No, keep the sound proofing around the bathrooms. You don't want to hear every sound coming from the bathroom as we can in our house! It's not what you want to listen to.

I agree. Keep the sound proofing around bathrooms. In my house I can hear every flush in the walls. It sucks!

Ashley

i agree, also make sure the bathroom doors are close fitting without a 3/4" gap at the bottom unless they are traveling over carpet.

I regret every time my kids pound around the house of not taking measures to soundproof. Investigate this with your builder. There are ways of framing in, staggering something or other, don't recall specifics that impedes sound from traveling through floors!

Hi jmahne, I sell new homes for a living and it's been a very rare occurrence that homebuyers we've worked with will insulate common walls or floors between bathrooms and other areas of the home including bedrooms. We do use R-11 "sound batting" at common walls for media rooms as a standard practice or offer this or a cellulose product as an upgrade (at any interior walls). But throughout the last 18+ years in this business, I can probably count on one hand (maybe less than two) how many homebuyers have actually done this to their home.

Really, if it's a concern, I would ask recent homeowners in your neighborhood (or others that may have built with your home builder recently) what their experiences have been in relation to your concern. Depending on the way the home is built as a standard and/or designed, the extra expense may not be necessary in your home. IMO, the experiences of other homeowners that already live in similarly built homes can be one of the best ways to gauge whether it's something you'll need or not.

However, if you're especially sensitive to sound or just would feel better having the extra insulation to muffle the sound, then it may be worth the additional expense. Just keep in mind that most (sound batting) insulation I'm familiar with that a builder may use is not made to 100% "sound proof" any noise. It will just muffle the sound.

PS The cellulose product that's offered will more likely be a better sound insulator (vs. batting)....however, for one, it is typically more costly and secondly, I'm not sure I would recommend it on a wall with plumbing.

I would keep insulation around bathrooms, master bedroom and at least one other bedroom--you never know when an adult married kid might need to move back in.

I would recommend insulating walls around baths we do it in new homes and remodels it's small money and you won't regret it

It's the one thing I regret not doing in our custom home. If I would do our house again I would insulate all bathroom walls, and use all 5/8" Sheetrock. You only do it once.

I'd insulate bathroom and bedroom walls. Often people don't realize how noisy uninsulated rooms can be until they've lived with them - and then they have to tear the drywall out to correct the problem.

Keep the insulation. I have people spending $1500 on cork tiles for ONE WALL!!!!! A drop down acoustic ceiling = $10,000. The $1000 worth of savings is NOT a cost effective reduction. If you take a lower end $250,000 home (in my area you can't buy a lot for less than $300,000...so I'm going off of more "normal" US data), your 'reduction' is less than 0.5% of your budget. Your kitchen counter top is worth more. Noise abatement is one of the MOST EXPENSIVE "retro fits" in the building industry. Why? Because homes are so poorly insulated in the first place that walls have to be ripped open to add acoustic insulation. Pipes have to be "found" and then wrapped. Airvents need to be wrapped which means openning up a finished ceiling. That means you pay 3 times to do it right just the once!

Keep the insulation. It is MASSIVELY expensive to 'upgrade' in a year or two. If you must change something, look at something that is easy to access and "easy" to upgrade in a few years.

Keep your acoustic interior doors as well. Insulation is ALWAYS worth the price. High-end mouldings and "extra expensive" counter tops are things that can be 'added' when you have budget for remodel.

Leave all insulation as is. There are other places to save.

you'll save very little. in the long run, you will be glad that you insulated all the walls.

have you considered other areas to cut your costs? if you are handy and have the option to do some of the painting yourself, it will cut your labor costs and you will not have to cut your budget for physical amenities.

Ive been adding insulation to all my interior walls as I work my way from room to room renovating and iam very satisfied with the results . Use Roxul and you will be adding a serious fire rating as well.

We insulated all walls and were thrilled that we did.

My bedroom is next to the kitchen and I can hear the silverware drawer opening and coffee being poured in the morning...
We also just remodeled the bathroom and now the new faucets and water coming out are so much louder than before. I hate it. It never occurred to me to have them insulate the interior wall behind the vanity. I will have to figure out what exactly I am hearing and how to fix it. Why does the homeowner have to think of everything later?

What I would give to have all my walls insulated!

Touché .

Just built a house, did soundproofing (Roxul) around the bathrooms and between the basement and the main floor. Love it. My bedroom is over the living room, didn't soundproof that and it's one of our biggest mistakes of the build. My advice - spend the money, you won't be sorry unless you don't because it's near impossible to do it after the fact. If you're trying to cut costs (as I know by then, the budget is tight) watch for sales on Roxul and do it yourself. It's really quite easy to work with and pretty simple to install.

New home, should we insulate interior walls for sound?
why not! There are many reasons to insulate the interior walls against noise, but the main reason for me is to allow you to live a peaceful life at home.
When I was building my house, I asked my architect to consider the noise. And he advised me to see at noise barrier walls residential

Insulating interior walls is adds little to no sound proofing. A much better way to add some sound proofing to interior walls is to add a double layer of 1/2 gypsum board (Sheetrock). Only the top layer has to be finished, so the only cost on new construction is the board and the labor to hang it. Don't fall for the spin that insulation in interior walls is a sound proofer. It's not.

Really weird Debby Sevano. We had one bedroom that had 2 layers of sheetrock. When we had everything remodeled we went with insulation in walls & were amazed at how it helped with sound. The room that had 2 layers of sheetrock alone was not quiet at all.

I agree with the others of ‘Yes’. When I renovated, I took a huge single bathroom and changed it to 2 good size bathrooms, one which is directly off my living room. I used denim as my insulation and I am very thankful I did. I only hear the shower or the sink turn on, I do not hear toilet noise at all. I also bumped a wall into an existing bedroom to create more closet space in a very small bedroom next to it. I used denim again and so glad I did. Between the insulation and the clothing, I hear no bedroom sounds at all. I have wood laminate floors and my aggravation is that when a charger cable hits the floor or drags on the floor it sounds like pests, but if those few sounds are the only that carry, then I am going to always suggest some insulation.

As another note, I also reinsulated my entire attic with a higher level insulation than was suggested. When I compared my old utility bill to my new, each month I have saved over $100 if not more. So my return on investment is being seen every single month. I am not sure if the savings is all from my attic insulation, it could be from some of the other renovations that I did. I will say, that I do not have any huge differences in temperature in any room and my house stays comfortable long into the 100+ summers and 20degree winters. I rarely have to use AC until the outdoor temperature hits over 90, to keep my house at 76.

Good luck on your house and I hope you enjoy!!