Apt Ceiling question.

MikeNeedsQuiet

Hi,

Wood frame apartment building and the tenants above have TV noise that travels down and is a problem occasionally. It is in the living room.

In the past they had tremendous radio noise and were asked repeatedly and eventually stopped blasting it. However, asking them about the tv is not going to work. The building has essentially NO insulation between walls/floors. When I have seen the exposed studs there is literally nothing back there. Its plasterboard over studs and that's it.

I use heavy carpet and underlay and my TV is on a high stand which is dense with material underneath it.

However, in a room where i have a small area rug and no underlay I can hear the TV and often the conversation of the tenants beneath me...I am talking about phone taking levels of conversation not screaming.....


The landlords won't do anything and city agencies have not done anything for other tenets in the past who had actually legitimate complaints such as party's going on a 3 am on weeknights...children playing basketball around midnight on wooden floors...



here is my question:

I have located a spot in the ceiling of the living room which is under the TV.

From what I gather this sort of sound proofing is difficult/impossible.


I will/can not build a drop ceiling...add layers of drywall...etc...


I was thinking about boxing in the particular section of ceiling with something like foam board and filling the interior with some form of loose insulation.

Perhaps running a furring strip and attaching the foam out from the wall using l-brackets and up to the ceiling.





I had considered hanging sound blankets on the wall as some noise does travel down through the wall...but i think almost all of the noise is coming from a 4x4 area on the ceiling.

Even if it did not eliminate it my thought is that it could dramatically cut down on it.





Thanks.