Soundproofing a room...

[Azure]

I'm going to be renovating and building a fitness room pretty soon, and I'm looking to soundproof it.

It doesn't have to be 'perfect'.....but a low-cost, effective paneling that reduces the sound would be great.

I'm a complete noob in this regard.

Where do I start?

[zarrell]

Acoustic insulation, or even regular insulation in the wall cavity is the first step. Then you could double up the drywall on one or either side of the room. Probably the cheapest route to go.

[photon]

The acoustic insulation is pretty much useless, we used it for our basement reno and I can hardly tell it's there.. Though I pretty much expected that from the research I did.

However that's from a home theater point of view, if this is an exercise room then the range of frequencies you want to mask is probably much less, so not sure how well the acoustic insulation would do.

The one option I found that I really wanted to do was Green Glue: http://www.greenglue.ca

Basically this involves 2 layers of drywall with this in between, and from what I've read the results are quite impressive.

In my case the area was so big (800 square feet of basement) the cost was too much.. but for a smaller room it might be worth the cost.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I crammed in some serious amounts of Roxul Safe and Sound into a basement wall containing a drain pipe I wanted to quiet and it did the trick for me. A lot of complaints about Roxul though, I don't think its something that works on it's own, you need to combine it with other products for best effect.

Mike Holmes had an episode where he dealt with this, and used Quietrock (http://www.quietsolution.com/html/quietrock.html). I think it's like putting up 8 sheets of normal drywall or something like that.

[Top Shelf]

I've read about a few start to finish projects on AVS forum. Most of them are fairly high end though, and likely out of your price range.

Might be worth a read though, lots of very smart people on that forum and i'm sure you'll get some ideas.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=19

[Xavian]

Soundproofing is a tricky subject.

Soundproofing is done using a rating system called STC. This measures the whole wall system (drywall, insulation, stud etc.)

If you are looking to build a low cost theatre here are some good steps.

Use Roxul Safe and Sound insulation.

Use a product called Resilient Channel in between your drywall and studs.

Use 2 layers of 5/8 drywall. Remember to stagger your seams.

The Quietrock product works but is insanely expensive, labor intensive and the whole 8 equals one is really all marketing as sound is measured by system not product.

If you need more specific help PM me and I can help you would with some more detailed STC construction practices.

[edslunch]

Bumping an old thread....

My son is taking a gap year before going to university and wants to move into the basement of our bungalow for more space and privacy. We have a large finished room (former garage) but it's directly under our bedroom. He wants to be able to play his guitar, do some recording, have his girlfriend over, etc. We're looking for options to make it more soundproof - not expecting miracles, just improvement. The ceiling is already insulated but I'm wondering about adding acoustic tiles or something. I know adding an additional drywall layer could help but I don't want to get into that big a project.

Suggestions?

[cupofjoe]

Google - drywall suspended via resilient channel, good and relatively inexpensive place to start.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by cupofjoe

Google - drywall suspended via resilient channel, good and relatively inexpensive place to start.

Question: What are the biggest differences between doing drywall suspended via resilient channel and hanging a railing and doing acoustic ceiling tiles?

Is there a major acoustic difference?
Is there a major time/cost difference?

No dog in the fight, but I'm just curious.

Ignoring the above questions, I'm guessing that drywall suspended via resilient channel works great, but it's harder to do with one person. Acoustic tile is a bit easier to do by ones self. Curious to know if there's a benefit from one over the other.

[Azure]

The hanging acoustic ceiling tile doesn't help much with the pounding on the floor above you. However that problem can be solved by putting down an acoustic substrate before putting the floor in. It is also possible to hang the railing in such a way that it doesn't vibrate as much.

On top of that you can actually buy pretty good tiles that deaden the sound. Put in insulation in the joists as well.

The drywall option sounds interesting. I'm thinking you can't do much with the floor above you, so maybe putting insulation into the ceiling is one option. I'm not sure how much it does though.

Always found it interesting that people would suggest the acoustic tiles would deaden sound when it is generally recommended to air gap walls for better sound protection. Wouldn't the railing system be a conductor for the sound?

[cupofjoe]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Question: What are the biggest differences between doing drywall suspended via resilient channel and hanging a railing and doing acoustic ceiling tiles?

Is there a major acoustic difference?
Is there a major time/cost difference?

No dog in the fight, but I'm just curious.

Ignoring the above questions, I'm guessing that drywall suspended via resilient channel works great, but it's harder to do with one person. Acoustic tile is a bit easier to do by ones self. Curious to know if there's a benefit from one over the other.

Decouples the room, which helps (significantly if done properly) absorb the bass / low frequencies in the room. Acoustic tile, from my understanding, works mostly in the mid / high frequency range.

[indes]

If you have the hanging acoustic tiles, putting a layer of closed egg cartons will significantly muffle the sound. My dad got away with his drums in the basement like that.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by cupofjoe

Decouples the room, which helps (significantly if done properly) absorb the bass / low frequencies in the room. Acoustic tile, from my understanding, works mostly in the mid / high frequency range.

My existing ceiling insulation does a pretty good job with high frequency but the low end resonates in my bedroom like crazy. Sounds like this approach may help with that. Thanks

[cupofjoe]

When i built my home theatre in last townhouse (paper thin shared walls). I built a box within a box concept. I used separated staggered double stud walls with sound insulation, soundboard with two layers of drywall with no overlapping seams. On the ceiling, I used sound insulation, soundboard, two layers of 5/8 drywall. One was fastened normally, the other with resilient channel. Again, with no overlapping seams. I used an exterior grade solid door & frame.

Part of the reason I did this was to gain first-hand knowledge for my clients when I am designing their theatres. The other reason of course is I really want to enjoy my space at proper volume and not have my neighbors hate me.

It turned out very well, I tested with my sound meter and at 115 decibels (think leaf blower, rock concert, chainsaw levels), it barely raised the noise floor of my main level ~10 decibels which would be like adding a very soft voice to a quiet room.

In the whole time I lived there, my neighbours never heard me playing a movie (I asked).

So with proper design, you can really attenuate sound in a room.

[northcrunk]

Get some of these and place them in spots where the sound will be reverberating

http://www.avshop.ca/recording/acous...SABEgIhCvD_BwE

You can build a similar set up with foam panels but it wont be as good. For a whole gym I would put a few panels up in the corners and the ceiling.