Sound insulation


JosephThomas

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Drywall is just the cheapest option.  Some people suggest using two dissimilar layers glued together.  You could do a layer of drywall and then do a layer of OSB or T1-11 siding over it. or OSB and then T1-11 over that.  I don't know that any one combination is going to be best, but the T1-11 will sure look a lot better than the OSB.

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I recently sound proofed my basement workshop. I ripped out the old drop ceiling, stuffed the joist bays with Roxul Safe and Sound (which is different than their comfort bats, has very little insulation value, and is made specifically for sound proofing), and put in a new drop ceiling that had a high sound rating. It made a huge difference. 

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We had fiberglass blown in two walls to our already drywall and painted two-car garage, then I used rolls of R-13 on the garage door, and we had 14" blown in for the ceiling above the garage.  We did it for climate control when we put in the mini-split for heat and AC and one side benefit is that I can run my loud lunchbox planer and DC and unless you're standing within 10' of the garage door it is very difficult to hear.  So I'd have to say that drywall and fiberglass does a pretty decent job at sound deadening. Before insulating you could hear those even if you were 50' away out in the street. Total cost for all the blown in insulation - $500. 

I asked our neighbor closest to the shop if we ever bothered her with the woodworking tools running at night.  She said, 'You do woodworking? Cool, never heard a thing.'  Her bedroom is on the same side as our garage and the houses are probably 12' apart, maybe a bit more but not much.

David

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Check out some AV forums if you want to see some overkill sound insulation. A lot of them used 2 layers of drywall with a special type of glue, I think it's called green glue or something like that.

Have you spoken with your neighbors and asked if they can hear it? We're in a townhouse and I've yet to have a neighbor say they can hear any tools running when I'm in the basement. Last night I used a tablesaw, lathe and a shop vac while my wife was watching TV in the room above holding a sleeping baby and they were fine. I know those tools aren't as loud as a planer or DC but you have 2 walls and 10' of space separating you.

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When I built a 'soundproof' room in the basement for the dust collector & compressor I did tons of research on the subject & found the most most info on AV & home theater sites. Mass, isolation and absorption are the 3 things that need to be addressed. Roxul Safe 'n Sound insulation, sound bar on the stud faces & then drywall will give you a pretty good result. 5/8" fire rated drywall is lots better than 1/2" & going with 2 layers will make a significant improvement. Even better is to use Green Glue (it's not actually glue at all) between the layers, which serves to decouple them.

Drywall is a very good material to use because it's cheap, dense & tends to dampen vibrations more than plywood. You could then top it off with a layer of OSB or other wood product of your choice to provide something to screw to. 

I built my room with double wall construction, 6" of Safe 'n Sound, and 2 layers of 5/8" drywall/Green Glue on each side. If I'm standing 5' away from the wall & turn on the DC, I cannot hear it at all. I have to get my ear to within 6" of the wall & then it can just barely be heard.

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I don't think you have to get super fancy.   Roxul in the walls with a drywall top works.

I don't know if this is universal code... but here in Minnesota since like 1995 or so all garages are drywalled with 5/8" sheetrock.   walls, ceiling, etc.   They insulate the walls, but generally not the ceilings.   Our garagedoors are also insulated with 1" XPS foam, and exterior doors would be a standard metal insulated exterior door.

The main reason for the 5/8" sheetrock I'm told is firecode.   In case a fire starts in the garage this slows it's spread. (although we don't have fire alarms in the garage, which seems odd... ok I'm digressing)

 

As far as the drywall goes, they don't finish mud it.   They just tape and mud the seams with no sanding.   So you don't have to spend a lot of time on it.

 

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2 hours ago, drzaius said:

When I built a 'soundproof' room in the basement for the dust collector & compressor I did tons of research on the subject & found the most most info on AV & home theater sites. Mass, isolation and absorption are the 3 things that need to be addressed. Roxul Safe 'n Sound insulation, sound bar on the stud faces & then drywall will give you a pretty good result. 5/8" fire rated drywall is lots better than 1/2" & going with 2 layers will make a significant improvement. Even better is to use Green Glue (it's not actually glue at all) between the layers, which serves to decouple them.

Drywall is a very good material to use because it's cheap, dense & tends to dampen vibrations more than plywood. You could then top it off with a layer of OSB or other wood product of your choice to provide something to screw to. 

I built my room with double wall construction, 6" of Safe 'n Sound, and 2 layers of 5/8" drywall/Green Glue on each side. If I'm standing 5' away from the wall & turn on the DC, I cannot hear it at all. I have to get my ear to within 6" of the wall & then it can just barely be heard.

What about the ceiling and floor of your room?

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1 hour ago, Immortan D said:

What about the ceiling and floor of your room?

Floor's concrete, ceiling is 12" of insulation, 2 layers of 5/8" with the OSB subfloor & 3/4" hardwood above. The ceiling framed independently of the house structure, supported by the inner layer of the double wall construction.

The room is in my basement, adjacent to the garage with ducts connecting the two.

One important thing I left out was that there is no drywall between the 2 sides of the double wall. Putting that in would've actually increased sound transmission quite a bit.

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1 hour ago, drzaius said:

Floor's concrete, ceiling is 12" of insulation, 2 layers of 5/8" with the OSB subfloor & 3/4" hardwood above. The ceiling framed independently of the house structure, supported by the inner layer of the double wall construction.

The room is in my basement, adjacent to the garage with ducts connecting the two.

One important thing I left out was that there is no drywall between the 2 sides of the double wall. Putting that in would've actually increased sound transmission quite a bit.

Thanks. And I guess you used acoustic blankets for the door?

Edit: NVM. I found my answer here:

Two doors. You really made a great job with that room.

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1 hour ago, drzaius said:

Let us know what the denim is like to work with. Seems like it wouldn't cut as easily, but the no itch would sure be nice. Although I fine mineral wool less itchy than fiberglass.

It's going to be nice for walls but won't work for crap on the ceiling between the joists. The stuff is just not wide enough to wedge in there well enough and it doesn't have a staple strip like faced insulation does. Which makes me sad i was excited to have a denim blue ceiling in my shop.

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