TP Soundproofing Ltd

The Sound proofing Problem

The property was a new build and the customer wanted one of their bedrooms converted into a gym. The problem was impact noise from gym equipment travelling all over the house and through to next door. The customer wanted to be able to use the gym at whatever time of day or night.

Anyone that has experienced newly built homes today will appreciate how badly sound travels throughout the house and into next-doors house. It is fair to say that acoustics do not play any part in the construction of these houses. You can normally hear the TV in the lounge from the second floor top bedrooms. Not to mention hearing yours neighbours too!

This very considerate customer understood that if they were to install gym equipment on the first-floor bedroom, there is no doubt the impact noise of running on the treadmill and other gym equipment would carry not only down stairs in the kitchen below; but also through to next door as well.

In fact before sound proofing the separating floor, running on the treadmill in the bedroom above the kitchen, it felt like the kitchen ceiling was going to fall down. The thumbing on the ceiling above when you were in the kitchen was unbearable and you could not help looking at the ceiling moving above your head.
The solution – Soundproof The Floor

We removed the whole floor back to the exposed joists where we were able to install various sound proofing materials and methods to tackle that impact noise. After replacing the sub-floor we installed some specialist sound proofing resilient layers that made up our TPS80F before installing a beautiful solid oak floor to finish. We then as standard re-fitted the skirting with acoustic material floating off the new floor.

Now after sound proofing the floor, the customer can use the Gym equipment any time of day or night and will not bother anyone. When standing in the kitchen below and someone is running on the treadmill on the new gym floor, you can hardly hear anything. Great Result! The beautiful new floor has a really high quality feel to it, and can be used for all sorts of activities that just would not have been practical before. Converting a bedroom into a personal home gym has given the house a big wow factor and a great use of space.

Sound proofing is a specialist trade….

Which demands skill and attention to detail like no other trade. Knowledge of buildings and structure, together with the understanding of how sound travels is imperative to the success of any project.

We receive many calls where either a builder or a good DIY capable person has ‘had a go’ at sound proofing a property. Why not?…if it works you are saving yourself a couple of hundred pounds in labour.

However, the calls we receive normally result in us taking the whole wall down to start again. This is because the noise problem has not been reduced or in some cases when a builder has attempted the work; the noise has been emphasised and made worse using modern building methods. This unexpected poor noise reduction result, leads the guilty builder to do a bit more extra work to the property to make up for it.This extra work is normally additional plastering, decorating or installing coving etc….all of which makes the original sound proofing job more expensive to make right.

When we remove an insufficient soundproofed walls, all the materials are disposed in a skip, it is very unlikely that we are able to recycle or re-use any of the building material, therefore a poor attempt at sound proofing a wall is a very costly process. The most common sound proofing attempts we remove, is when a customer has done a bit of research and purchased the soundproofing materials online. The customer has then encouraged their local builder or handyman to construct the sound proofing system as outlined by the supplier.

@TPSoundproofing we use all the latest sound proofing products on the market today. We only use tried and tested sound proofing materials. Most of our materials come from specialist suppliers and not much is sourced from the local builder’s merchant.

As it is the festive season we will share a simple tip that will help get better results with any domestic soundproofing:
“Tuck it up and tuck it down!”

Always remove the existing floor and tuck any wall system down as far as you can.

Sound proofing wall using DIY techniques Remove part of the ceiling and tuck the wall system up above the ceiling as far as it will go. This will help reduce the flanking noise coming under or over any soundproofing investment. Also make sure when re-fitting the floor it doesn’t make the new floating wall system negative.

TPS has a variety of different wall, floor and ceiling systems to suit any noisy neighbour project, contact us now to arrange your consultation. For semi-detached soundproofing these areas must be considered!

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