Noisy Neighbours

So along with household appliance such as vacuum cleaners that have become noticeably quieter in recent years

Jan

2021

Benefits of soundproof doors

Soundproof doors offer numerous benefits, particularly in environments where noise control and acoustic insulation are essential. These specialized doors are designed to minimise the transmission of sound from one area to another, creating a quieter and more peaceful atmosphere. Here are some of the key advantages of soundproof doors:

Noise reduction: The primary advantage of soundproof doors is their ability to significantly reduce noise transmission. They are constructed with dense materials and specialized insulation that effectively block and absorb sound waves. This makes them ideal for spaces where noise pollution is a concern, such as recording studios, theaters, offices, hotels, or residential areas near busy streets or airports.
Improved privacy: Soundproof doors enhance privacy by preventing sound from traveling in or out of a room. In offices or conference rooms, they can ensure confidential discussions remain private, allowing employees to work without distractions. Similarly, in residential settings, soundproof doors provide peace and solitude by minimising noise disturbances from neighboring rooms or outdoor sources.
Enhanced productivity: By minimising noise distractions, soundproof doors contribute to improved focus and productivity. In office environments, employees can concentrate on their tasks without being disturbed by conversations or other noises from outside. This promotes a more efficient and conducive work environment, leading to increased output and better concentration.
Compliance with regulations: Certain industries, such as music production, broadcasting, or healthcare, have specific regulations regarding noise control. Soundproof doors help businesses meet these requirements by providing effective acoustic insulation. Compliance with such regulations not only ensures the quality and safety of operations but also prevents potential legal issues or penalties.
Energy efficiency: Soundproof doors often feature excellent thermal insulation properties. The materials used in their construction provide an additional layer of insulation, reducing heat transfer between spaces. This can result in energy savings by maintaining a more stable indoor temperature, reducing the load on heating and cooling systems, and lowering energy consumption.
Increased property value: Installing soundproof doors can add value to a property. Potential buyers or renters may prioritise noise reduction as an important feature, particularly in urban areas or properties located near sources of noise. Soundproof doors are considered a premium feature that can enhance the desirability and market appeal of a space.

In conclusion, soundproof doors offer a range of benefits, including noise reduction, improved privacy, enhanced productivity, compliance with regulations, energy efficiency, and increased property value. These doors are a valuable investment in creating a comfortable, quiet, and controlled environment, whether in residential, commercial, or industrial settings. By effectively blocking and absorbing sound, soundproof doors contribute to a more peaceful and productive atmosphere while meeting the demands of modern living and stringent noise control standards.

Nov

2020

Should I Insulate my Loft?

A quarter of heat is lost through the roof in an uninsulated home. Insulating your loft, attic or flat roof is a simple and effective way to reduce heat loss and reduce your heating bills.

Loft insulation is effective for at least 40 years and it should pay for itself many times over.

Choosing loft insulation

If your loft is easy to access and has no damp or condensation problems, it should be easy to insulate – and in most cases, it is possible to do it yourself.

If access is easy and your loft joists are regular, you can use rolls of mineral wool insulation. The first layer is laid between the joists – the horizontal beams that make up the floor of the loft – then another layer is laid at right angles to cover the joists and make the insulation up to the required depth.

Here’s what to consider when installing loft insulation:

1. Storage space

If you plan to use the loft or attic for storage, you will want to lay boards over the joists. Unfortunately, if you only insulate between the joists before doing this, the insulation won’t be thick enough.

To get enough insulation, you can raise the level of the floor so you can fit enough mineral wool beneath the new floor level. You can do this by fitting timber battens across the joists, or you can buy purpose-built plastic legs that fit on the joists and support the new floor. It’s important to leave a ventilated air gap between the insulation and the boards to prevent condensation on the underside of the boards.

Make sure you don’t squash the mineral wool when you fit the boards on top as this this will reduce its insulation value.

2. Warm loft

An alternative way to insulate your loft is to fit the insulation between and over the rafters – these are the sloping timbers that make up the roof itself. You can use rigid insulation board, carefully cut to size, or you can have foam insulation sprayed between the rafters.

Whichever approach you use, you will need a specialist professional to insulate your roof – this is not a DIY job.

Advantages:

The roof space will be warmer than with standard loft insulation, so you won’t need to worry so much about freezing tanks and pipes.
You can board the floor for storage without having to raise it to create extra depth.

Disadvantages:

Insulating at rafter level is considerably more expensive than most standard loft insulation.
As well as insulating the roof, you will have to insulate any gable walls, party walls and chimneys in the loft space. If you leave these uninsulated, then the heat will bypass your new insulation making it largely ineffective.

3. Inaccessible loft spaces

If your loft is hard to access, you can have blown insulation installed by a professional, who will use specialist equipment to blow appropriate insulation material into any awkward space. They may use mineral wool fibre, treated cellulose or polyurethane foam.

Sep

2020

New Trend for Soundproofing Your Home

The average city dweller spends his or her time surrounded by noise– traffic, television, cell phones, and unwanted office gossip. But people who want a quieter life are finding ways to outfit their homes with sound-proof accessories, such as curtains that mute noises from outside. This is one of several ways to make staying home much more peaceful and reap the health benefits of silence.

Noise pollution affects many people and homes, causing health effects such as stress and anxiety. There are many fancy methods to isolate yourself from sound, but soundproofing is expensive and typically reserved for technical uses, such as for a recording studio.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is only safe to be exposed to loud noises for a maximum of 8 hours. Many of us who live in urban areas or noisy towns receive a lot more noise than recommended. Because of this, there has been a significant rise in home soundproofing through the use of soundproof curtains and other methods.

However, there are several simple home hacks you can use to significantly reduce the amount of noise you hear.

One popular way to achieve a quieter living space is through your furniture. When you have an empty room, sound bounces off the walls a lot easier since there is nothing to absorb it. These bouncing waves reach your ear and you perceive ‘sound’, but the simple addition of heavy and soft furniture can absorb a great deal of these waves. Add heavy tables and sofas with a lot of cushion to absorb the most amount of sound. Books also help and look great on your coffee table!

If you want to get fancy with your soundproofing you can add acoustic panels to your walls and ceiling. These are used mostly in studio sound booths during music recordings, but many manufacturers craft these panels for use in your home. These panels work much in the same way as furniture works– by providing a thick, soft and permeable surface which effectively absorbs sound waves.

Don’t Forget Your Doors!

You’d be surprised at how sound finds its way into our homes through the smallest cracks and spaces. One place we often ignore when we think about sound leakage is our doors. Gaps beneath doors let a considerable amount of noise through, but there is an inexpensive solution. Sealant tape can easily block these gaps without hindering your doors from opening or closing. A more expensive but permanent solution is a mounted seal that uses metal and rubber and lasts a lot longer than tape.

Reducing noise in your home will not only give you peace of mind, but is also attributed to many health benefits. Some of these include lower stress levels, better concentration, increased brain function, and greater focus for self-reflection. The benefits of good rest are also widely studied, and the solution is as simple as installing a set of soundproof curtains.

Sep

2020

The Benefits of Soundproofing Your Home

Soundproofing is the technique of utilising insulation materials to minimise the noise passing through the walls.

Whilst many people think that soundproofing is only necessary for acoustically sensitive environments like recording studios, there are numerous positives to be gained from investing in soundproofing for your home. Whether it’s to provide you with a little headache relief from noisy children or to make your music practice room soundproof, so you don’t disturb the neighbors, there is always a good reason to consider soundproofing measures.

Privacy

If you want to avoid disturbing your neighbours and being disturbed by your neighbours at the same time, the best thing to do is invest in soundproofing your home. The experts at Metropolitan Insulation explain that privacy is a valuable thing that we often do not even consider until we don’t have it anymore, and one of the worst breaches of privacy is when you and your neighbours can hear each other. Private conversations can be overheard, music and loud noises can cause tension between you and the last thing you want is to fall out with someone who lives right next door to you.

Your home should be a relaxing, comfortable place to return to after a long day at school or at work, so it is essential to prevent the noise coming from both inside and outside of the house. You don’t want to worry about what your neighbours will overhear or what you may inadvertently hear from their side. By soundproofing your home, there will be no awkwardness or tension, so you can live side by side with your neighbours in harmony.

Comfort and Quality of Life

Soundproofing can significantly enhance the comfort of your home, from helping to provide the perfect sleeping environment to ensure that you are able to relax for a moment in private whilst the kids are particularly rambunctious. In order to achieve this ideal environment, you don’t even need to soundproof the whole house. By soundproofing the doors and windows of particularly noisy areas in your house like your kids’ bedrooms and the rooms where you like to relax, that is enough to create peace and quiet. No more stress, no more anger, and exhaustion caused by noise-just a happy home for the whole family.

Aug

2020

Loft Conversion – Is it worth the investment?

Certain features such as garages or porches have solid research behind them indicating the overall value they add to a home, but it can be difficult to assess less common features, such as a loft conversion, when deciding whether they’re worth the investment. As a homeowner, it can be easy to decide whether a renovation is worth it because personal value for the project comes into play. However, as an estate agent or landlord, you must consider how much value the project will ultimately add to your property and whether the cost is worth the investment. Take a look at whether a loft conversion is worth it in the long run.

Is a loft conversion worth the investment?

Renovating a loft can quickly add up to a major expense for your latest investment, which may lead you to question whether it’s worth it. If a loft conversion is done well — and especially if you are converting it into a bedroom or bathroom — it could provide a 50% to 75% return on investment (ROI). Not terrible when compared to low-ROI projects like adding a pool. Adding an ensuite bedroom and bathroom does cost about twice as much as simply enclosing the space into a room that could be used as a home office or storage space, but you are essentially adding a room count to your investment. Your two-bedroom, one-bath home can now be considered a three-bedroom, two-bath, adding a lot of value to its sale potential or rental desirability.

It is important to consult not only a licensed architect and contractor to create a functional space but also your local realtor to determine whether the market demand is there. Keep in mind that loft conversions are usually, but not always, smaller spaces, so demand in urban settings will probably be higher since space is already at a premium. A loft conversion is likely only worth the investment if done appropriately, but ultimately, you will need to do market research to ensure your investment is worth the returns.

Jul

2020

Negative Effects of Sound Pollution

Every sound in a structure can be traced back to its acoustical roots. Creaky door hinges are rusty, too tight or in need of a good oiling. Floorboards squeaking or groaning are either incorrectly fastened or not plumb or true.

As for ominous loud ticking clocks, either you’ve been watching too many scary movies or you have very thin walls with no acoustical insulation and thin drywall layers. This too can be easily solved with a variety of wall types from traditional staggered stud to new high-performance ultra-thin ZR walls.

Unintended Negative Effects of Noises

The impact of subway noise on surrounding neighbourhoods shows that increased cardiovascular disease is related to sleep disorders caused by rail noise in urban areas. While most spooky sounds are low frequency noise, subways do create a wider variety of noises than wind turbines or deep footsteps, thereby having a wider and deeper range of effects. These are similar to having a spooky bad dream including, but not limited to:

Increased heart rate
Lack of deep REM sleep
Increased blood pressure
Elevated anxiety and stress levels

Last, but not least, is our favorite means of long-distance travel, airplanes. Because of new engine designs, noise from aircraft is getting better with each generation. Nevertheless, there is still a significant impact on local environments and the people living there. Similar to subway noise, physiological issues include:

Cardiovascular issues
Cognitive issues in children
Elevated anxiety
Decreased attention spans due to sleep deprivation.

Jul

2020

Commercial and Domestic Soundproofing

What does soundproofing typically cost?

We charge per square meter, to keep our costs as low as possible from the outset. Many of our customers choose to stage their soundproofing room by room, ranging from utilising high-density acoustic sealant and wall panels to installing soundproofing walls, to ensure our soundproofing solutions provide them with satisfaction. Whatever your sound insulation choice is, we endeavour to make it as cost-effective as possible.

Whether it is for peace and quiet in your home, reducing loud noise in your office or meeting rooms or for new building regulations, we offer wall soundproofing, floor soundproofing and soundproofing solutions that are second to none in quality using the latest soundproofing foam technology.

We listen to what you need and want from a soundproofing project. We are able to provide full sound insulation with high-density wall panels for soundproofing installations in walls, floors and ceilings, all while still maintaining the beauty and aesthetics of your home or office designs with a minimum loss of room space and mess.

Metropolitan Insulation Soundproofing use state of the art methods and materials to deal with all of your noise issues. We know our business and have soundproofing solutions for all your needs. If we don’t have an immediate answer for you, we have the resources to get you the answer as well as the products to get the job done right the first time.

Metropolitan Insulation takes pride in the services and materials we supply to customers and will work closely with you to make certain that noise intrusion throughout your home is no longer a part of daily life. We have been focusing on delivering the very best in soundproofing London throughout our establishment and are proud to be your first choice for service.

Jun

2020

Block Noise From Neighbours

Metropolitan Insulation Soundproofing Guide

Plant Some Trees along your fencing

Planting trees around your yard can make a bit of a difference when it comes to blocking out your neighbour’s noise. Over the long term, trees can also help keep your back garden cooler and more private during the summer months.

Soundproofing the walls in your home

If you have a shared wall with your noisy neighbour, then that’s most likely how the loud noise is getting to you.

One of the most common ways to soundproof a shared wall is by using acoustic soundproofing panels or spray foam insulation. You mainly see these in recording studios, but they can be used in apartments and houses as well. Acoustic foam is a great substitute if you don’t want to cover your walls with wallpaper.

If you don’t want to spend any money on soundproofing a shared wall, you can simply rearrange pieces of furniture inside your home. First of all, you’ll need to fill the room that contains your shared wall with more furniture, as this will prevent unwanted noise from bouncing off of the walls.

We recommend that you place bookshelves, couches, dressers and such in front of your shared wall, although you should keep in mind that this method won’t bring about dramatic results.

If you need sound insulation make it Metropolitan Insulation. For a free consultation please contact our friendly team now. Tel: 0800 028 4042 Or email your enquiry

May

2020

The chicest innovations in soundproofing

Aside from your typical spray foam insulation, the quest for a quieter environment is no longer in vain. Design has caught up with sound-absorbing tech, offering stylish solutions so that you can enjoy the (almost) silence.

Anyone in an open office environment can appreciate eliminating incessant reverberation of voices and movements, but our relationship to sound is not static—some ambient noise is a good thing. And while many of the latest innovations might seem most appropriate for contract and hospitality settings, a craving for quiet seems universal, and the norms that define the workplace are shifting further away from the strict desk-job narrative.

According to Rodrigo Gomes, of Bose, noise canceling can help you focus and be more productive. If a host of acoustically smart design products can create a physical environment that’s just quiet enough, maybe we can actually think for a minute.

To see a range of ultra modern ways to reduce sound travelling in your office take a look HERE.

Feb

2020

Can you replace the tiles on a foam insulated roof?

Spray foam insulation bonds the tiles on your roof together, but replacing a damaged tile is still simple enough when you know how.

When spray foam is applied to the underside of a property’s roof it bonds the roofing materials to each other and to the structural timber, holding everything securely in place.

As well as sealing all gaps and cracks in the roof to make the property warmer and more energy-efficient, spray foam can also help to protect and support your roof’s structure and increase its lifespan.

Whilst spray foam will make your roof stronger and more durable, it won’t make it invincible and it is still possible that tiles on your roof may become damaged.

If a tile on your foam insulated roof cracks or breaks then don’t worry, replacing it may be simpler than you think.

Removing a tile on a spray foam insulated roof

If a tile on your roof becomes broken, then it’s important to get it repaired as quickly as possible to prevent water leaking into your property and causing expensive damage.

To remove one or more tiles from a spray foam insulated roof you are likely to need to remove the insulation first.

You may wish to begin by using a saw or utility knife to cut away the majority of the foam that you need to remove. With the bulk of the foam gone, you should be able to scrub away the rest with a strong wire brush or sponge. It may help to apply a small amount of acetone before you scrub the foam to help to loosen the bond.

Once the foam has been removed, the broken tile can be replaced, and the spray foam will need to be restored to ensure that the insulation keeps working efficiently.

For further help or advice with repairing damaged tiles on a spray foam insulated roof, get in touch with our team of experts here at Metropolitan Insulation by calling us on 0800 028 4042.

Metropolitan Insulation Blog