We’ve had some building work done on the ground floor in our 1910 terraced house, and now need to re-plaster the walls.

Is it worth using sound-blocking plasterboard (like this)? Anything else we should consider?

Neither us nor neighbours are particularly load, but we can hear them talking, and I’m sure they can hear us.

You can soundbloc on dabs which will provide some acoustic benefits. If put some 25mm timber battens against the wall and infill between with some mineral wool insulation and then soundbloc then you will improve it some more. You can get inaualted plasterboards but not sure how they would perform acoustically in comparison

Soundbloc, or any other plasterboard for that matter, won’t do alot when mounted direct to blockwork wall, as you still get the vibrations transmitted through the structure, which is the main problem.

What you want to do is fit an independent lining using either sw studs built a few inches off the wall, or use one of Gyproc’s Gyplyner systems.

2nd Taffs suggestion, I battened and rockwooled in between, mainly to straighten a VERY wonky wall, but soundproofing increased.

I’m with Mikey74

Insulation can increase noise, beware! Robust detailing currently suggest no insulation whatsoever in the cavity on party walls! Gyproc do something called soundcoat which is a plaster put on the walls at about 5mm thick before dot and dab. It’s effectiveness will soon be tested as we’ve got to get a sound test done on the properties in the next coupla weeks!

You need a load of Dysons fastened to the wall. Sound can’t travel through a vacum.

We’ve used this with 2 layers of Knauf Soundshield with some success, but it’s not a particularly cheap solution and if you’re doing any of it yourself don’t underestimate the weight – about 13kg/m2 for the plasterboard and 17kg/m2 for the acoustic mat.

We have issues with sound from next door transmitted through the structure, unlike the OP’s talking higher freqs. I’ve been seriously considering active cancellation but it wont help slams and bangs i guess.

Our neighbours are pretty good, but our party walls are solid 9″ and there is next to no sound proofing. I don’t think there is any point trying to do anything as our house is less than 4 metres wide and thats narrow enough already!

I was talking to a landlord that has loads of properties, he stopped converting houses into flats as the sound insulation he had to install to meet some new regs was going to cost around £40k per property!

mikey74 is correct. I was having a room plastered and thought I may as well stick some 15mm blue (acoustic) board on the party wall as I had the opportunity. I don’t think it made a scrap of difference. It was heavy board for me to carry in too 🙁

+2 to what Mikey74 said.

Have a look at the British Gypsum website and download sections of the White Book for further info.

Insulation can increase noise,

It can do yes but been told by the acoustician I use that this is fine. Use this approach on a lot of new builds. Mikeys approach will be better but for decent acoustics you would need a 50mm gap between the studs and a 25mm isowool between the studs. In that case you could use 15mm wallboard as a cheaper board option. Wouldn’t do this in my house as that 115mm off my lounge is a big amount. As with all dry lining and acoustic issues workmanship is key

Brilliant advice – thanks all.