Thickness of a House Wall

Easy peasy...

Measure to an external reference point on the outside.
e.g. Measure from your internal wall to window frame (A), do same in neighbours house (B). Then measure between the two window frames (C) . Thickness is C-(A+B).

That'll be £5 please

Del

Or just drill a hole through your interior wall with a long drill bit. When you hear your neighbor yelling #$%*&****, you stupid SOB, stop, put a mark on the bit at the wall's surface, then extract the bit and simply measure from mark to tip. Wallah! Problem solved.

Please share your £5 with me please.

Oops! I should have read further before posting #22. I see the drill bit approach has been explored already.

However, I've not heard this one yet. If Sal can hear his neighbors then it's a safe bet that they can hear him. Maybe they're sound voyeurs and don't want to solve what Sal thinks is a problem. They may just enjoy the gossip/lovemaking etc.

Thickness is not the real issue. Think about what happens. When a sound is emanated outside it creates a pressure wave that oscillates between lower pressure and higher pressure. When the wave strikes the wall, the wall will oscillate back and forth, too. In your case the inside wall also oscillates in tandem with the outer wall, thus transferring the sound inside.

A thicker or stiffer wall will reduce the transfer of sound, but a better way is to isolate the outer and inner walls and add fiberglass bat insulation between the two walls.

I have used this trick on recording studios and some home walls. The easiest way to do it is to lay a 2X6 plate and stager the 2X4 studs. That way pushing on one wall does not cause the other wall to flex. The two walls are mechanically isolated.

However, you may not want to go through the trouble of reengineering your wall. A simple thing you can try is to have a company blow in insulation into the walls. You can further cut down on noise by adding a second layer of 5/8" drywall to the inside of the house wall.

All of the above assumes that the sound does not leak through windows or doors on the wall. So check there first. If the windows or doors are not the source, then you can follow the advice I cited.

Thank you both, but i think i have not explain it well.

The problem is the wall between my neighbour and me. We have twin house joint to one wall (The Wall I want to measure).

For the other 3 walls i've done the cavity insulation already, it works great, but this one is giving me a hard time.

Any ideas to know how thick is the wall and/or if there is a double wall like the exterior ones (i don't think so from the noise it comes through).

thank you again.

Got a long drill bit? You can plug it later . . .

Yes, I can plug it form my side ... lol

I suspect there is nothing you can do about this. You didn't give a location, but the house sounds similar to mine. I can on occassion hear the neighbours, but luckily they are not generally too noisy. Perhaps letting them know might encourage them to keep the noise down a bit (try and gently embarass them into being quiet). You'd have to be diplomatic since falling out with neighbours would be a bad thing. Even if you have a cavity wall I don't think filling it would make much difference - it might even make it worse. Possibly you could 'dry-line' your wall and in some way reduce noise, but I've never heard of this done.

For a flippant answer, you could get a long drill bit and drill right through the wall. When asked you simply explain you were investigating the noise issue. Good luck whichever way it goes.

Kris,

I like your drill bit conclusion !!!

Hi Sal,

If nothing else it would give you the satisfaction of hearing your neighbour spinning like a windmill ! Just pick the right moment and whirrrr....

hmm, electrical, water and sewer might be fun to penetrate.

Not that likely in a party wall in UK house design. Simple detection meters can be purchased. Probably wise for internal walls - I know of at least one electrical cable in my house that has been run diagonally for unknown reasons. Yet another minor project to be sorted some day.

Electrical is easily detected, though it can run just about anywhere, and will sometimes have loops (though this is bad practice). Water could be steel, DI or maybe even Copper if it was upgraded, all of which are detectable. Sewer could be DI, Terra Cota, ABS. Only the DI is readily detectable, the Terra Cota is a bit tougher to penetrate, ABS is undetectable and readily penetrated. Sewer risers can occur in all walls vents to the roof off of a line or risers to a second floor facility. However, sewer is usually laid out to go directly to those facilities serviced, and vent risers are in the walls around such facilities. It is typical in US multi-residence homes with common wall to utilize the common walls for such risers to service both residences (it reduces the number of risers and the areas they may occur in). another utility to consider is Cable, these really sort of run poorly planned, and they always seem to have coils of extra cable in the runs in the walls.

Thanks RCE,

At present I'm having a right laugh trying to sort a plumbing issue. Loads of floorboards up as I track the incoming water mains. The damn thing winds all over the place, and somehow flow is getting reduced from 30 l/min to 9 l/min ( In a short distance from outside meter to where it rises in the Kitchen). The thing is buried, so it's hell to get at. Having disconnected the supply, I disconnected in the kitchen, and by probing the pipe have located some kind of blockage about 5 feet along it's run. 'Sods Law' being what it is, this puts it in the most difficult to reach place. The water supply is copper within the house, but steel beyond the floorboards. The mains electric is easy to ID because of the way it's armoured and lagged ( I think the service head has a 60 Amp fuse before leading to the house fuse-box, so I dread to think what is on the Utility companies side ( It's RIP whatever, if you get it wrong). Likewise, the Gas has a larger diameter than water. In (well, under) the street they often use blue plastic piping for water, and yellow for gas.

On party walls, the only hazard I have in the brickwork is electric cable feeding socket outlets. My cable feed is clipped on top of the skirting boards.

Here is an experts opinion:

http://www.holmesonhomes.com/episodes.php?sid=5

Just scroll down to "wall of sound"

Nice link, a shame they have not done a video about that, only pictures ... no way to discover everything but gives me a great input already.

Many thanks

Nice link techno ! I just looked for a couple more;

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/sound_proofing_in_the_home.htm

http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/articles/howtowalls.htm

http://www.domesticsoundproofing.co.uk/walls.htm

http://www.soundstop.co.uk/solutions/wall_solutions/

http://www.domesticsoundproofing.co.uk/soundproofing/wallpanels.htm

In my house the problem is the floor joists project beyond the dividing wall and lots of sound passes through the cavities created by the joists.

Your answer is very good and extremely likely.....

Another possible source, if in the upstairs rooms, is the roof cavity allowing sound to pass from one house to the next.

Also is a small crack somewhere in the wall allowing sound to go from one side to the other.....

If both sides insulate that wall with suitable sound proofing, the problems should be gone as long as it is not the joists or the roof cavities that is....

I thought about that, and that may be the real answer.

thank you sail4evr

I'd start tapping on the wall. Gently but strong enough for the neighbors to hear.

They'll come around and ask what you're doing.

You say, "well, I can hear you guys clear over here so I'm looking for a way to measure the wall thickness and perhaps do something about it. It's a little embarrassing to be hearing what your neighbors are saying"

Then they'll be interested to help and allow you to drill into the wall and plug it later. They may even split the expense of having the wall sound proofed .

In the US in the 40s a 2x4 was a 2"x4", and was the common balloon frame stud wall framing component. Now a 2 by 4 is actually 1.5 by 3.5 inches.

Does the semi attached part of these structures share a roof?

Typically there is no pressing requirement other than sound,for insulating interior walls. Very often as well the insulation between ceiling joists and roof rafters is a mess during construction, and gets worse over time from everything from electrical and communications wiring to snakes and birds, so even if the wall is insulated, the sound may well be traveling through voids in the shared roof.

Whatever the standard was at the time of the construction where you are would have strong influence over the thickness of the wall.

the roof is shared but divided with a single brick wall layer.

i still think the wooden floor may be the biggest problem if it's the same as my neighbour - it would not only transmit the sound to my side, but also all small impacts.

i need to get a decibel meter to test near the floor and then near the wall to see which is the louder.

any one knows where to get one for free in the UK ?

thanks

Get a piece of flexible tubing 1m50 to 2m long that just fits in your ear and then use it to sniff out (how quaint!) where the sounds are coming from. A cane can be used to place the open end of the tube in very high or very low places.....taped to the tube of course!!

Its a trick I used to identify funny noises from engines when the screwdriver method was not "long" enough!!

Very interesting idea Andy. Many thanks.

Can you explain a bit about the screw drive probe ?

thanks again.

You put the metal blade of a screwdriver on the non moving part nearest a mechanism that you want to listen to, the thick plastic bit, you rest your ear on. If bearings are noisy (worn) you can hear the problem quite easily......it is now louder than the rest of the motor which was drowning out the bit you needed to hear!!Old mechanics trick (even older than I am!!!!)

I use to use the screw driver trick for many years when I was at sea. It is very useful to listen to all the shaft bearings and pumps and build up a memory of what they should sound like to help you realise when the sound has changed from healthy to not so good.

It is now possible to buy a stethoscope with a metal probe end on it that is just miles ahead of the old screw driver. Not only does it amplify the sound but because of the twin ear plugs it helps to block out other ambient sounds.

This doesn't solve the thick wall problem but what about an ultrasonic test unit. I've used these for non destructive testing of metals and ceramics and they are used on humans for medical checks so it should work. You would have to have a good cuplant and something like a house brick to calibrate it on. You may get some feedback from multiple layers like rendering over the bricks in the wall but you should get an answer with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

That is a better method, if you have one!! I always have a screwdriver near to hand!!

You have answered the question yourself, if it is only a single brick wall in the roof space then one can assume it is only single brick down below.

If the attic wall is brick so is the wall below. Brick wall in living spaces in circa 1940 home would all so have mortar and plaster on them. May be up to inch thick on both sides.

Walls between apartments use 2x6 studs which actually measure 5-1/2". Then you add 1/2" thick drywall on each side to that so your wall thickness will be about 6". The factor that is causing your walls to loose their sound proofing properties is the insulation. You're not going to get complete sound proofing but if there is no insulation in the walls between apartments or the insulation has broken down then there's not going to be much sound proofing. Your best option is to install new insulation. You can do this by blowing it it.

No I didn't read the experts link.

I used to house framing and built a couple apartment complexes.

Research fire wall thicknesses at some time the walls between multiply family dwelling were force to be fire walls. Fire walls are code should be some standard.

I think the difference in the builing styles of our various continents is showing!

I think igloo wals are generally about 10" thick...

... any you don't get too many neighbours. I bet a husky howell travels good though !

What is a "husky howell"? when its at home????

Did you mean a "Husky Howl"? or what?

Very fundamental reason you hear the talk is ........................................ they talk.

Just tell them that you hear EVERYTHING they talk. From next movement you will not hear anything.