Like many houses, mine has a bathroom off of the master bedroom. When it was renovated recently, I took what I thought were great measures to ensure that noise from the bathroom didn’t invade the bedroom. All of the bathroom walls, including the interior walls and ceiling are fully insulated. The door is a Premdoor “safe and silent” door which is supposed to suppress noise. Yet, the sound from the shower still gets through and seems barely muffled. Any thoughts on what else I can do?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
There are a number of ways to achieve a level foundation and mudsill.
Featured Video
Video: Build a Fireplace, Brick by BrickHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
Any thoughts on what else I can do?
Just be happy its sounds and not smells penetrating?
; )
Democrats.
The other white meat.
Photos?
Layout?
Shower share wall with bedroom?
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Looks like this:
Those are some thin walls. No wonder the sound is bleading through. LOL
Consider this a bump....at your expense.
Democrats.The other white meat.
I am suprised with that sort of isolation in space and the added insulationA few thoughts - Ducting from the shower fan might be running near to the bedroom?The door is spced up off the floor at the bottom threashold so air still flows through?You have ducted HVAC system that is carrying noise?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Great thoughts. I'm going to try gasketing the door, including a strip across the bottom. The current gap is about 1/2"
Have you noticed that when you drive by a house or a car that is playing music it is the really low base that you hear. The higher notes due to their frequency are stopped.
I suggest putting in a smaller toilet seat which due to the tight fit will pproduce higher notes and the noise will be stopped. The really lowwwwwwwwwww deeeeeeeeep stud rattling. drywall loosening notes produced by some "wind instruments" will continue to get through.
I hope this has helped:)
roger
Edited 4/10/2007 10:09 am ET by roger g
What is the noise?
You singing in the shower?
Water flowing through the pipes? or drain?
Water hitting the show walls?
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
The sound is the spray from the shower head and this probably includes the water hitting the walls in the shower.
The sounds of the bath are probably being amplified. Tile walls and the like.
Perhaps doing something within the bath itself to lessen the reverberations might be plausible.
just a thought.no charge.
Parolee # 53804
You mean like white noise?Like the sounds of passionate heavy breathing in the bedroom would make most of us forget all about the sounds of water falling in the bathroom!is that what you meant?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
LOL!!! In my particular case, it's my wife that's in the shower while I'm trying to sleep. She might be a little miffed if she heard the sounds of passionate heavy breathing in the bedroom, but hey, I'll give it a try. I'll just tell her "the guys at breaktime said to try this"........................
DW hate the sound from the bathroom too, " Oh my god, OF MY GOD, who your daddy, whoooooooo yoooourrr DAAAADDDY, whew"
There are several possible paths for noise to pass from one room to another:
Doorway - gap under door. Perhaps a threshold and a door shoe or sweep will help.
Ceilings - via attic spaces. Pile extra insulation on both sides to absorb sound
Walls - transfer via wall itself acting like a drum head. Sound energy causes walls to vibrate and then the sound is passed on to the air on the other side.
Heavier walls are harder to get vibrating, so an additional layer of 5/8" drywall on one or both sides makes a big difference.
Discontinuous structure is most effective. If the studs for one side do not touch the drywall on the other side, sound vibrations transmitted to the noisy-side wall have to cause air between the walls
to vibrate and in turn make the quiet-side wall vibrate, with a great loss of energy in the process. That's why walls of adjoining condos are often made of 2x6 plates with staggered 2x4 studs so each side's walls are acoustically uncoupled from the another. Insulation is usually added to cut down sound transmission even more.
There is a sheet metal sort of a z-bar support available for drywall (screw one leg of z-bar to studs, screw drywall to other leg of Z) that results in the drywall being isolated somewhat from the studs, sort of like mounting a fan motor on rubber mounts to cut down vibration noise; not as effective as staggered studs, but takes up less space. Use 5/8" drywall to increase mass.
Yet, the sound from the shower still gets through and seems barely muffled. Any thoughts on what else I can do?
Which sounds? Water in pipes? Water on stall? Singing by occupant?
From your sketch, I'd suspect that the tub deck may be transmitting sounds fro mthe surround to the bedroom wall. This will be abetted by any sounds traversing under the tub deck, too.
If it's pipe noise, that's hard to "undo," since what's needed for that is isolating the pipes from contact with the structure (which would mean bigger holes, and softer pookie).