Party wall thickness
BartC
From external measurements, from the edge of my window, to the edge of my
neighbour's, is 103cm. Internally, there's 27.5cm from the edge of the
window, to the wallpaper on the party wall.
Assuming the same arrangements next door, there seem to be 48cm of wall and
plaster between my house and next door. And from inside the loft, the wall
appears to be built of breeze blocks.
Can a breeze-block wall really be that thick? (It would appear to need 4
courses of blocks.) Or is there likely to be a gap (of some 20cm?)?
At the minute the wall might as well not be there...
What's the simplest DIY solution to largely drown out the sound of two dogs
barking next door? (Apart from wearing earplugs, moving house, or, my
preference at the moment, machine-gunning both dogs)
Thanks,
--
bartc
Nightjar
> I'm investigating noise from next door in my 1960s semidetached bungalow.
>
> From external measurements, from the edge of my window, to the edge of my
> neighbour's, is 103cm. Internally, there's 27.5cm from the edge of the
> window, to the wallpaper on the party wall.
>
> Assuming the same arrangements next door, there seem to be 48cm of wall and
> plaster between my house and next door. And from inside the loft, the wall
> appears to be built of breeze blocks.
>
> Can a breeze-block wall really be that thick? (It would appear to need 4
> courses of blocks.) Or is there likely to be a gap (of some 20cm?)?
Experience with how well builders follow plans suggests it is more
likely that the distance from wall to window is not the same in both
properties.
> At the minute the wall might as well not be there...
>
> What's the simplest DIY solution to largely drown out the sound of two dogs
> barking next door?
Brick up the window. With only about a metre of separation, a lot of the
noise will be travelling out of his window and into yours. Otherwise you
should be looking for air gaps in the partition wall, for example around
floor or ceiling joists, and blocking them up with something heavy, like
soundproofing felt.
Colin Bignell
Phil L
My knowledge of party walls is this:
Pre 1960: two bricks, no cavity ( 9 in solid)
1960 - 1976 - anything at all, sometimes studs and plasterboard, but mostly
100mm block
1977 onwards block - cavity - block (11in wall)
All this is dependant on where you live in the country
--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008
harry
This is a common bungalow problem. You will find the sound is coming
"over" the party wall in the roof space I f you get up in the loft
you will find there is a rafter running down close to the party wall
but not actually touching. the sound comes in here and thence throught
the ceilings.
So, get a can of foam and fill this crack up, making sure you shove
the pipe up as far as you can. Trim off and then put on a cement
fillet.
You can only use this foam in warmish weather BTW. Screwfix is the
cheapest place I know for foam. Also put down more roof insulation,
the rigid board is more sound proof.
The slightest little hole lets in lots of noise so do a good job.
harry
filling the gap you don't get it all. There is a further higher gap
between the roof tiles an the roof felt (assuming there is any).
Unless your prepared to cut the roof felt and foam this up as well.
Not a good idea.
BartC
news:f96c1186-8b1a-4eb3...@q18g2000vbk.googlegroups.com...
> On Dec 20, 2:36 pm, "BartC" <b...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>> I'm investigating noise from next door in my 1960s semidetached bungalow.
>> What's the simplest DIY solution to largely drown out the sound of two
>> dogs
>> barking next door? (Apart from wearing earplugs, moving house, or, my
>> preference at the moment, machine-gunning both dogs)
> This is a common bungalow problem. You will find the sound is coming
> "over" the party wall in the roof space I f you get up in the loft
> you will find there is a rafter running down close to the party wall
> but not actually touching. the sound comes in here and thence throught
> the ceilings.
The rafters are the sloping bits? The last rafter is six inches away from
the party wall, with roofing material just above it, and the tiles just
above.
This bungalow's also had a loft conversion (as has my neighbour I believe),
occupying most of the loft space except for some 9 feet at front and back,
so there is already an extra floor and ceiling between the downstairs, and
most of the roof space.
What's astonishing is that the sound gets through 18" of breeze-block wall,
with or without a cavity. In fact in the loft I can hear next door better
than downstairs in my own house!
So perhaps there is some place the sound is getting in as you say.
--
Bartc
harry
> "harry" <haroldhr...@aol.com> wrote in message
Well converted or not, there is still a gap over the party wall. Just
makes it harder to block.
It 's probably concrete blocks, breeze is made from coal ash and went
out in the early sixties. It's very soft, you can poke a screwdriver
through it.
There's no way you'll get airborn domestic sound through an 18" wall
Phil L
> What's astonishing is that the sound gets through 18" of breeze-block
> wall, with or without a cavity. In fact in the loft I can hear next
> door better than downstairs in my own house!
It would be astonishing if true, unfortunately it isn't, your party wall is
probably 4 inches, possibly 9 or 11, but there's not a cat in hells chance
it's 18.
dennis@home
"Phil L" <neverc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1B0Qo.35655$WJ4....@newsfe12.ams2...
> BartC wrote:
>> What's astonishing is that the sound gets through 18" of breeze-block
>> wall, with or without a cavity. In fact in the loft I can hear next
>> door better than downstairs in my own house!
>
> It would be astonishing if true, unfortunately it isn't, your party wall
> is probably 4 inches, possibly 9 or 11, but there's not a cat in hells
> chance it's 18.
Have a look at a Smith's house that has been fixed.. block-cavity-original
wall-cavity-block and its probably dry lined too.
BartC
"Phil L" <neverc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1B0Qo.35655$WJ4....@newsfe12.ams2...
> BartC wrote:
>> What's astonishing is that the sound gets through 18" of breeze-block
>> wall, with or without a cavity. In fact in the loft I can hear next
>> door better than downstairs in my own house!
>
> It would be astonishing if true, unfortunately it isn't, your party wall
> is probably 4 inches, possibly 9 or 11, but there's not a cat in hells
> chance it's 18.
I've now tried to put my hand over the top of it near the rafters, and
there's a space on the other side. I would need more tools (ie. a stick) to
know if that space is my neighbours loft, or the cavity.
But if it was a single skin, then where they made a big hole in it to put
the RSJ through for the loft conversion stuff, it would have come out the
other side!
So probably it's two skins of 4" wide breeze block, with an (as yet) unknown
cavity width. If the houses are symmetrical, then the gap would be 8"
(allowing for an inch of plaster each side).
Regarding the way the sound is transmitted, if I put my ear against it, I
can definitely seem to hear through the wall, rather than through my other
ear if the sound path was more circuitous. But I need to do more tests.
(Typical, the dogs aren't barking at the minute..)
--
Bartc
harry
> "Phil L" <neverchec...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
Well that's the source of your problem.
harry
nancy
--
For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy/party-wall-thickness-676361-.htm
RJH
> I just read this and had to write ..how awful for you I suffer the same and
> its soul destroying ..I have soundproof people coming tom to get options but
> I fear it's expensive....my latest and only option is to put tv on wall and
> drown them out...but sadly they are aware of their behaviour esp banging back
> door up until 12.30 a.m when I can finally sleep ...its changed my whole life
> ...I hope you know your not alone and that sadly some people you just cant
> talk to......at least you still have your sense of humour x
little care is taken with soundproofing between joined-up homes. Well,
disappointed more than amazed I suppose.
--
Cheers, Rob
Fredxx
> I just read this and had to write ..how awful for you I suffer the same
> and its soul destroying ..I have soundproof people coming tom to get
> options but I fear it's expensive....my latest and only option is to put
> tv on wall and drown them out...but sadly they are aware of their
> behaviour esp banging back door up until 12.30 a.m when I can finally
> sleep ...its changed my whole life ...I hope you know your not alone and
> that sadly some people you just cant talk to......at least you still
> have your sense of humour x
old post:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/Home_owners_hub
Most of us will have absolutely no idea what you've just read.
Rod Speed
> I just read this and had to write ..how awful for you I suffer the same
> and its soul destroying ..
something else in the 10 years since he posted that.
> I have soundproof people coming tom to get options but I fear it's
> expensive....
Peeler
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:
<FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest trollshit unread>
--
John addressing the senile Australian pest:
"You are a complete idiot. But you make me larf. LOL"
MID: <f9056fe6-1479-40ff...@googlegroups.com>
jon
Brian Gaff (Sofa)
Brian
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"nancy" <8fb10b326339ef29...@example.com> wrote in message
news:165bb40cce7a5847$1$488050$4646...@news.newsgroupdirect.com...
Andrew
Building Regs Part E should have 'cured' the problem in newer
houses and flat conversions. The sound transmission requirements
for the latter are particularly strict, and expensive if you
get it wrong.
NY
news:ru952i$1v5p$1...@gioia.aioe.org...
>> how
>> little care is taken with soundproofing between joined-up homes. Well,
>> disappointed more than amazed I suppose.
>>
>
> In a 1960's bungalow it's par for the course.
>
> Building Regs Part E should have 'cured' the problem in newer
> houses and flat conversions. The sound transmission requirements
> for the latter are particularly strict, and expensive if you
> get it wrong.
(mostly of the TV) from our neighbours. Either the TV in their living room
or else one in a bedroom was on so loud that we could hear every word of
EastEnders or Coronation Street some days. Soundproofing standards in the
1930s were probably less stringent than nowadays - and also the neighbours
in those days were probably less inconsiderate!
Fredxx
Peter Johnson
and I don't suppose their amplifiers were very powerful.
A few years ago a guy who did some work on my house told me that he
had bought a plot of land and was going to build a pair of semis on
it, for sale. He had been surpised, he told me, by the amount of work
that had to go in to designing the party wall - it, and its
construction when he came to do it, increased his build budget by an
amount that he had not allowed for when he first worked up the scheme,
several £1,000 was implied. Haven't seen him since, to find out how he
got on.