an office.

Can anyone recommend anything that might be suitable please? Thanks a lot for
any comments!


Yes you will usually be on a hiding to nothing with this sort of problem. Mass
is required and isolation, and they aren't easy to retrofit without some
structural modifications. You can try some sort of acoustic panels" but these
are normally used to reduce "reflections" in the room in which there're used.
They will absorb some of the sound and -might- go toward making the place sound
a bit quieter, but they won't really cure it..


The ones you'd normally use aren't panels as such they do exist but would be
useless for this application you'd need a stick on tile like these and their not
cheap..

http://www.studiospares.com/acoustic...oacoustictiles


However you'd need quite a few of them and I doubt they'd really -cure- the
problem they might however reduce it a bit.

You might be better off seeing if anything could be done to make the door
closing quieter like some foam strip around the door where it meets the frame so
it doesn't make so much noise to start with. If also something rather absorbent
could be placed in and line that area with that might help a bit but its really
a structural problem and a lot of modern houses are like that anyway with thin
plasterboard walls and suchlike.

I somehow doubt your landlord would be interested in helping. and your co-
sharers and flatmates .. some people are it seems impervious to noise they just
don't notice it others do and are very conscious of it. Here one of our
daughters tends to stomp around like Barney the dinosaur in the middle of the
night, it drives her mum up the wall .. she OTOH thinks its perfectly normal and
we're wrong to even mention it!!

Perhaps best move;( ......



--
Tony Sayer

On Sunday, 30 June 2013 10:27:28 UTC+1, Tim Lamb wrote:
Could you *sound proof* the door. Obviously needs approaching carefully
but a strip of foam draught proofer might do the job. Stairwell doors
are notoriously noisy.

--

Tim Lamb

Please note that there are no doors any near the stairwell. The room at the top of the stairwell where I was thinking of placing sound proofing material has no wall or door next to it. Immediately next to the stairwell is the "noisy neighbour wall". It all looks a bit like the following diagram below. I've squashed the words Room and Stairwell together, to show that there is no wall or door here, and I've used a | symbol to represent the "noisy wall". Thanks.

RoomStairwell|(noise occurs somewhere here, in the neighbour's house)

"cdr" wrote in message
...
I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it makes a
"thump" sound.

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I am
willing to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is next to the
"noisy wall".

Slightly unfortuntately, this wall is in a stairwell. However, I can put
the materials anywhere else in the room, immediately next to the stairwell
for instance. Also, I don't mind how much room the materials occupy, as I
don't use the room for anything in particular.

I was thinking of using "free standing sound proof panels", if they exist.
The height of the room is 2 metres, and so it would be very convenient to
get panels with that particular dimension. It would also be very convenient
if they stood up easily by themselves, although if not, I suppose I could
make them upright and stable by wedging something between the top of the
panels and the ceiling.

It really doesn't matter at all about their appearance, so they don't have
to be fancy looking panels suitable for an office.

Can anyone recommend anything that might be suitable please? Thanks a lot
for any comments!

--------------

Approaching it from the other angle. Earsoft earplugs are the best thing
I've discovered in ages. I never go on holiday without them. Trouble is,
it's quite easy to oversleep if there's no-one around to wake you. Combine
them with a sleep mask if you want complete sensory deprivation.

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 01:09:28 -0700, cdr wrote:

I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it
makes a "thump" sound.

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I am
willing to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is next to
the "noisy wall".

Slightly unfortuntately, this wall is in a stairwell. However, I can
put the materials anywhere else in the room, immediately next to the
stairwell for instance. Also, I don't mind how much room the materials
occupy, as I don't use the room for anything in particular.

I was thinking of using "free standing sound proof panels", if they
exist. The height of the room is 2 metres, and so it would be very
convenient to get panels with that particular dimension. It would also
be very convenient if they stood up easily by themselves, although if
not, I suppose I could make them upright and stable by wedging something
between the top of the panels and the ceiling.

It really doesn't matter at all about their appearance, so they don't
have to be fancy looking panels suitable for an office.

Can anyone recommend anything that might be suitable please? Thanks a
lot for any comments!

Sound proofing walls will reduce 'air noise' such as talking, music, TV
etc. from next door.

However the floors are fixed to the walls by joists, so anything that
makes a really deep 'thump' such as a door slamming will go down through
the door frame into the floor, into the joists, into the wall, into the
joists next door, into the floor next door, then up through the legs of
anyone standing on the floor :-)

We have done some sound proofing and the only thing that gets through is a
slamming door or really heavy treading on the stairs.

I think a sub-woofer might vibrate the whole structure enough to carry
through as well.

So IMHO normal sound proofing is unlikely to solve your particular problem
and the suggestions for quietening the door seem most practical.

Cheers

Dave R

On Sunday, 30 June 2013 09:09:28 UTC+1, cdr wrote:
I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it makes a "thump" sound. [Snipped from O.P.]

Thanks a lot for all replies. Got woken up again twice last night. Tried earplugs, but what's happening is that when the neighbour shuts their door, my floorboards shake, and then so does the bed.

I'll ask the owner if that door can be "fixed". As a backup plan, would putting my bed on say 6 "breeze blocks" help to isolate the bed from the floorboards? And/or would putting additional breeze blocks around the "noisy wall" help to somehow absorb the vibration of the shaking floorboards, before it reaches my bedroom?!

Thanks a lot for any additional comments.

On 01/07/2013 07:43, cdr wrote:
On Sunday, 30 June 2013 09:09:28 UTC+1, cdr wrote:
I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because
it makes a "thump" sound. [Snipped from O.P.]

Thanks a lot for all replies. Got woken up again twice last night.
Tried earplugs, but what's happening is that when the neighbour shuts
their door, my floorboards shake, and then so does the bed.

Well if your floorboards are shaking then no amount of sound-proofing of
the walls is going to help.

Situation sounds a bit like a terraced property which I rent out;
bizarrely, the original Victorian 1st floor ceiling joists actually run
through the party wall and become next door's joists which makes
soundproofing a nightmare.

I'll ask the owner if that door can be "fixed". As a backup plan,
would putting my bed on say 6 "breeze blocks" help to isolate the bed
from the floorboards? And/or would putting additional breeze blocks
around the "noisy wall" help to somehow absorb the vibration of the
shaking floorboards, before it reaches my bedroom?!

I agree that especially with you renting, you've got no real chance of
deadening the sound/vibration directly; you need to tackle it by other
means as discussed.

Not sure whether standing your bed on something would help or not -
probably worth a go as it's easy to try - however breezeblocks would
certainly not be the answer; you want something like thick blocks of
rubber to absord it. Can't think of anything off the top of my head
that you could use. How about trying a couple of paperback books under
each bed leg? Wouldn't be as good but dead easy to try.

--
David

On Monday, 1 July 2013 08:14:19 UTC+1, Lobster wrote:
Not sure whether standing your bed on something would help or not -
probably worth a go as it's easy to try - however breezeblocks would
certainly not be the answer; you want something like thick blocks of
rubber to absord it. Can't think of anything off the top of my head
that you could use. How about trying a couple of paperback books under
each bed leg? Wouldn't be as good but dead easy to try.

Based on the idea of "thick blocks of rubber", I had a look on the net and came up with "rubber bench blocks". On ebay there's one (item number 360450863823) which is 5KG! but it's only 20mm thick. It's an idea perhaps...

On Monday 01 July 2013 08:14 Lobster wrote in uk.d-i-y:


Not sure whether standing your bed on something would help or not -
probably worth a go as it's easy to try - however breezeblocks would
certainly not be the answer; you want something like thick blocks of
rubber to absord it. Can't think of anything off the top of my head
that you could use. How about trying a couple of paperback books under
each bed leg? Wouldn't be as good but dead easy to try.


I can think of a couple of things:

1) Antislip silicone rubber mug coasters. Often sold as a disability aid.
Stick 2-3 under each leg.

2) 4 wheel barrow inner tubes, 8 squares of ply and make 4 pneumatic pads.
Need to fix the top ply plate to the bed leg or add something to make the
leg captive so it can not slip off.

I reckon 1) would be worth a go and likely to help. 2) is more complicated
but would give near 100% isolation to this type of transmission.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

Well if it had been loud music, then yes, but structure borne sound like
this is hard to get rid of as by definition it is vibrating the building and
can be transfered by any surface attached to it. Maybe a word in the ear of
the owners to put some kind of device on the offending doors to stop them
being slammed.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"cdr" wrote in message
...
I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it makes a
"thump" sound.

I'm renting, so I can't make any structural changes to my flat, but I am
willing to put any sound proofing materials in the room which is next to the
"noisy wall".

Slightly unfortuntately, this wall is in a stairwell. However, I can put
the materials anywhere else in the room, immediately next to the stairwell
for instance. Also, I don't mind how much room the materials occupy, as I
don't use the room for anything in particular.

I was thinking of using "free standing sound proof panels", if they exist.
The height of the room is 2 metres, and so it would be very convenient to
get panels with that particular dimension. It would also be very convenient
if they stood up easily by themselves, although if not, I suppose I could
make them upright and stable by wedging something between the top of the
panels and the ceiling.

It really doesn't matter at all about their appearance, so they don't have
to be fancy looking panels suitable for an office.

Can anyone recommend anything that might be suitable please? Thanks a lot
for any comments!

On Monday, July 1, 2013 7:43:31 AM UTC+1, cdr wrote:

I'll ask the owner if that door can be "fixed". As a backup plan, would putting my bed on say 6 "breeze blocks" help to isolate the bed from the floorboards?

provides no isolation whatever
Try chopping rubber mats into squares, stack them. Ensure its stable

And/or would putting additional breeze blocks around the "noisy wall" help to somehow absorb the vibration of the shaking floorboards, before it reaches my bedroom?!

only if you used a vast weight of them


NT

In article , cdr
scribeth thus
On Sunday, 30 June 2013 09:09:28 UTC+1, cdr wrote:
I get woken up regularly when my neighbour closes a door, because it makes a
"thump" sound. [Snipped from O.P.]

Thanks a lot for all replies. Got woken up again twice last night. Tried
earplugs, but what's happening is that when the neighbour shuts their door, my
floorboards shake, and then so does the bed.

I'll ask the owner if that door can be "fixed". As a backup plan, would
putting
my bed on say 6 "breeze blocks" help to isolate the bed from the floorboards?
And/or would putting additional breeze blocks around the "noisy wall" help to
somehow absorb the vibration of the shaking floorboards, before it reaches my
bedroom?!

Thanks a lot for any additional comments.

Sorry but putting your bed on breeze blocks won't do anything to sort
this one..

Large rubber or similar blocks might make a slight difference.

But..

You need isolation and absorption. Sound is energy, and it either has
to be insulated from or absorbed and dissipated.

Seeing that the premises are rented I very much doubt the landlord would
or will do anything about this one. It seems to me that all you can
effectively do and this won't be that much, is to reduce the original
"noise" and by that to "absorb" it with perhaps some carpeting that
might dampen down the level a bit.

Much the same in your room, but if its moving the boards and your bed
what is this place made of!;?..

Some thick carpeting might help a bit but as to breeze blocks they'd
only be of much use in forming a wall to make a cavity that would help
but its a serious project to undertake!.

Can you post up a few pictures of this and then we might be able to see
if anything can be done to help?..


Can you see if you can get some agreement over the force used to shut
this bl^^dy door"!?.

Else take it up with your landlord as a "nuisance to your enjoyment of
the premises" and see if you can dump this contract and move elsewhere.

Simpler said than done of course...




--
Tony Sayer