Possession (or Possessed?)

We took possession of our house. We battled the Canada Day long weekend rush hour traffic to get the keys before the lawyer's office closed for four days, and then battled traffic once again to get to "our" house. Except this time we discovered something we didn't know before buying it: we can hear every. single. noise. our neighbours make through the walls. Since I haven't been a fan of Hall and Oates since grade three and couldn't bear to think of what else their playlist had in store, suddenly our To Do List was shuffled to make room for soundproofing as top priority. Anyone who has lived with poor walls and close neighbours knows exactly why this is such an important issue to address.

We were warned about this. You never really possess your house, it possesses you. Like that princess of a cat – you know the one. She has you wrapped around her little paw, scratching her back while she eats, mewing to go out but then standing halfway over the threshold for 45 seconds before deciding to return to her princess pillow for a nap after all. She's not your pet, you're hers. It's the same thing with a house. It's needs are constant and temperamental, and once you've addressed one, another unexpected need pops up. Or so we've been told.

Upon returning home that evening, I googled soundproofing, sound barriers, and acoustic insulation. What I discovered were two viable options for us both price-wise and green-wise.

1. Quietrock 525. At $100-115 per 4x8' sheet, not exactly cost effective, but a very easy fix. One sheet of Quietrock is the equivalent thickness of eight sheets of regular drywall, and acts as a very effective acoustic shield. You can even hang it over your existing drywall, one forum told me. No tearing down the drywall, filling in the wall, putting metal brackets in, and then drywalling all over again. Just hang, tape, mud, sand, and paint. It works by converting sound to heat, which in turn eliminates/muffles sound.

2. Enermax. At $20.99 per 4x8' sheet, this sound block insulation comes in sheets that act as both an insulator, vapour barrier and sound barrier using 98% by-product wood fibre that would otherwise go to the landfill. However, in this instance, we would have to remove all the existing drywall, affix the Enermax on the studs, then stagger the drywall over it to be taped, mudded, sanded and primed. More demo work (think bin rental and landfill waste) and more installation work. Less costly, to be sure, even working in the cost of drywall at $15 per sheet, but more time and work and waste.

Tonight we punch a hole in our wall to see what's going on under the drywall. I will post our findings and photos and our decision to use Quietrock or Enermax, once we've had the chance to ask some expert advice.