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Anybody ever sound-insulate a room?

Triplegreen500

Triplegreen500

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So, I have a rental duplex and one tenant has absolutely DESTROYED a unit. I won't get into all of it here as it makes my blood boil...but suffice it to say I will have all the studs exposed including the ceiling. This is an over/under duplex, not a side by side, so in order to cut noise between the two apartments I plan to insulate the first floor ceiling. Right now, rockwool appears to be the solution - albeit pricey (I'm looking at about 800 square feet). I've also considered plain ol' thermal pink fiberglass insulation (less $, but less isolation too), and companies also offer acoustic panel boards (like drywall) but not sure how those would work in this application.

I'm a concert engineer and I've done lots of acoustic work IN rooms - cutting echoes, reducing rumbles, reducing amblents, stuff like that - but this is my first foray into keeping noise from traveling from one room to another. I know there is "amblent" noise, as well as "mechanical" noise - ambient being voices transmitted through air space, mechanical being footsteps transmitted through the structure itself. I'll never get all the mechanical out - and I'm OK with that. People talk, and watch TV, a lot more than they walk around - and frankly anything is better than it is now (bare - original 1952 - hardwood flooring upstairs, bare wood joists, and zero insulation whatsoever).

Just curious if anyone here has done something like this, before I spend a ton of money on something that doesn't work worth a damn...
 
Put your insulation in and then use 5/8" drywall on ceiling. Run furring strips to create an air gap, and apply another layer of 5/8" drywall perpendicular to the first layer.
 
I would think useing the highest R value insulation you can pack into the channels would be just fine.
That and always use 5/8 rock on the ceiling like 69bee suggested.
Mabey finish the ceiling with a acustic tile instead of texture.
 
This thread brings motel 6 to mind.
:bananadance:
 
When I tore down our hall bathroom, I insulated it as much as possible for sound. Now, I didn't do the ceiling (it's on the second floor), but I did do all the walls with the material pictured below. I also installed a solid core door to go along with it.

The results were dramatic, and made a large difference. Now, someone who happens to be in the hall no longer needs to hear someone else doing their business in the bathroom!

When I looked up materials, it seems the prevailing wisdom was that soundproofing insulation works better than regular fiberglass insulation. I can't agree or disagree as I have nothing to compare the two, but I am happy with the results of my hall bathroom.

Good luck!


Quiet Batt Soundproofing insulation
1721678952962.png
 
rockwool and 69 bee has the answer. the firring strip can be rc-1 channel. a drywall metal stud place will have it it screws on the edge and actually floats the second layer, and absords sound as it hits it. just rockwool in the wall. add that channel or hat channel and another layer if you really wanna go crazy. thats how apartment buildings are done here in michigan. been doing it that way for 35 years have seen crazy overpriced sound deadeners come and go. that is the best way hands down.
 
Triplegreen500 said:
(bare - original 1952 - hardwood flooring upstairs, bare wood joists, and zero insulation whatsoever)
Click to expand...
That will be the biggest problem.

I worked on a house a few years ago where the owner wanted double sheet rock on the ceilings and extra insulation between floors - composite/particle board at 1" thick - flooring grade. It cut a lot of noise down, but not all of it. Heavy duty carpet underlay and good quality wool carpet upstairs helped also.....but I'm picking you can't control that.

There is a sheet rock product here called 'Noiseline' but I don't know how good it is for between floors - as in installing on ceilings. It is actually used for walls between bedrooms and living areas - it also doubles as 'Braceline' for added wall stiffness.
 
Our master bedroom backs up to the great room with the bed against that wall. I told the insulation people I wanted that wall sound proofed since my wife worked days and I worked evenings. They used rockwool and then put a layer of foamboard insulation up before the drywall was installed in the bedroom. Seemed to work pretty good for us. You can't hear the TV on the other side of that wall in the bedroom.
 
That egg crate style closed cell foam works great too,
has a lot of surface area to bounce soundwaves off
it's used in a lot of bed toppers today
but much cheaper to buy in bulk if you can find it
 
all great info, thanks. I'll likely rockwool (looks just like the stuff in post #5) and at least one layer of 5/8". Not sure if the budget will allow double layering...and simply adding a layer later would be relatively "easy"....

I also have to bare-stud a bathroom and replace EVERYTHING (mold; never cleaned; never told me the tub leaked so the floor is ROTTED), refinish 400sf of original hardwood (hopefully!), and replace 400 sf with tile or linoleum (kitchen/dining/living room) where the dog pissed and **** all over the place and ruined everything.

People.

And, while everything is stripped, I'll be redoing the kitchen cabinets, possibly building a 'nook' for more cabinet space (taking over a useless cubby in one bedroom by moving a wall 3'), adding ceiling fans in every room, adding an exhaust vent in the bathroom, getting a new range, repositioning the toilet for better access...and I haven't even gotten into the walls yet to see if the wiring is still up to snuff or if I'll have to redo all that to meet code.

And HOPEFULLY all this will get the stench out.

Oh, and I've stretched a hall closet in the otherwise-ready-to-rent upstairs apartment and will be adding a floor drain, as well as hot/cold/drain and exhaust vent, to put a stacker washer-dryer in there (I did the electrical circuits when I rewired that apartment a couple years ago, in prep for this). Since I have access to the downstairs, to run all my plumbing.

It's all gonna snowball.....
 
HawkRod said:
When I tore down our hall bathroom, I insulated it as much as possible for sound. Now, I didn't do the ceiling (it's on the second floor), but I did do all the walls with the material pictured below. I also installed a solid core door to go along with it.

The results were dramatic, and made a large difference. Now, someone who happens to be in the hall no longer needs to hear someone else doing their business in the bathroom!

When I looked up materials, it seems the prevailing wisdom was that soundproofing insulation works better than regular fiberglass insulation. I can't agree or disagree as I have nothing to compare the two, but I am happy with the results of my hall bathroom.

Good luck!


Quiet Batt Soundproofing insulation
View attachment 1698823
Click to expand...
I built a studio for Chrysler at our plant to teleconference production issues and show product. A company sold us the material for everything including the fiberglass infinity walls. The projection room and soundroom were built using concrete blocks. We put up hat track on the concrete block wall on 16 center and used soundproofing insulation batts, just like HawkRod has shown, then covered it with 5/8 drywall. The ceiling used the same stuff, but it was shot and it stuck to the open joist and left open, bats between joists will do. Regular insulation really doesn't work and the more you pack it, the less it works. Regular insulation may help some, but it's made to control hot and cold and is always put in loose. I used what was professionally recommended by a company that builds these studios and worked under their supervision. HawkRod was spot on!!! The doors we used, you don't even want to go there, just use solid core.
 
Photon440 said:
One of the most effective sound barriers that used to be popular in noise isolation rooms and recording studios was lead sheets. The soft metal is much more effective than wood or concrete. It's another level entirely above acoustic panels and foam.
What is lead soundproofing? Lead Sheets used for Noise Reduction-
Click to expand...
I used lead sheets at Chrysler once for the xray room years ago. That stuff weighed a ton and the door was 400 lbs. Yes, it works, but it's lead. LOL
 
1967coronet said:
I would think useing the highest R value insulation you can pack into the channels would be just fine.
That and always use 5/8 rock on the ceiling like 69bee suggested.
Mabey finish the ceiling with a acustic tile instead of texture.
Click to expand...
R value insulation has NO noise barrier. no matter how thick.
 
Creating mass is the best solution. Drywall is not all that expensive and a good way to easily create some without a lot of expense. So.. a double layer of 5/8" drywall adding the "Quiet Batt" shown in an earlier post between the studs should do it. Between the upper floor and lower ceiling, it will be still be physically connected by sharing the same studs, so you will never be at 100% isolation at lower frequencies. Batt pink roll thermal insulation does little to nothing for suppressing noise transmission. My 2 cents worth...
 
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