Help Me Soundproof My House, So The Neighbors Won't Call The Cops.

Rocket_Ronny · « **on:** 21 Jul 2012, 12:19 am »

We may be building a house in town and I don't want to bug the neighbors with my loud music. What can you suggest to help me out.

One thing I know is when you double mass you decrease sound transmission by 3 db. Double your drywall - 3db. We are going to go with triple paned windows, so that's 1.5 db reduction.

What sound dampening system would you use?

Thanks for any input.

Rocket_Silent Sam_Ronny

*Scotty* · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 12:29 am »

You could look at putting a basement under the house and locating your stereo in the mancave.
Scotty

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 12:57 am »

Thanks Scotty. That is the plan for sure, but it's a walk out basement so there will be some windows and a door.

There will also be a very large bonus room above the garage that I may end up using for showing audio with the HDAudio.ca business. That is the one of most concern.

Rocket_Ronny

*Scotty* · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 01:44 am »

I would say your biggest problem will be the transmission of bass frequencies right through the walls. In the case of the room above the garage, transmission through all of the surfaces enclosing the space including the roof and the floor. When I lived in Wisconsin we resided in a townhouse constructed with 2X4 stud walls finished with sheet-rock on the interior and vinyl siding on the exterior. The frequencies that were most noticeable outside the living room were below 100Hz. The lower the frequency the louder it was outside the house. It may be very hard to keep low frequencies inside the house without incurring ruinous construction expenses.
Scotty

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 02:49 am »

Thanks again Scotty. I would agree.

Instead of plastic siding we would go with a product called Hardy Board. It's concrete impregnated fiber board and pretty heavy. I would go with stucco but the house looks killer with the Hardy Board.

I have looked at acoustiguard's Genie clips for low frequency isolation. http://www.acoustiguard.com/Genie-Clip/

I recently worked on a duplex which sold for 300 grand. We did a double wall construction but was not there when it was completed. I would like to know if anyone has experience in what is used for sound transmission in duplexes?

Thanks,

Rocket_Ronny

PDR · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 03:07 am »

Ronny,

Check out steel rez bar..... http://www.domesticsoundproofing.co.uk/soundproofing/rbar.htm

I am a supervisor for the wall and ceiling contractor that is building a camp up in Conklin AB a few hundred miles north of you. In the camp is a 176 seat theatre, we are using rez bar over steel studs with 2 layers of 5/8" drywall. Have built a few other sound proof projects as well using the rez bar and layering, in the CBC radio station in Edmonton Center we built a room big enough for a whole band....youd never know they were there.

You can pick up rez bar at Steel Form in south Edmonton.

Heres a pic of the rez bar over studs on my project...

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 03:39 am »

Thanks Perry.

It simply looks like a metal channel. I would think low frequencies would transfer through, unlike the rubber Acoustiguard, no?

Double 5/8" drywall is what I have on the radar. Thing is, cutting holes in it for the electrical seems like defeating the purpose. I am going to have to run the electrical along baseboards or something and have the outlet of the face of the wall.

Thanks for the link.

Rocket_Ronny

Atlplasma · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 11:21 am »

You might consider using double wall construction since this will be a new build. There are lots of ways to do it, and the thermal break and extra insulation should make for a very quiet house. Plus, it will be super efficient.

orientalexpress · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 12:39 pm »

i use QuietRock for drywall 5/8 .http://www.quietrock.com/

i use this insulation in between . http://www.bondedlogic.com/oem-solutions/acoustical-solutions
instead of fiberglass.

it's work great.

lapsan

django11 · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Jul 2012, 01:24 pm »

Also known as resilient channel. For the cost it is worth the install. The drywall is more or less suspended off of these channels which act a bit as shock absorbers and reduce transmission of vibrations from one side of the wall to the other. Roxul is a good product if available where you are.

Never tried this product but it looks interesting: Accoustiblock http://www.acoustiblok.com/

Quote from: Rocket_Ronny on 21 Jul 2012, 03:39 am

Thanks Perry.

It simply looks like a metal channel. I would think low frequencies would transfer through, unlike the rubber Acoustiguard, no?

Double 5/8" drywall is what I have on the radar. Thing is, cutting holes in it for the electrical seems like defeating the purpose. I am going to have to run the electrical along baseboards or something and have the outlet of the face of the wall.

Thanks for the link.

Rocket_Ronny

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #10 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 04:49 am »

Thanks guys for the input.

I tried a search on this topic but could not find much. So I hope this is not a repeat topic.

Rocket_Ronny

dmatt · « **Reply #11 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 02:22 pm »

We are in the process of sound proofing our 2nd floor (audio room) from our 1st floor, so I have some resources for you ...

Check out these sites, they sell the products, but they also have quite a few articles on the subject as well -- including how to treat electrical, HVAC, and light openings:

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/

Ted White is one of the owners of the Soundproofing Company, he was involved with the Green Glue company:

http://www.greengluecompany.com/
Adding Green Glue between your double layers of 5/8 drywall will provide constrained layer damping along with the mass of the drywall pluss the decoupling of the clips/resilient channel you are already considering.

Ted also posts a lot on the AVS forum sub section, "Dedicated Theater Design Construction"
http://www.avsforum.com/f/19/dedicated-theater-design-construction

Another retail site with good info:
http://www.soundisolationstore.com/

I am not affiliated with any of these companies other than talking with them and making some purchases.

I hope this helps.

David

NIGHTFALL1970 · « **Reply #12 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 02:33 pm »

Ronnie,
I have triple glass windows as well but I had extra insulation added around the out side (under the large inside trim, and it has made a big difference in eliminating traffic sounds from outside.

bpape · « **Reply #13 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 03:35 pm »

Hi Ronny

Ping me and we can get together on the phone. Lots of different things to consider and easier that way than huge posts/emails.

Bryan

pslate · « **Reply #14 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 03:50 pm »

You could save some money using a staggered stud wall, perhaps mineral wool insulation. I like the fact that mineral wool has good fit, and does not tend to sag, along with its great acoustical properties. Double drywall with green glue would be great too, essentially the same as quite rock. But serious materials is a good company, I have met with their reps several times. Workmanship is always huge! Field STC values are always different than lab numbers for assemblies. It sounds like you know that very well, but it's always worth repeating. When acoustical lawsuits occur in multi-family construction, usually two components almost always exist, cheap developer, and a low bidding sub. Steel studs can be a problem if there are poor or cheap details, I wonder if dimpled studs are any better. Anyone know?

bpape · « **Reply #15 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 03:59 pm »

Steel studs can work fine. The big deal is decoupling the wall itself from the rest of the structure with something like DC-04 clips at the top. The next step is RSIC-1 and hat channel. I personally prefer that to the RC. RC is OK but is really easy to mess up with a screw in the wrong places. Double drywall and Green Glue is easier to work with and as good or better than the premade Quiet Rock. 2 layers of standard 5/8 with Green Glue between them requires Quiet Rock in the 1"+ range to compete. Its very expensive and very very difficult to schlep around due to the sheer weight.

Also pay close attention to any holes in the walls (outlets, lights, switches, hvac, etc). Very easy to defeat a soundproofing job by poking a bunch of holes in it and not backing those properly with mass of some sort.

HVAC is a subject all to itself as to how to best isolate it yet still keep it efficient and quiet.

Bryan

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #16 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 05:07 pm »

Great info everyone. Keep it coming.

We will decide today or tomorrow if we buy an acreage or move into town.

One of the best sound transmission solutions is space. 20 acres will do. Only the sellers are moving targets. Today is my final offer to them, then I will move on with a house in town. I really would like the 20 acres though.

Rocket_Ronny

mikeeastman · « **Reply #17 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 05:15 pm »

Have you looked into building the house or at least the basement out of ICFs. They give you, one of the strongest, best insulated and quietest buildings of all the types of construction that I've built with or come across.

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #18 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 05:47 pm »

Hi Mike:

Would it be much quieter than straight concrete?

I would do the basement concrete and have as few windows as possible, but I don't know what you would gain above grade with concrete since you still have a lot of windows to deal with.

Rocket_Bomb-Shelter_Ronny

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Jul 2012, 07:30 pm »

As you probably know, the most difficult frequency range to suppress is from around 300Hz and down. Have you considered the dipolar option in covering as much of this range as is feasible? Dipolar radiation reduces the net energy into a room and the SPLs outside, particularly in the bass range.
This will not only make the neighbors happy, but the rest of your household, too.