Small soundproofing wall project to reduce noise through the party wall.
Project: London
Timescale: 1 day
Cost: £1210.00 (supply and fitting) inc plastering, protection and waste removal.
Loss of space: 6cm approx.
PRODUCTS:
MuteClip and furring channels
Tecsound SY70
Rockwool RW3
15 mm SoundBloc plasterboard
Drywall screws - 32mm & 50mm
AC95 acoustic sealant
After being contacted by the client and informed that the neighbours had a young son who liked to game at unsociable hours we carried out an inspection to ascertain the make up of the wall.
We quickly identified that the walls had been converted and a stud frame was already in situ and decoupled from the masonry wall.
Unfortunately, the products used were fitted with thermal properties in mind and had neglected any soundproofing by using lightweight insulation and plasterboard.
To correct this we removed the 12.5 mm standard plasterboard and took out the thermal roll insulation and replaced them with 75 mm Rockwool RW3 mineral wool.
Moving on to the decoupling aspect of the installation, we then mounted the MuteClip and furring channels onto the existing timber stud frame at 600 mm centres from the floor upwards to the ceiling (Running perpendicular to the studs) before fixing the new dense 15 mm SoundBloc plasterboard to the furring channels with a 32mm drywall, screw.
The wall is now ready to be sealed with AC95 intumescent acoustic sealant to minimise sound transfer through any small gaps around the perimeter.
Between the sheets of plasterboard we adhered the Tecsound SY70 membrane. This is a dense viscoelastic product that comes in and easy to apply self adhesive roll and is a huge improvement on the now dated mass loaded vinyl products from a few years back.
It adds fantastic, sound deadening properties between the sheets of drywall adding is approximately 7 kg/m² and can be easily applied using a similar technique to hanging wallpaper.
The final stage was to fix the second layer of 15mm SoundBloc plaster boards to the furring channels using a 50mm drywall screw and ensuring a secure fixing.
We also agreed with the client that the sockets should be surface mounted to minimise the cut outs required into the plaster boards as the sockets were to be hidden behind bedside tables. This has greater effect for the soundproofing due to only a small hole required to pull the cable through.
This system produced a great result for the clients and changed the situation from a highly intrusive nightly issue to a more reasonable level of sound and vastly improved living and sleeping arrangement.
We were really happy to be able to help on this project, and really happy to receive great feedback from the client.
"the soundproofing has been a success, and we have noticed a difference already. We are really happy that we went ahead and look forward to some peace! All the best"