To pipe lag or not to pipe lag, that is the question

I didn't even know what pipe lagging was until our site supervisor suggested it to me. :-)

"acoustic pipe and duct lagging. Soundlag™ is a high-performance composite acoustic lagging product developed to reduce noise from pipes, valves, fan housings, and ductwork in commercial, industrial and domestic buildings."

In 2 story houses there are plumbing voids and spaces for plumbing to weave its way from the upper level down to the ground pipework. Apparently as the water moves along the pipes it can be a bit noisy particularily when there are bends, 'T' or 'Y' joins or where water falls down a vertical pipe to meet a horizontal pipe. Makes sense I suppose, I've heard it in carparks with plumbing along the ceiling but I'd never considered it in our house. So, to fix this first world problem there is a product called acoustic pipe lagging the wraps around the offending pipes to reduce or eliminate any noise from the water passing through. Sounds straight forward except that it's priced more towards a commercial application. For us to cover the pipes in the lower ceiling space and wall voids would have been $2000+ if I was to install it and I didn't bother checking the installed price.

What should we do?

We liked the idea of silent pipes but didn't like the price. The result:

DIY pipe 'soundproofing'. I don't know that this will be as effective as proper pipe lagging but I'm sure it will help and the cost was only about $200 and a couple of hours to install it and clean up. It's called Soundscreen acoustic insulation from Bradfords and I choose R2.5 as it fits our wall depth. I also have this same product in other rooms to help with sound transfer between rooms. EG: Theatre or Rumpus to living and bedroom spaces.

Here's a couple of photos of the before and after shots to get an idea of what I did.