What would you do?

hey guys,

i've been asked to referee a meeting between a couple residents in my building concerning a noise complaint. basically the issue is one woman runs a large industrial sized sewing machine fairly often in her suite working as a seamstress, and the woman who lives below her is claiming that she's going crazy from the noise from the machine. i'm not too sure if it's a vibrational or actual noise thing, but i've been asked to step in and try to find a solution. apparently the seamstress has already tried some sort of foam/rubber mat or something underneath the machine to no avail.

i guess what i'm asking is simply if you guys have any tricks other than the obvious methods that you think could help at least diminish the noise, if not eliminate it all together?

Put it on rubber pillars?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZF5wpntXsk

sorry

isolating the actual noise takes a lot of work, but for starters the best is to put the sewing machine on top of a floating surface, that could be made of any material but felt could be in between the contact points(preferably absorbant but it may effect how the machine reacts, you have to as that to the woman who uses the machine). The important thing is then to make that surface float on a very absorbant material (rubber is a good one)

Most probablt it will help out, because impact noises travel a lot more with less energy loss. If it is not enough, then the room should be isolated and isolation and acoustic treatment are two different things. Actual isolation of sounds would cost quite a lot.

silly p.s. let the neighbours have a louder noises in their houses, like hoovers on full blast!

ya that will either be expensive or impossible. Best solution would be for the woman to get a studio someplace else.

  On 7/10/2010 at 5:29 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

ya that will either be expensive or impossible. Best solution would be for the woman to get a studio someplace else.

yes, have them swap rooms. problem solved.

Plug headphones into the sewing machine

  On 7/12/2010 at 4:45 AM, acid1 said:

Plug headphones into the sewing machine

lol

Oh man, I used to have so many problems with noise complaints. Last house i lived in, my studio was on the 3rd floor, my bedroom directly below, and then a flat on the ground floor. Trouble was that none of the building was correctly insulated and got constant complaints from the guy downstairs. I can understand his frustration, but there's nothing worse than not being able to work on mixdowns at a decent volume.

A couple things that could make a difference. It's definately worth putting the sewing machine onto an absorbant platform. Some high denstity foam would be a good bet, rubber too, and a solid base to stop the vibrations escaping back out. Also worth putting the machine on something super solid like a concrete slab, then onto the foam. would mean that the weight and vibrations are evenly distributed through the absorbant mass.

It would also be a good idea to move the machine away from any walls and stuctural features, since the vibrations will also be carried through those.

Its a bit far perhaps, but you could also consider contructing some kinda screens around the machine and work area. Maybe a sandwich of chipboard and insulating foam to absorb some of the noise coming off it, with extra foam slices on the surface to catch any runaway frequencies. Think something like one of those contractable vocal booths.

Whatever you do, sounds like a massive ballache. i can totaly sympathise with the seamstress, it's her work afterall, but I imagine she wouldnt have a foot to stand on if it came to something offical, using industrial grade machinery in a residential building is normally a no go.

hey guys,

so many helpful responses here, thanks a ton.

i went upstairs tonight to check out the situation and i think i might have a solution. i use a very high density foam tape at work that we use under the roof of our storage containers when we build them, seems that the feet of the sewing machine table are the perfect size for a piece under each leg. that combined with the rubber pads and stuff she's already put under it may just be enough to satisfy the other woman.

didn't seem like much of an issue though, i get the feeling the complaining woman is being a bit of a bitch. it's not even really an industrial machine, just kind of an older sewing machine built into a table.

glad it's not my problem though, that feeling of not being able to do what you love because of a fear of your neighbors sucks. i did just re-arrange my place though so i may be in for some trouble with my noise...