How to insulate internal pipes?

Cheeseisqwerty

I live in the middle level of an 80s build 3 story apartment block, and have internal water pipes on my closet. When the upstairs neighbour has a shower I can hear the water rushing up. Any suggestions for how to insulate it? 

I'm thinking build a box/frame around it and then fill that up with insulation but not sure about handling the tap etc down the bottom. 

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @jamieasinger. It's a pleasure to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about insulating pipes.

I recommend you use various-sized DAR pine to box in the smaller water pipe and the waste pipe, as they both likely contribute to the noise you're hearing. 

For the tap section at the bottom, you should use MDF panels as it's a wider section. These can be cut down with a jigsaw or circular saw. For access to the tap, you could simply screw on the panel in front of the tap so it's removable in case access is required. Or, if you want to get fancy, you could create a hinged door in the panel. I've created some renderings to assist you.

For the insulation, I recommend picking up a bag of Earthwool R2.5 90 x 430 x 1160mm 7.0m² HD Insulation SoundShield Wall Batts, which should be easy to push in and around the pipes. You might also like to line the back of the pine and MDF panels with Moroday 750 x 10mm x 1.8m Adhesive Foam Roll, which has sound-deadening properties.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell