New Shop Basement Ceiling - Sheetrock Between Joists?

[tedfmcm]

Discovered this awesome site/forum in the summer but finally posting for myself...

 

As a long time hobbyist in my father’s home shop, after purchasing my home several years ago, I finally bit the bullet to renovate the basement and convinced the wife that half should be made into a workshop (11 x 27 foot shop).  So far I gutted the basement, chiseled off the old parge from the concrete foundation, applied new coats of Thoroseal, leveled the floor, and installed PVC garage flooring sheets on the shop side.  Before moving my new JET hybrid table saw (currently occupying the study upstairs) and starting framing, I want to address the ceiling/lighting in the workshop side first.

 

I'm wrestling with how to provide moderate (something besides bare floor above) sound dampening.  However, i would like to keep the ceiling exposed for future renovation work and numerous pipes below the joists which would make a 'real' ceiling a lot more trouble than its worth.

 

One idea I came up with was a hybrid Roxul/sheetrock/exposed joist combo:

• Rip 1 inch stock to the 3 inch height of Roxul and install flush with the floor above on each joist
• Install Roxul in each bay for some sound dampening
• install 1/2 sheetrock sections inside the joist bay screwing into the 1 inch stock - no taping would be used for easy removal during renovation above

Understanding the exposed joists would still allow sound to carry through, would this idea at least moderately dampen sounds upstairs?  Any other feasible ideas besides doing nothing are certainly welcome.

 

Thanks in advance for the help...looking forward to setting up shop.

 

Ted

[wdwerker]

Had to google Roxul, but rock wool is sound and fire rated insulation. 5/8 sheetrock will dampen the noise more. It's heavier and harder to hang full sheets on a ceiling but strips should be pretty easy.

Your plan makes good sense to me. If you paint the joists, pipes and sheetrock it will improve your visibility.

[tedfmcm]

Thanks...good idea about painting everything. I did note the joist crossbraces which I think I will remove and replace with comparable 2by stock. This should make the install easier.

On that topic...any suggestions for a light layout?

Thanks again

[Tpt life]

Hey Ted, do a search through some of the recent shop build threads. There a couple of online widgets guys have been linking to for lighting layouts.

[websherpa]

Adding some Roxul and just putting 6mil poly to hold it up would afford some sound deadening on its own, but not much.  You could fill the joists with the Roxul and then directly staple ceiling panels (the card fiberous kind) to the joists (which is somewhat easy to remove and re-install in sections as needed without losing as much height as a dropped ceiling might.

 

Making sure to caulk ALL cracks, wire and pipe penetrations to the floor above with Acoustic caulk (and insul wrapping any heating conduit) will also go a long way, as any air penetrations can really carry the higher frequency noise right through).

 

When you are able to seal the ceiling 2 sheets of 5/8 drywall separated by Green Glue is apparently one of the best methods advocated (which we are going to try not he ceiling of our attached garage below bedrooms - but I haven't installed it yet).

 

You can sound seal from the top too if you can redo or cover your floor.  An overlay of a second plywood underlay separated by Green Glue, or even just another layer of thick plywood underlay and a carpet and carpet underlay will also help.

 

If your basement workshop is an isolated room, then building in some bass traps in the corners will help keep the bass from resonating to some extent as well.

[tedfmcm]

Thanks for the replies so far.

For lighting, the tools that are referenced are way beyond my ability, or quite frankly my desire, to learn about technical lighting terminology. Also, I'm having a real hard time finding anything reasonable for a decent 2 build fixture from the big box stores based on ballast recommendations...does this fit the bill?

http://t.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-4-ft-Wraparound-Fluorescent-Ceiling-Fixture-SB-2-32-120-GESB/100427375/

For my 11x26 shop I'm thinking two rows long ways of three 2 bulb fixtures on each side evenly spaced...any suggestions would be welcome and sorry for all the questions.

Thanks again.