Soundproofing my ceiling.

[Gempulse]

I live in an apartment in my parents basement. The living room in which they watch TV is right above my HT room, and their bedroom is two floors above my HT room. I usually have to keep my listening volumes at a respectable volume when they are home. Though, I would love to be able to listen to whatever I want as loud as I want without disturbing them.

I have a 3/8" thick drywall ceiling in my HT right now. I have been saving up money to completely deaden the sound in my room & keep it from going up to my parents area's.

I am going to be getting enough 5/8" thick drywall & Green Glue to add another layer onto my current ceiling.

How much do you think this would help my situation out?

[kareface]

Sound will transfer along the path of least resistance. You can quiet the more direct transmissions by doing a single wall, but only doing one wall won't be that dramatic of a difference. If you only did one wall and shut off the bass fairly high you might avoid anything too loud from transferring.

[Gempulse]

Originally Posted by kareface

Sound will transfer along the path of least resistance. You can quiet the more direct transmissions by doing a single wall, but only doing one wall won't be that dramatic of a difference. If you only did one wall and shut off the bass fairly high you might avoid anything too loud from transferring.

In other words, my parents would still be able to hear most of the sound from my HT if I just treated my ceiling?

[stevo4264]

Originally Posted by Gempulse

I live in an a disturbing them.

I have a 3/8" thick drywall ceiling in my HT right now. I

I am going to be getting enough 5/8" thick drywall & Green Glue to add another layer onto my current ceiling.
How much do you think this would help my situation out?

You need to make a gap between one layer and the other to soundproof the room, that also means on all the walls as well, otherwise you will get sound Leakage from one room to the next, and don't forget your door, I get more sound leakage from my door than anything else.

[Gempulse]

Originally Posted by stevo4264

You need to make a gap between one layer and the other to soundproof the room, that also means on all the walls as well, otherwise you will get sound Leakage from one room to the next, and don't forget your door, I get more sound leakage from my door than anything else.

But if the room is above me, I was thinking just the ceiling would block out most of the sound leaking to the room above.

[stevo4264]

Originally Posted by Gempulse

But if the room is above me, I was thinking just the ceiling would block out most of the sound leaking to the room above.

It will get rid of some, but especially Bass gets out "everywhere". My HT room is soundproofed with Soundchek Gyprock and Sound Batt behind that, that's walls and ceiling. From outside you can't hear the Dialogue of a movie, but outside it sounds like a thunderstorm, The Bass gets out everywhere

[86surf]

Either that or just save up and buy a house so then it's a non issue.
It seems like a lot of work to try and sound proof a room that eventually that when you leave you won't enjoy anymore. Just my opinion.

[Ted White]

The bass will travel through the walls and up. Just as others have said. For ceiling only solutions, you'll still have noise issues. See this article on Flanking: http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/...cles/flanking/

[Gempulse]

Originally Posted by Ted White

The bass will travel through the walls and up. Just as others have said. For ceiling only solutions, you'll still have noise issues. See this article on Flanking: http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/...cles/flanking/

If I were to only soundproof the ceiling, would the dialogue/higher frequencies be a lot less noticeable on the above floor though?

[Ted White]

Depends on how much sound is flanking through the side walls. If 75% of the sound is travelling through th ceiling, and you treat that 75%, then you would certainly expect a good drop in sound.

Contrary to some popular myth, leaving a gap in the soundproofing protocol does not cause all the sound to simply find a new route out. Water does that, but not sound

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by Gempulse

I have a 3/8" thick drywall ceiling in my HT right now. I have been saving up money to completely deaden the sound in my room & keep it from going up to my parents area's.

I am going to be getting enough 5/8" thick drywall & Green Glue to add another layer onto my current ceiling.

How much do you think this would help my situation out?

It'll be a minimal change. You need to break the hard line transmission that sound travels. This involves air gaps, density differences...Attached is a pic I know I've posted in the past.

You can make the room sound proof, but by the time you save up and get the $ for it, it'll be time to move out (unless you're independently wealthy). You can do things to soften the impact of sound transfer. I did, I put closed cell foam, bat insulation btw the joists and 5/8 rock, caulked all the seams and it helped, but didn't make it completely sound proof. I could hang up sound deadening but the bass would still leak out. That plus you have your duct work that will work against you too.

ceiling_proof.jpg

wall_2d.jpg

[Ted White]

I have criticized that image many times in many forums over the course of many years for many reasons. No offense, as I realize this isn’t your design. Please, please don’t be offended, as you are clearly trying to help.

#1 The use of carpet and standard carpet pad will go a very long way to help combat impact noise. That’s a great thing. The use of MLV on the floor, however, is expensive and while MLV is itself a damped material, it does not appreciably damp what it is in contact with, which is exactly what you want. Better to insert a layer of inexpensive plywood over the subfloor with a damping compound between the old subfloor and the new plywood. That will yield more mass than the MLV layer, cost less and actually nicely damp the subflooring itself.

#2 The cavity simply needs R19 fiberglass. Expensive insulation is intuitively a good thing, however lab data shows us that simple, cheap fiberglass is as good as it gets, especially in the much more problematic low frequencies.

#3 The channel as shown is not decoupling, which is a big loss. The foam applied to the channel does nothing. The foam becomes fully compressed and locked with all the drywall screws. Much better to use standard 7/8” Drywall Furring Channel (not RC-1 or RC-2) and resilient clips.

#4 Similarly, the closed cell foam in the ceiling layer is doing little if anything, other than further draining your wallet. Much better to substitute for another layer of drywall. Better yet, add a layer of damping compound between the finished drywall layers.

If you can't address the floor from above, consider this method from below:


The wall diagram is similarly flawed:

#1 Soundboard and closed cell foam really have no business in a wall. They are not a reasonable substitute for proper decoupling.

#2 The RC-1 channel is also a poor decoupling element. Much better (lab proven) is the use of one of a number of different resilient clips and standard Drywall Furring Channel. Or decouple via staggered stud or double stud framing.

#3 the MLV in the wall adds nice mass, but weighs only 40% of what a comparable sheet of 5/8” drywall weighs. Drywall also costs 25$ of what MLV costs. Better to substitute all the MLV, foam and soundboard for a simple piece of drywall. Consider damping that drywall, as discussed in the ceiling.

#4 The vibration pads under the wall are also unnecessary. Better to simply seal the bottom plate to the floor.

#5 Purposefully leaving a 1/4" gap at the perimeter as outlined is not only going to annoy and frustrate your drywall installers, it's also largely an exercise in fulility. Run all drwall to the next wall, ceiling or floor and seal with proper sealant.

[Deadset]

Obviously I haven't invested the $ to implement this design. I used the photo as a guide. As I said, I've done the R19 bat insulation to fill the space btw the joists, closed cell foam (1/2") and 5/8 rock which helped immensely. I've been in houses that just nailed up 1/2 rock to the joists and my basement is much more isolated from vertical noise transmission.

If there is a installer who has built a completely sound isolated room, I'd like to hear from them.

[Ted White]

I've installed and lab tested many designs over the last 12 years.

[Deadset]

Maybe you're just the guy who we need to make a sticky thread about soundproofing. It'd be good to separate the reality from the supposed. Until you spend the money on the setup and test it with instruments, the general do-it-yourselfer won't know the outcome until it's done.

[Ted White]

Originally Posted by Deadset

Until you spend the money on the setup and test it with instruments, the general do-it-yourselfer won't know the outcome until it's done.

Well, that's about the best summary I've heard. I hope you don't mind if I use that from time to time.

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by Ted White

Well, that's about the best summary I've heard. I hope you don't mind if I use that from time to time.

[Ted White]

One general statement I'd make about soundproofing is that most dealers selling the materials have little knowledge about the physics involved and have an over-riding focus on adding more and more products into the solution.

In truth, world-class sound isolation can be achieved by (mostly) using standard building materials from Home Depot. It's just awful how people get duped into buying so many unnecessary materials.