Search found 57 matches

by pieinthesky
Mon Oct 22, 2018 6:32 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Wall insulation material
Replies: 0
Views: 385

Wall insulation material

We have been getting some quotes from contractors about getting insulation blown in to our walls and the contractor we like the most is suggesting Knauf Jet Stream. Apparently it's a wool fiberglass mix and even denser than dense-packed cellulose. Might be a long shot, but has anyone had experience with this one and would like to share? If not, what other brands of blown insulation have you used and liked? Thanks.
by pieinthesky
Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Keeping sensitive documents in the cloud -- bad idea?
Replies: 46
Views: 5260

Keeping sensitive documents in the cloud -- bad idea?

I'm currently making an effort to rid my office of piles of paper and have been scanning financial documents, receipts, etc. to my Dropbox. I use Dropbox a lot and have been satisfied with the service, but is there a way to make it more secure for sensitive info, like password protecting or encrypting certain folders? Or would it be wise to use another service altogether for the sensitive documents? Would appreciate recommendations, if any.
by pieinthesky
Wed Jul 12, 2017 1:37 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to open checking account?
Replies: 9
Views: 1816

Where to open checking account?

Hey guys,

My husband and I are in need of opening a new joint checking account and wondering if there any out there currently offering rewards for doing so or depositing a certain amount of money, etc. We are in the Bay Area, CA if that matters. Thanks.
by pieinthesky
Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Early Retirement - what to do about healthcare?
Replies: 237
Views: 44175

Re: Early Retirement - what to do about healthcare?

But pre-ACA (and now maybe post-ACA), one always has the option to buy private insurance, not through an employer, right?
by pieinthesky
Tue May 02, 2017 5:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to determine how much home insurance/landlord insurance to get
Replies: 2
Views: 465

How to determine how much home insurance/landlord insurance to get

Sorry if this post comes off as kinda clueless, but I was just wondering if anyone would be kind enough to share how you came to your decision about how much home insurance you get. I understand that the dwelling coverage should be enough to cover the costs of rebuilding your home, but how do we determine that? Especially in this HCOL area where most of the value is in the land and the market values are really inflated. And how to determine how much personal liability and medical payments coverage?

On top of that, we also have a rental property and have no idea what rebuilding that would cost either. Is this something we should base off an appraisal or a property tax document?
by pieinthesky
Tue Feb 28, 2017 9:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Logistics of funding solo 401k
Replies: 2
Views: 537

Logistics of funding solo 401k

Hi everyone, I wanted to get some opinions about whether it's always a good idea to max the solo 401k if you can afford it. In my case, my accountant calculated that the max I can contribute is ~$29k. If I contribute this, then my tax liability is around 4k. If I don't contribute anything, it's around 14k. I'm thinking it's great that I can squirrel away that much money and save on taxes, but does anybody see a downside to putting so much in? And once it comes time to actually fund, I need to go to Fidelity and deposit that amount of money, right? How does the IRS know if what I'm putting in is in fact the maximum I'm eligible for? Is my accountant responsible for confirming the amount to the IRS in any way? Sorry if these are really simple...
by pieinthesky
Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:41 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to competently liquidate Schwab account
Replies: 3
Views: 848

How to competently liquidate Schwab account

I have a taxable Schwab account (that has a bunch of crazy funds picked by an ex-financial advisor) I'd like to liquidate in order to move to Betterment. I have read a little on here about how to do this, but I am still fuzzy and wondering if this is something where other people have called Schwab to have them walk you through it. Also, is this a good time to liquidate? I know, with the market high, it's a good time to sell but not to buy. So does this mean that once I sell, I should hold it for a little before buying into Betterment again, until the market drops? And I've also read on here people talking about first selling the funds that have gained and holding off on the other ones. I don't even know how to do this and would like to just...
by pieinthesky
Tue Nov 08, 2016 12:08 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Confused about 401k vs Roth 401k vs Roth IRA
Replies: 13
Views: 1808

Re: Confused about 401k vs Roth 401k vs Roth IRA

So what exactly do we need to do for the elective deferral? As far as I can tell, it's not actually contributing funds but is just declaring a percentage? And possibly a form to fill out at Fidelity?
by pieinthesky
Mon Nov 07, 2016 2:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Confused about 401k vs Roth 401k vs Roth IRA
Replies: 13
Views: 1808

Re: Confused about 401k vs Roth 401k vs Roth IRA

Thank you for the response. We could theoretically max out these accounts but would need to pull from savings. Is it wise to use savings to fund retirement?
by pieinthesky
Sun Nov 06, 2016 3:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Confused about 401k vs Roth 401k vs Roth IRA
Replies: 13
Views: 1808

Confused about 401k vs Roth 401k vs Roth IRA

We are married filing joint, 28% or 25% tax bracket, both around 30 years old. Retirement accounts Me: - Newly opened solo 401k with $0 (opened at the advice of you lovely people) - Roth IRA fully funded once in 2014 (when I was single) Spouse: - Rollover IRA from previous company - Traditional 401k Questions 1) Is 18k the max contribution to my solo 401k? I am planning to wait until year end, get my final income figures, and then contribute the full amount in January. Is that a good idea or should I spread it out until April? 2) Should one or both of us max out Roth IRAs? I'm pretty sure, with the 401k contributions, that we will qualify to contribute directly. If we don't qualify, is it worth it to do backdoor? 3) Spouse literally just di...
by pieinthesky
Fri Sep 23, 2016 2:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Stay a 1099 contractor or incorporate?
Replies: 18
Views: 2596

Re: Stay a 1099 contractor or incorporate?

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone.

I carry professional liability insurance, so I feel pretty comfortable in terms of my liability (but hope to never have to use it).

The accountant did state that I would save more by incorporating and paying myself a salary than I would by opening a 401(k). He warned me that the money would be tied up and that there are penalties for early withdrawal and that I wouldn't even be able to take out a loan, depending on the type of account. But it sounds like this is not the guy I want filing my taxes next year.

So on top of opening a 401(k), would it be worth it to do a Roth IRA as well? Since my husband and I file joint, we would actually have to do a backdoor Roth as we are over the income limit.
by pieinthesky
Wed Sep 21, 2016 4:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Stay a 1099 contractor or incorporate?
Replies: 18
Views: 2596

Stay a 1099 contractor or incorporate?

I'm a 1099 contractor making ~$50k a year, which is pretty much fixed, as I don't own a business that I plan to grow or anything like that. I've talked to an accountant who seems eager to have me incorporate because he says I'll save more money on taxes. I always thought it was a good idea to open and fully fund a solo 401(k) or Roth to reduce tax liability and invest. When I brought it up, he questioned whether, being in my late twenties, I wanted to tie up all that money for the next 30 years. Other info: My spouse is a W-2 employee and we file joint. Last year, most of our tax liability was because of my income. I'd appreciate any advice about the situation. Thanks!
by pieinthesky
Fri Jun 03, 2016 4:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Firing a contractor -- do's and don'ts?
Replies: 7
Views: 1549

Re: Firing a contractor -- do's and don'ts?

What if he refuses to sign it?
by pieinthesky
Fri Jun 03, 2016 12:23 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Firing a contractor -- do's and don'ts?
Replies: 7
Views: 1549

Firing a contractor -- do's and don'ts?

We have decided to stop working with our contractor before his job is finished. This leaves us with the issue of having a new contractor finish up the rest of the work. I'm wondering about best practices in a situation like this or are there any documents we need to get from him? We took a picture of the first permit he obtained. The final inspection is yet to be done. Would there be an issue having two different contractors getting two different permits?
by pieinthesky
Sun May 22, 2016 3:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is $2000 reasonable for bathroom permits?
Replies: 22
Views: 5716

Re: Is $2000 reasonable for bathroom permits?

OP is in the Bay Area, my guess permits are not cheap there. How much are you spending total? There needs to be trust between the contractor and the homeowner. If you need more transparency and he "just refused", he's not the right one for you. No matter how good. I'd let him know in a nice way that's why you're going elsewhere. I think the homeowner should understand the major cost drivers of the project. If the permit is $2k, contractor should explain why in general terms. Line item pricing for materials vs. labor is another thing. It almost always ends up with the homeowner saying "I can get this cheaper". The contractor spends more time writing the contract and the homeowner sours because he thinks he's being ripped...
by pieinthesky
Fri May 20, 2016 8:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is $2000 reasonable for bathroom permits?
Replies: 22
Views: 5716

Re: Is $2000 reasonable for bathroom permits?

We're doing two bathrooms and have completely pulled out the hallway bathtub and the master shower and are putting all new things there. And then replacing all the tile on the walls in the bath and shower. The project started with an estimate of $17k and has now ballooned up to about $30k, after we picked our fixtures and tiles. We've paid him $20k already. For every step of the process, he wants $5000.
by pieinthesky
Fri May 20, 2016 6:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is $2000 reasonable for bathroom permits?
Replies: 22
Views: 5716

Is $2000 reasonable for bathroom permits?

We are working with a contractor who is charging us about $2000 to get the necessary permits for two bathroom remodels. He has also refused to separate his invoices into materials and labor, so we don't know how much of it is the actual cost of the permit and how much is for his work put in to obtain it. So I'm just wondering if anyone has done a bathroom remodel before and can share a ballpark of how much your permits cost. I know that costs can vary depending on the scope of work. Thanks.
by pieinthesky
Fri Apr 15, 2016 12:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Security features of a good front door
Replies: 34
Views: 4164

Security features of a good front door

We would like to replace our front door to make it hold up better against possible break-ins and wondering what features we should be looking for. My husband mentioned that our current door has a deadbolt with the metal piece extending into the wood rather than to a metal frame. We are also considering replacing our regular deadbolts with keypad deadbolts. I also thought it might be cool to put a digital peephole. Does this all sound like overkill?
by pieinthesky
Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:54 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any soccer fans in the Bay Area?
Replies: 0
Views: 271

Any soccer fans in the Bay Area?

Does anyone know of any soccer teams (preferably European) playing in the Bay Area within the next month or so that are still selling tickets? Or if not a game, then any other soccer-related events, I guess.
by pieinthesky
Sat Mar 12, 2016 5:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I pay lower interest rate or lower closing costs?
Replies: 12
Views: 2440

Re: Should I pay lower interest rate or lower closing costs?

We won't be able to afford payments on a 15-year. Also, we didn't choose to put 40% down. That's the lowest down payment amount we qualified for based on our current income.
by pieinthesky
Sat Mar 12, 2016 1:51 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I pay lower interest rate or lower closing costs?
Replies: 12
Views: 2440

Re: Should I pay lower interest rate or lower closing costs?

These are 30-year fixed. We would like to refinance in a few months, as we will be able to take extra income into consideration at that point. Right now, we are putting about 40% down and with the refinance, we are hoping to get a sum of money back that would equate to us putting 20% down.
by pieinthesky
Sat Mar 12, 2016 1:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I pay lower interest rate or lower closing costs?
Replies: 12
Views: 2440

Should I pay lower interest rate or lower closing costs?

We are in contract for buying a house and have been offered these two rates:

3.375% (3.42 apr)
Principle and Interest: $2765.32

Or

3.5% (3.5 apr)
With 0.5% credit towards closing costs: $3127.50
Principle and Interest: $2808.78

Our closing costs are about $4k, so that credit will help cover a good amount.

Which one is the better deal? I'd love the lower interest rate but I'm thinking I could save on closing costs now and refinance when rates go down.
by pieinthesky
Wed Jan 20, 2016 9:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How do you use your Chase Freedom rewards?
Replies: 35
Views: 7677

Re: How do you use your Chase Freedom rewards?

Thanks for the responses. I don't have another card, and this isn't a good time for me to make any sudden moves credit-wise, but I will keep the Sapphire card in mind.
by pieinthesky
Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:58 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How do you use your Chase Freedom rewards?
Replies: 35
Views: 7677

How do you use your Chase Freedom rewards?

I've been using my Chase Freedom card for months now but have yet to cash in on the points and was just wondering if there is a consensus on how to get the best bang for the buck for this card.
by pieinthesky
Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is 3.75% a good rate for 30 year fixed?
Replies: 11
Views: 14667

Re: Is 3.75% a good rate for 30 year fixed?

There are no points with the loan but it does have standard closing costs of $3500 for the county.

He also said the mortgage rate will come with credit to help cover some closing costs.
by pieinthesky
Thu Dec 24, 2015 6:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is 3.75% a good rate for 30 year fixed?
Replies: 11
Views: 14667

Is 3.75% a good rate for 30 year fixed?

After turning over all our docs, our mortgage lender has preliminarily said that he can offer us 3.75% for a 30 year fixed. Is this a good offer or should we get a second opinion?
by pieinthesky
Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do I have to keep all credit cards active?
Replies: 14
Views: 2578

Do I have to keep all credit cards active?

I have an Amazon card and a Chase Freedom card that have been inactive for months because I've been using my husband's Chase Freedom card as an authorized user. It just occurred to me that not using my cards might be damaging my credit, so I'm planning to link my Amazon card to my Amazon account again, where I'm bound to make a purchase at least every month, but should I also start using my own Chase Freedom card? Or if I don't want to use my Freedom card, will closing the card damage my credit in any way?
by pieinthesky
Thu Nov 19, 2015 9:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Which company health insurance add-ons are worth it?
Replies: 4
Views: 837

Which company health insurance add-ons are worth it?

It's time for my husband to pick health insurance stuff for both of us. We're thinking of going with an HSA for the first time. Does anyone use an HSA instead of a traditional health plan? His Kaiser plan right now is really good with low copays (about $10) but neither of us go to the doctor much. He does have a septoplasty coming up, though. His company already has his life insurance included and we can purchase life insurance for me as well for really cheap. Is it worth it? There's also accident insurance and hospital indemnity stuff.

We're thinking about getting umbrella insurance at some point, but is that a totally different thing?

It sure is confusing sorting out all these different insurances!
by pieinthesky
Thu Nov 05, 2015 6:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How a pre-approval works
Replies: 11
Views: 1802

Re: How a pre-approval works

The mortgage broker also said that, because our real estate agent wants us to get the full underwriting, which she doesn't do, we can just get the full underwriting and rate with him, but then once we choose a house and have our offer accepted, we can still go to her and see if she can give us a better rate and then decide who to go with. Is this something we would actually be able to do, get a second preapproval and use that one instead of the original one?
by pieinthesky
Thu Nov 05, 2015 5:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How a pre-approval works
Replies: 11
Views: 1802

Re: How a pre-approval works

In many cases (like mine), they never contact the employer. The paychecks were sufficient for them. Even if they call, your preapproval amount should be private info that the employer does not need to know. Another thing to note, the seller will also never know the pre-approval amount. When initially getting our pre-approval letter, we told the lender what our budget was and he sent the pre-approval to our real estate agent. After looking for a while we realized that we'd have to increase our budget and within a few days made an offer on a home within the new price range. Our real estate agent contacted us and told us that we needed to get a new pre-approval letter because the previous one wasn't high enough. I was confused because I had b...
by pieinthesky
Thu Nov 05, 2015 2:41 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How a pre-approval works
Replies: 11
Views: 1802

How a pre-approval works

I would like to understand the process of how the full pre-approval works, the one where the bank contacts your employer. How much information do they get from your employer and do they disclose any of your financial information to the employer, such as how much you're trying to get approved for or how much your assets are?
by pieinthesky
Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:47 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mortgage broker vs. bank?
Replies: 18
Views: 2629

Re: Mortgage broker vs. bank?

Thanks, everyone. My friend recommended a mortgage broker to me so I will go and check with her. My realtor still wants me to use a bank but it sounds like it's worth checking out a broker as well.
by pieinthesky
Tue Oct 27, 2015 12:23 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mortgage broker vs. bank?
Replies: 18
Views: 2629

Re: Mortgage broker vs. bank?

So I think a really silly question I have is, how do I know what's a good rate and terms?
by pieinthesky
Mon Oct 26, 2015 8:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mortgage broker vs. bank?
Replies: 18
Views: 2629

Mortgage broker vs. bank?

When you bought your house, did you use a mortgage broker or bank, and why? Our realtor wants us to use Citibank. Has anyone used them before?
by pieinthesky
Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:28 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to conservatively invest 1.5 mil
Replies: 9
Views: 2141

Re: How to conservatively invest 1.5 mil

Thank you for the replies so far.

Her marginal tax rate is 36.

I've told her to look into Vanguard muni funds, and what about TIPS? I've seen that mentioned on here a lot.
by pieinthesky
Thu Oct 15, 2015 10:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to conservatively invest 1.5 mil
Replies: 9
Views: 2141

How to conservatively invest 1.5 mil

I'm asking this for a friend, who is in her 50s and has accumulated a sizable amount of money. She plans to retire in a few years, will draw a pension, and is wondering the best way to invest the money with as little risk as possible. She's been talking to someone at Schwab and is thinking of putting it all in pimco municipal bonds. Is this a bad idea? I don't really know anything about it, but she says she can get 3% annual return and be able to draw money from it monthly.
by pieinthesky
Thu Oct 08, 2015 3:33 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I purchase Life Insurance at 25?
Replies: 33
Views: 3745

Re: Should I purchase Life Insurance at 25?

How is term life insurance different from umbrella insurance? Are we supposed to get both or one?
by pieinthesky
Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review, please
Replies: 9
Views: 1835

Re: Portfolio review, please

Okay. Thanks!
by pieinthesky
Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review, please
Replies: 9
Views: 1835

Re: Portfolio review, please

I wanted to add a question to this post: for the old 401(k) and rollover IRA, is better to move it in kind to Vanguard or liquidate it and then move it?
by pieinthesky
Sun Sep 20, 2015 10:24 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The best current, most worthwhile investing book to read?
Replies: 3
Views: 797

The best current, most worthwhile investing book to read?

I am hoping to get some recommendations on some of the best and current investing books to read. I'd love something that will help enlighten me on how to manage one's wealth in a smart way, including things like insurance, retirement, perhaps rental income, etc.

Thank you.
by pieinthesky
Mon Sep 14, 2015 11:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: I'm moving from Crashplan to Amazon Cloud Storage
Replies: 13
Views: 7066

Re: I'm moving from Crashplan to Amazon Cloud Storage

I use Crashplan and set the settings so that it never removes files from the Crashplan cloud regardless of whether or not I delete them from my computer. I backup my files to external hard drives as well as to Dropbox because I'm a big fan of redundancy in backing up, but I'll go into my Crashplan archive once in a while to look for something, and it's always been there. I'm not sure what you mean about only monitoring registered computers and hard drives, though, so I may be misunderstanding you.
by pieinthesky
Fri Sep 11, 2015 4:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to invest rollover IRA and 401(k)
Replies: 3
Views: 647

Re: How to invest rollover IRA and 401(k)

An overall plan such as a 3 fund portfolio or using all in one funds is a nice simple strategy. For the most useful responses, consider posting everything you have in this format to give yourself a detailed perspective on your holdings and give others a chance to make specific comments for your situation. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6212 In general, think of your portfolio as a whole. There are some tax advantages to having slightly different holdings in retirement vs taxable accounts that should be considered. There is a wiki on tax efficient fund placement. http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Principles_of_tax-efficient_fund_placement lafder Thanks, lafder. I have posted our entire portfolio in a previous question.
by pieinthesky
Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to invest rollover IRA and 401(k)
Replies: 3
Views: 647

How to invest rollover IRA and 401(k)

My husband has a 401(k) and rollover IRA from his previous job, and we're thinking of consolidating them and then investing it. Is it good practice to invest this money as one would do with any monies, such as in a three-fund portfolio or target date retirement fund at Vanguard? Or would this money benefit from being invested in a different way? He doesn't want to roll it into his current 401(k) plan.

Thanks.
by pieinthesky
Sun Sep 06, 2015 10:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review, please
Replies: 9
Views: 1835

Re: Portfolio review, please

Thank you, Celia. We've never actually thought about doing that, but I will be contacting Vanguard about doing that.
by pieinthesky
Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review, please
Replies: 9
Views: 1835

Re: Portfolio review, please

Thank you for the response. I've heard that asset allocation should be approximately your age = percentage of bonds. So I was thinking about 70% stock, 30% bonds?

And are you suggesting that I stay at Schwab but I reallocate based on what you've posted?
by pieinthesky
Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:59 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review, please
Replies: 9
Views: 1835

Portfolio review, please

So, as you can see based on my questions here, I am probably just making myself more confused as I read more. So I've decided to finally post our portfolio here to see if some things can't be sorted out. We have an individual account in Schwab that's about $132k and a Roth IRA that's about $5k. We've been thinking of going to Vanguard, but we were concerned about the capital gains tax we would have to pay, but someone from Schwab told me that we're at a loss right now so we wouldn't have any tax if we were to sell everything. The unrealized gain/loss tab says -$5233 for the individual account and -$260 for the Roth IRA. So is this a bad time for us to sell everything to move it? The overall value of the portfolio is down $10k since before t...
by pieinthesky
Thu Sep 03, 2015 1:22 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: When will be a good time to buy a house in the South Bay Area?
Replies: 26
Views: 4163

When will be a good time to buy a house in the South Bay Area?

For various reasons, my husband and I are no longer happy with living where we are and have been musing about buying a single family home and have even visited some open houses. However, we're currently researching things without an agent because we don't want to hook up with one and then feel the constant pressure to buy, because the prices are so high right now (but aren't they always?) We also don't want to waste their time. But it's really time-consuming and feels kind of overwhelming doing all this ourselves. We also feel like we did not make the best choice with where we currently live, so we'd really like to get some better professional advice this time and will not be using the agent we used previously. We were also much more financ...
by pieinthesky
Tue Aug 18, 2015 3:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to soundproof interior walls
Replies: 24
Views: 4800

Re: How to soundproof interior walls

I guess I should also mention that the townhomes are made of wood with hollow, shared walls =(
by pieinthesky
Mon Aug 17, 2015 8:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to soundproof interior walls
Replies: 24
Views: 4800

Re: How to soundproof interior walls

Thank you for the responses, all!

I think the best step might be to talk to HOA, so we don't do something that violates anything.

And, ideally, we would move, but it's not something we can afford to do, unless we move into another townhome and potentially come across the same problem.
by pieinthesky
Mon Aug 17, 2015 2:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to soundproof interior walls
Replies: 24
Views: 4800

How to soundproof interior walls

We're exploring our options for soundproofing the interior walls of our townhome to muffle noise from one of our neighbors. Has anyone tried acoustic foam? It seems like the ways to mount them are with permanent glue or nails, and we're not sure we want something that permanent or marring our walls if we're not sure it will even work. Then on Yelp, insulation installation seems promising. However, most of the reviewers mention how pleased they are with the energy savings and heat retention, not soundproofing. Has anyone found insulation to adequately muffle noise? Is there another keyword I should be searching for instead, like drywall or something? Any advice would be so appreciated. We're nearing the end of our rope with this issue, after...