Water flowing noise on back of bathtub wall - should I put insulation batt or?

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Curiousv

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I have installed DensShield on bathtub + shower faucet wall.

PEX line is running from valve to shower head and hot + cold lines are partially pex line

On other side of the this shower wall - there is kitchen - when we turn on faucet in bathroom - there is noise heard in kitchen ..

Is this normal or I should open the densshield wall - put couple of faced insulation batts? or ?

I would not ask this but I have already caulked the sim so I have to undo it and redo it - pls check pic

(on one wall its Densshield and other is cement board - why? - long story) @Terry @wwhitney @hj @John Gayewski @Tuttles Revenge @Jeff H Young

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Jeff H Young

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I've never addressed that issue , perhaps a good tip comes or you let us know how your attempts pan out!
 

WorthFlorida

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What kind of noise? Is it just the water rushing through the PEX pipe or what sounds like a water hammer issue? Depending on the fittings used on the PEX, many of them the inside diameter is smaller than the PEX ID. Water flow will speed up as the path narrows causing more noise than say all copper arrangement.

BTW, I used DenShield in my last house. After a few years I had mold and noticed the drywall was damp on the garage wall that was right behind the bathroom shower. Opening the wall on the garage side, I found a small leak at the valve body to the shower head. It was a bad sweat joint. The DenShield held up 100% and never affected the tile on the shower wall. It is a good product.
 

Curiousv

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I did not even know water hammer noise sound like ..checked a video to hear that sound ..so its not water hammer noise...its just water running thru pipe noise...
Question is should I attempt to do something about that sound ? if yes what do you recommend?
 

Jeff H Young

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I did not even know water hammer noise sound like ..checked a video to hear that sound ..so its not water hammer noise...its just water running thru pipe noise...
Question is should I attempt to do something about that sound ? if yes what do you recommend?
Obviously people aren't even sure the noise you are hearing so info provided isn't giving clear the problem.
Denshield is usually tiled over isn't it? so are you thinking of ripping out tile shoving some fiberglass insulation in and hoping noise goes away? I haven't worked much with PEX but fittings are small inside especially the crimp ones and if your shower valve arrange is high flow that noise could be from the supply piping and fittings . Try putting a water saver head one that has a low flow
 

WorthFlorida

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I did not even know water hammer noise sound like ..checked a video to hear that sound ..so its not water hammer noise...its just water running thru pipe noise...
Question is should I attempt to do something about that sound ? if yes what do you recommend?
No video link posted. Usually the water rushing through the pipes is when a bathtub spout is wide open. When the water is diverted to the shower head, usually the noise subsides because of less water flow. A bathroom faucet is quite rare to creates noise. A tub spout is full flow to what the supply can deliver, up to 5 gallons a minute is possible, a shower head is rated at 2.5 gallons per minute max, most new bathroom faucets are 1.25 gallons per minute. Older faucets are 1.5-2.5 gallons per minute.

Get a pressure gauge with a tattle-tale needle and place it on a spigot to get a read on how much pressure you are dealing with. too much pressure and it is really pushing water. Ideally it should be around 60 PSI. If you are well above it, say 90 PSI then a Pressure Reducing Valve should be installed. It'll help but the noise will not go away.

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It's your call if you want to insulate but it will not silent it 100%. Fiberglass is an insulator of heat, not noise. Foam pipe insulation is denser and it may help.
 

Curiousv

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Obviously people aren't even sure the noise you are hearing so info provided isn't giving clear the problem.
Denshield is usually tiled over isn't it? so are you thinking of ripping out tile shoving some fiberglass insulation in and hoping noise goes away? I haven't worked much with PEX but fittings are small inside especially the crimp ones and if your shower valve arrange is high flow that noise could be from the supply piping and fittings . Try putting a water saver head one that has a low flow
I have not installed tiles yet ..so I have unscrew densshield but I am hesitating because as u can see in pic I have already put caulk on seam as well as under the bottom of board. Thanks @WorthFlorida to advice foam pipe insulation is better than fiberglass
 
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