Thread: sound insulation in wall is it worth it?

Having a small semi built in bkk and thought it would be a good thing to have a second party wall built to insulate the sound from next door and to let us make a bit more re music. I know the blocks they use and they are those grey thin ones with holes in the and only one skin as far as i have ever seen. The developer has given a price of 8k for the extra wall inc moving the electrics and leaving a small cavity, it's only a small wall about 16 feet long, upstairs I wont bother with. However, they don't really seem keen on doing it and maintain there is already a double wall which looking at the constructions I do not believe. You can tell by the amount of post left in the wall there is only one thickness of brick in the original construction. Is it worth doing? (mrs says not) I think the price is OK. These breeze blocks have always looked pretty skimpy to me and as i have only lived in a condo here have no idea about how much insulation they give, not much looking at them. Any comments helpful.

I had double walls put in my house so I wouldn't see column corners sticking out, for insulation, and to have all the electric and plumbing inside the wall. If you see any corner sticking out, it is not a double wall IMO.
Done right, you'll have a 3" air space between the walls. Air is an excellent insulator as long as the joints between the bricks are full. Builders here don't do it very well. I had to physically stand and check every brick layed to get it done. There mindset is, there will be plaster over it and that will fill any cracks or holes. Which in theory is correct, but only a very small amount of plaster over it. You'll have to supervise them if you do it. My house is very quiet and the temp is constant. Well worth the extra money in my opinion if done correctly. I might add that 8,000 is expensive for a 16 ft wall. My whole house double walled was only 30,000 more.

Would l do it, absolutly,,, take a look at Q-con blocks, they are super light , just glue together and l have been told,, have excellent sound quality's. Those with your already there wall with the air gap, you should be able to ramp up your amp to the max and not disturb those next door and vice-versa

Go with 'Q' con the Hebble system, We placed them on all Internal walls with a 5 cm Air Gap. This made the walls 10'' wide.
Our Thai Builder was a bit unsure as He never used them before, and very Cheap here, in Oz like $5>7 each !

Thanks for the replies guys,we think it makes sense but Thai's seem to think it's madness to waste cash on something you cannot see! I worked out the cost for materials and labor about 4,000 but I guess you have to allow then profit on top, they are building a big estate so this is an extra job, I am not employing them individually. The other option is to wait until house is done then do it, bit messy though and would be harder to get mrs to agree then. Think I will get it done but site is a long way off so just have to trust them to do a proper job, fingers crossed.

Egg boxes.

I say again, egg boxes.

Originally Posted by Albert Shagnastier

Egg boxes.

I say again, egg boxes.

They stick them on the ceilings in some pubs here, plastic ones are no good though, stick with bricks I think.

Egg boxes.

If you're minted, go buy some overpriced shite.

If you're a bit short and after a good job,

Fill the void between the outer bricks and inner stud wall with egg boxes. Awesome sound proofing and insulation. Just get your missus to talk to the egg people.

Originally Posted by Albert Shagnastier

Egg boxes.

They make excellent sound proofing but will they get eaten by the insects in Thailand ?

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Originally Posted by Albert Shagnastier

Egg boxes.

They make excellent sound proofing but will they get eaten by the insects in Thailand ?

Good point could be an ant restaurant, anyhow:


Soundproofing & Acoustic Treatment

Q I've heard that sticking egg boxes or acoustic foam to walls will help soundproof a room. Is this true?
Egg boxes can make a marginal improvement to some aspects of a room's acoustics by breakingup reflections from hard surfaces, but they are virtually useless for soundproofing. The same is true of lightweight suspended ceilings, acoustic foam and even Rockwool (Rockwool tends to be used for acoustic treatment or for damping out resonances inside partition walls. All these materials have their uses, but they're mainly for acoustic treatment, not for soundproofing).

Google

Black Market records (London)

Used to play an 8k Turbo Sound rig out of the basement (purely egg box sound insulation) you could hear virtually nothing on the ground floor. Ant feast is a good point - spray them all with ant poison first.

They did the wall done before i got there to check, no cavity they just built the 2nd wall in the recess onto the first wall, idiots, lost in translation together with thai know best! Better than nothing though, all depends on the neighbors really might be a nuisance however thick the wall. True that you have to be there to see what they are doing, or not. House is a good deal anyway and it's done now so not having it pulled down and done again properly, cost 150 quid in the end including extra sockets.

Originally Posted by xanax

all depends on the neighbors really might be a nuisance however thick the wall.

Nail on the head. With some of these wankers pumping up bass to 200db, insulation may cut sound a bit but house and contents will be boucning around as if in an 8.0 earthquake.

If the walls are finished but there is a cavity, you can also make small holes at intervals and then spray expanding foam into the cavities then fill the holes.

Lot's of ways to insulate walls. Just make sure doors and windows are insulated as well. Same goes for thermal insulation.