Insulating a block of flats

[scottnsilky]

I visited someone I don't know all that well who lives a couple of streets away, I had never been in his flat before but as I approached the building I noticed there was an awful lot of vans parked, all with engines running. It turns out they are installing cavity wall insulation by blowing expanded polystyrene pellets into the cavity. These pellets are, of course, going everywhere. The ground around the building is white, and it's not snow. I thought we had finally realised the appalling damage we are doing to the planet with plastic and this company is spreading it all around because it's impossible not spill some of the pellets. Is there no better way to insulate the walls of an existing building? All the time there are diesel compressors going to drill into the wall and blow the pellets in. Noise, air pollution and plastic everywhere, what an awful prospect.

I was in the flat for an hour or so, and there seemed to be no sound insulation between flats, people in the flat below were talking and whilst we couldn't actually hear what they were saying, it was possible to hear some bad language when voices were raised. Unfortunately it was also possible to hear people going to the toilet! These flats were built in the mid 70s, I think. Was/is there no building regulations for sound insulation between flats?

[pochisoldi]

I was in the flat for an hour or so, and there seemed to be no sound insulation between flats, people in the flat below were talking and whilst we couldn't actually hear what they were saying, it was possible to hear some bad language when voices were raised. Unfortunately it was also possible to hear people going to the toilet! These flats were built in the mid 70s, I think. Was/is there no building regulations for sound insulation between flats?

I own a flat built around 1974. The terms of the lease state that the flat is supposed to be carpeted (the exception being the bathroom and kitchen).

The problem is that in the 21st Century, world & dog likes to put down laminate, and given that the floorboards are recent enough to allow laminate to go straight down, that's what they do - without any form of underlay/noise insulation.

This is made worse when freeholders do not inform leaseholders and/or fail to enforce the terms of the lease.

Freeholder's could, in theory, enforce the letter of the lease, and insist on carpet, however a more reasonable approach is to allow the installation of laminate flooring provided that (1) there is sufficient sound insulation underneath and (2) the ultimate test is whether downstairs can hear you or not...

PochiSoldi

[scottnsilky]

The flat I visited is the top floor, so no noise from laminate flooring above, just the pitter patter of birds on the flat roof, and carpet on his floor, so no clattering for downstairs to complain about. It does seem to be the floor, because he says he hears very little from neighbours on the same floor.
sns

[Lanark]

In traditional pre WW1 flats/tenements they always added a layer of white ash from the fireplaces for sound insulation, around 1/4 to 1/2 an inch shoveled in below the floorboards. Even today there are few better materials for deadening sounds.

[sg31]

I worked on a number of house conversions where they were changed to flats. In the late 80's/90's there was very little consideration (if any) given to sound insulation. Later it became an important aspect of building regulations approval.

One job I worked on for a housing association was very high spec with rubber acoustic matting and a floating floor above. No nails or screws through the matting or you were off the site. There were a lot of other painstaking detail to comply with all relating to sound proofing. There were acoustic engineer inspections every day. Thankfully my job wasn't involved in the sound proofing. I've no idea why they were going to such lengths, it must have cost a fortune.

My own experience is that sound will transmit through any structure unless it is built from new to prevent it. Most after market remedies are almost useless.

I never worked on new build blocks of flats but I believe they were generally beam and block floor construction.