furious primitive wants to soundproof home

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=287x8459

Oh my.

Obviously a subject on which franksolich can offer no, absolutely no, counsel.

Hell Hath No Fury  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-26-10 02:57 PM
THE FURIOUS PRIMITIVE
Original message

Soundproofing advice neeed --

Here's the scoop -- I renovated the upper floor of my house to get in a tenant to bring in some much needed $$$. I am now in the basement/garage of the house -- it is actually the first, above ground story of the house -- here in SF they are known as "soft story" houes.

When I look up there is no real ceiling to my space, only the underside of the second floor -- the joists and the upstairs subfloor, on which sits a lovely solid oak floor.

My problem: the upstairs noise is DEAFENING! I can hear everything that is going on upstairs -- every convesation, every scrape of a fork on a plate, every fart for gosh sakes.  I knew it was going to be noisy until I insulated, but DAMN it is making me nuts.

My question: what is the BEST way to go about making my space the most quiet it can be from upstairs noise??

In doing some reasearch, I am thinking about rock wool insulation, a little Green Glue on the joist faces, and QuietRock panels or regular 5/8 sheet rock.

Any thoughts on my plan? Any better suggestions?? It can't be too expensive -- I blew every cent I had on the upstairs reno.

Wash. state Desk Jet  (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-26-10 04:41 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. Insulating and sheet rocking will make a big difference.

There is sound absorbing material although it is quite expensive. Insulating well and sheet rocking the basement will reduce the noise to a tolerable level.

I once as a contractor addressed that problem in a commercial building 7200 sq. ft two floors ,drop ceiling panels.-noise resonating in law offices is very bad. I was able to reduce the sound travel by doubling the panels and in some areas adding insulation. The sound absorption material was far too much in cost.Those wood floors will always be noisy. But between sheet rock and insulation it will be tolerable. I would suggest you keep it very basic. And remember,if you see a good deal on insulation ,you are insulating for sound so don;t get stuck in the r values of the insulation. You pack it in there and fill ever crevice and crack! Just pack it in. Than sheet rock it.

You can do a experiment ,find a area where the sound is the worst ,insulate it first to find out how much of a difference that makes. Than sheet rock it with a 4x8 or 4x12 i/2 inch or 5/8. Any other way and you are going into specialty material. you will never eliminate the sound completely,but you will reduce it considerably.They make styrofoam insulation to fit between joyces ,expensive and I really don't know how much more sound those panels will absord.

Anyway, find the area where the noise if the worst and do your experimenting. From there proceeding should be simply a matter with fallowing up with what you started.

My suggestion, insulate ,owens corning,sheet rock.

Hassin Bin Sober  (1000+ posts)      Sat Mar-27-10 11:33 AM
Response to Original message
 
2. We are going through this right now for our downstairs neighbor.

We are in the process of adding a bath in our condo and a bath in the downstairs neighbor's condo (working with her and her father). While we have both places torn up we figured we would add sound proofing to the neighbor's ceiling to alleviate her complaints when I walk around at night - the complaints, although mostly "tongue in cheek" have been a source of friction between us and our friend downstairs. We live in a 100 year old building with zero insulation between floors and REALLY squeaky floors.

Anyway. We went over her existing drywall with 2x4s "on the flat" and added 1.5 inch styrofoam insulation between the 2x4s. Over that, we placed a 1/2 inch of "Homosote Sound Barrier 440" and then "resilient channel and then 1/2 inch drywall.

It didn't work worth a shit.

Those squeaks and "mechanical noise" of walking around are a tough nut to crack.

If I were you, I would isolate the new ceiling AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Ideally, a completely new ceiling unattached to the floor above with a bunch of insulation in between. If you have the height, I would run new joists and attach to your walls. Depending on your spans, maybe you can use a smaller joist if height is an issue and "hang" them from the joists above for support.

It's just so hard to stop those noises once they start. The ideal way to handle this problem is to stop the noise before it starts with sound proofing under the hardwood before the subfloor.

Hmmm.  How does one "isolate" a ceiling?

Anybody know?

Wash. state Desk Jet  (1000+ posts)      Sat Mar-27-10 06:47 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
3. I thought so ,you confirmed what I suspected.

To add to Hassin Bin Sober's suggestions, You could add a drop ceiling ,drop ceilings are adjustable so if you have the height even six inches to spare or four ,you could add a acoustic drop ceiling.Insulate with standard insulation up in the Joyce's right down to the drop ceiling. Hell too ,sheet rock over the insulation than add the acoustic drop ceiling !

It may seem to abe a bit of a over kill,but since you are at the stage where the noise is getting to you,you may find the over kill idea somewhat soothing for the time being!

Suggestion, price out the acoustic drop ceiling. Replacement ceiling panels are about $20.00 a box,I think there are eight to a box maybe ten as I recall.And find a deal on insulation .

Acoustic drop ceiling double paneled does help. And so does adding insulation .The acoustic drop ceiling does have noise reduction values.

That could be the best way to go.Got a home depot close by? That is a job you could do in stages over time.

Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel  (1000+ posts)        Sat Mar-27-10 06:52 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
4. Sounds like you need to learn kung fu!

You know, walk like the wind.

Or may be get some Shag carpet

Shag carpeting, how 70s, how primitivish.

[Karin]

you could add a acoustic drop ceiling.

AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!111!!!!!!

The scourge of my life.  I have an old big house almost 200 years old, that we've been trying to restore from a POS into something of beauty.  It spent part of its life as rental property from the 1960's on, with notoriously cheap owners.  They put this stuff in, and it is BUTT UGLY.  I can't stand it, and have been trying to save up to put in proper elegant ceilings.  I can't even stand to look up and see them.  Bleagh. 

[Tucker]

Since I built and insulated a room in my basement for my drums and since the primitives are known to visit or domain, I ain't tellin how I did it.

[JohnnyReb]

San Francisco...basement....sound proofing....I'm thinking more along the line of an S&M chamber.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Frank, by isolating it, the DUmmie means the ceiling should not be physically connected to the joists above it, for instance by running a set of separate joists for the ceiling alone below the load-bearing ones supporting the floor above.  While such secondary joists could be much lighter since they would only support the weight of the ceiling, it's extremely doubtful the landlord DUmmie has the necessary free space overhead to do this as you would have to start with at least 8' of free space below the existing joists to end up with a living space suitable for non-Hobbits. 

[ScubaGuy]

Why would a good liberal rent rooms when there are so many homeless people who need a place to stay but can't afford one?

Come-on DUmmy show you liberal credentials and give the place away.  Bobo the hobo needs a place to live.  Renting is for evil Republicans.

 

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

If he was my landlord I'd be doing it in the living room 4 times a day.

[DumbAss Tanker]

If he was my landlord I'd be doing it in the living room 4 times a day.

But then, you're a rabbit, so you do it four times a day anyway.

[BlueStateSaint]

But then, you're a rabbit, so you do it four times a day anyway.

Yeah, but he's probably getting on in years, and four times a week would be an improvement.

[Ralph Wiggum]

San Francisco...basement....sound proofing....I'm thinking more along the line of an S&M chamber.

 

[dutch508]

Yeah, but he's probably getting on in years, and four times a week would be an improvement.

If you audiotape it you can play it back like six times a day.

[vlad335]

If he was my landlord I'd be doing it in the living room 4 times a day.

I would play Rush Limbaugh 24 hours a day.

[GOBUCKS]

I wonder how much sound insulation he'll be able to afford after paying the jug-eared muslim's tax on rental income.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

I would play Rush Limbaugh 24 hours a day.

...while doing it 4 times a day.


Or did I go too far?

[BlueStateSaint]

If you audiotape it you can play it back like six times a day.

Speaking from experience, eh, Dutch?

[crockspot]

Easy solution: Move upstairs, rent out the basement. Let the tenant deal with the noise.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Easy solution: Move upstairs, rent out the basement. Let the tenant deal with the noise.

It's San Franfreako, and run by Democrats since time immemorial - there is no doubt some housing code provision requiring a city-issued 'Certificate of suitability' or some such BS that would render the ground floor unsat for rental property, and the DUmmie has already blown all the renovation money he could afford -- in fact I would bet that most of the money spent of renovating the upper part went into just bringing in into code compliance for rental.

[dutch508]

Speaking from experience, eh, Dutch?

Can't run a decent chinese porn site without good audio equipment.


Just saying.

[claret1995]

Gee the easiest and cheapest soundproof for a dummy

9mm to the temple, eternal quiet

[Airwolf]

I would play Rush Limbaugh 24 hours a day.

Oh no .What you do is get an Audio file of the helicopter attack from "Apocolypse Now" and put it on a CD and hit repeat .

[zeitgeist]

 Just a bit   but... 

If you are receiving rent do you have to claim it as income for tax purposes?  If you don't can your tennant turn you in to the IRS for a bounty?? 

[dandi]

San Francisco...basement....sound proofing....I'm thinking more along the line of an S&M chamber.

Or Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs.

"It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

Here, Precious!"

[PatriotGame]

Since I built and insulated a room in my basement for my drums and since the primitives are known to visit or domain, I ain't tellin how I did it.

I built my own home theater and used 4 thousand dollars of mass-loaded vinyl mat and another two thousand dollars of Dynamat in special areas all in the ceilings along with double layers of 5/8" Sheetrock. I also installed Cotton Fiber matting between the joists on the ceilings along with a shitload of Green Glue. http://soundproofing.org/

If you have new construction you can use the clips to "de-Couple" the floor joists from the flooring installed on top of them.
The walls need to be insulated/sound proofed too since sound does NOT travel in a straight line and audio induced vibrations in a wall stud WILL travel UP to the joist above it and into the flooring supported by said floor joists.

FFS DUmmy, just hit the Internets and search for sound proofing homes or rooms or Home Theaters.

Here is a good place to start for information: http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/library/

Oh and my car is full of Dynamat - in the doors, the engine firewall, the trunk, and under the seats. This shit just works! Of course I had to tear the car down to install it but I did this while installing my Kenwood DNX9660, monster amps, dual 10' subs, and 4-corner component speaker system.

Silly me - Audio/Video connoisseur pro for 25+ years.
If you want to love me, buy me two of these: http://www.marklevinson.com/products/overview.asp?prod=no53

[PatriotGame]

Or Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs.

"It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

Here, Precious!"

Oh that is just ****ing sick!!

(Which coincidentally, why I LOVE it soooo much!  )

[franksolich]

Just a bit   but... 

If you are receiving rent do you have to claim it as income for tax purposes?  If you don't can your tenant turn you in to the IRS for a bounty?? 

Yes and yes.