HOBB Community

hello, we live in a 1year old new construction townhome by ryland homes in aurora IL

we have noise problems in particular
a. gargling and choking from neighbor in morning
b. footfalls on stairs sound like drums
c. dropping toilet seat thumps
d. cabinet door thumps
e. neighbors subwoofer shakes picture frames (understandable if loud enough)

ryland has been notified since 6month and has been willing to work with us. however, on the final "1 yr" service check
there was nothign more they could do. they claim the wall is up to standards, and the noises are normal and perhaps just that of a difficult neighbor.

i have asked for stc/iic ratings information about the party wall construction to further my own research.. they told me of double sided walls, r13 batts, cinderblocks in between.. they claim it to be a good design...
they tried to use an infared camera on the walls, but we didnt have sufficent temperature partity between units..
(we didnt turn off heat, no one notified us.. all we did was open a window for 5mins...)

questions-
a. what should one look for in the infared camera? he showed us briefly a color contrast between the colder window and walls.. but how does this compare to insulation faults that may result in such noises?
b. is there someone in the city of aurora that i can call?
c. can i get an independent inspector to "test" the sound insulation of the unit, approx costs?


ryland has been willing to work with us having talked to the neighbors, and sending out an infared camera.. however it really pains us to wake up every morning in our dream home to the sound of the neighbor choking on his mouthwash.

please advise :)
thanks.

This sounds like an acoustic engineering problem, though the builder should take steps to reduce such extreme acoustic problems. Using infrared to determine what I think you called, bat number of the insulation has nothing to do with the sound blocking issues. Fiberglass and most other common insulation fill do little to absorb and control unwanted resonance through walls. Blown cellulose is an exception but that's not likely to be in your walls.

I’ve worked many years as a recording engineer, and have a studio. I’m not an acoustic engineer. I do know things like bass from a sub are very hard problems to stop. Because your wall seems to be nailed to a concrete separator, your neighbor’s sheetrock is acting like a microphone of sorts. Any resonance that vibrates their wall will be transferred through the hard connection made by the brick wall, and through the studs.

The only way to stop low and ambient frequency transfer is to have acoustic traps in the wall and /or sound absorbing material between the walls. For a subwoofer, which is hardest to block, the separator walls can’t be hard fastened together as one wall section.

There are a variety of materials that can greatly reduce the sound transfer and other unwanted resonances. You would have to apply them to the existing walls and sheetrock over the sound dampening material, or remove the sheet rock and use the correct materials with better installation methods. I chose the first method to reduce the problems just  to be tolerable, though the issue was not totally fixed.  The extra wall is hard fastened with a rubber-like material in between called sheetblok. Some sub frequencies still get through, but nothing else does. 

A link that could help (there are many( http://www.soundproofing101.com/ (http://www.soundproofing101.com/)

Good luck!
Ron