Any ideas on soundproffing one interior space from another interior room? The rooms have to be accessible to each other and a door would seem to defeat other soundproffing efforts on the wall itself. I was thinking of two doors as you find in adjoining hotel rooms but that’s a lot of effort, cost and a thick wall required would take up valuable interior space. Is this the only way to soundproof the wall? If it is how thick a wall needs to be constructed to accomodate two doors? Would prefer something easier.
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Mass works well, two layers of drywall on each side-dig this-two different thicknesses has been mentioned.
Split jamb with a gasket type isolator in between-then hang your doors on each side.
Same with windows-two panes, split jamb and tip the panes at diff. angles.
Two plates/alternating studs. Sound deadening insulation filling cavities.
The above was used in 70's radio booth construction.
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thanks for the suggestion, someone else went a step further and recommended the channels and clips to create a dead space around the drywall.
My prescription would be: A 2"x4" stud wall with 2 layers drywall one side and one layer drywall with RSIC-1 sound isolation clips on res bar the other side. Filled with mineral wool batts and all openings and joints carefully caulked you won't hear a thing.
However, this wall will still leave the door and flanking noise through the ceiling and floor as weak points. Probably not much you can easily do about the flanking noise beyond packing the area above and below the wall with mineral wool batts if you can get access. You can get rated insulated interior doors that with gaskets and thresholds will go along way. http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/products/doors/doors.asp I don't think the hotel double door idea is a very good one. Any I have encountered have leaked sound like sieves.
Edited 6/14/2009 4:22 pm ET by fingersandtoes
thanks for the input and I'm inclined to agree with you about skipping the two door concept, which the owner favors. Wonder what my sound insulation ratings would be if I used standard R-13 fiberglas stapled batts with extra of the same stuffed in around the ceilings and other margins etc., along with your suggestion of doubled up drywall and channels/clips. Wool isn't that easy to get but of course insulation is available and cheap at Home Depot type of stores.
I wouldn't worry as much about the wool as the other stuff. The reason I suggested that assembly is that it is one for which test ratings exist and it tests near STC 60. With sound acting in such unpredictable ways I always like to start with a tested assembly and doors, rather than just adding noise control at random without knowing that you will end up with. I know people have had good results with things like vinyl loaded mass, green glue and other products but using a complete tested assembly to my mind makes more sense, and gives you something to fall back on if the owner questions your approach.
I've seen Dr.s offices with insulated interior walls and the doors were 1 3/4" solid slabs.
The extra thickness and density helped with the noise.
They also rolled fiberglass batts over the tops of the walls about three feet on both sides on top of the ceilings.
Will Rogers
Edited 6/14/2009 8:40 pm by popawheelie
I wish my doctor's office was a bit better insulated. Muffle my screams when he stitches my fingers :)
The nuns been whacking them with a ruler again?
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ok sounds like one thick, fire rated door may be enough
check out sound resistant drywall (#1 on google is "quietrock") I hear it is quite good. You might also look at MLV (Mass loaded vinyl) although this might get a little pricey. The cheaper option is to use a combination of metal clips/channels, insulation (cellulose might be best and available at a home center), and perhaps an extra layer of drywall. I install spray foam insulation, and it has been discussed that different densities of foam will block different frequencies more effectively. Without an acoustical engineer, the best you can do is try the most cost effective options and use a combination of them, although you won't really know whether you may have some transmission of low of high frequencies until installed. I think most approaches to sound deadening use either mass or a sound absorbing material, along with decoupling the two interior surfaces as best as possible to avoid vibrations making their way through. In my own home, considering I own the equipment, if I was really concerned about noise, I'd install a layer of CC foam, then OC foam, and Quietrock drywall over clips/channels.
probably overkill for my application as just want to minimize sound that a renter in one area may affect a part time resident in an adjoining area. Thanks for the foam idea but beyond my means...
Good doors can make a HECK of a difference in sound transmission.
My wife is a light sleeper who likes to sleep late, I like to take catnaps... we've got kids and frequent long term out of town guests. Noise has to be kept out of the bedroom. We live in a 1960 cheepo ranch, bedrooms are down the hallway from the living room.
Hollow core doors are basicly big drums, I've experienced them seeming to amplify sound rather than diminish it. My first pass at sound abatement in the bedrooms was putting up 1 3/4" solid core slabs in FIRE DOOR frames. These are like outdoor doorframes, as they have a weatherseal all around, but no step at the bottom. That alone took care of 90% of the noise... but still there was a nagging 10% that still got through - probably through the walls and under the door.
The final bit was taken care of when I realized that the hallway was exactly 36" wide. I redid a closet door in the hallway from 32" to 36". Now, opening the closet door all the way actually closes off the hallway from the rest of the house. I made a door jamb on the wall and put in a ball detent to keep it closed. It's not a perfect seal by any means, but it significantly reduces the sound that CAN get into the hallway. That little bit of sound does not get past the solid core doors.
My suggestion = two solid doors with weatherstripping around the jamb. No doorknobs, just pull handles on the outside and push plates on the facing sides, ball detent instead of latches.
Whisper quiet.
BTW, my house has just 1/2" drywall and no interior insulation. The doors take care of it all.
EDIT: I bought the doors and frames at HD, and spent about $100 per door.
Tu stultus es
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.
Edited 6/14/2009 10:43 pm by xxPaulCPxx
Thanks for your description on how you solved your noise issues. In this case I will need locks/handles as one area is the rental, and the other reserved for occasional out of towners so the spaces have to be secured from one another.
No problem. Key locks on the outer face, finger turns on the inside... or vice versa, just like hotel rooms.
Tu stultus esRebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.
Sound is transmitted through the air and vibration. Adding mass to the wall and door is a starting point. Then you need to find all the openings that allow air, back to back outlets, cable jacks phone jacks, ducts and the gaps around the door.
I have found that 2 layers of drywall is very effective with accoustical insulation (rock wool). The door will need to be a solid core door with weather striping including the sill. Any back to back electrical device will need to be sealed or preferably moved so they are not back to back and each device needs to be in a box sealed with a putty pad. This is pad that essentially seals the back of the device from leaking any air. The duct work cannecting the two rooms will be harder to address and i am not sure how that could be done. once all of this is done then you may find that the sound is going around the wall ie over the top or bottom.
The better the wall gets at reducing sound transmission the more important all of the other items become. it is not uncommon to add accoustical insultation above a wall in commercial installations.
thanks for suggestions
I don't know of the actual brand names but QuietRoc or QuietRock is a brand of insulation that deadens sound. Rock wool as others have mentioned.
Solid slab doors in place of hollow core, you can buy acoustical sealant and acoustical tape/mats and do the electrical outlets, telephone jacks, etc.
You don't have to double drywall, there is a drywall type available that has one sheet equivalent to multiple sheets and it self seals around mechanical penetrations.
Sound, like water or electricity, seeks the path of least resistance to flow. Think like a drop of water and place barriers in the way.
-Metaxa
The Quiet rock is fantastic . Quietsolutions is the company, they make a great variety of materials specifically designed for upper level theaters and meeting rooms hotels and the like. I have used several of the products and am sutibly impressed. They make a flooring product and have very exacting data on a multitude of different construction practices and what they will give you in regards to the STC sound transmission class. There is a reason they call themselves Quietsoulution. pretty much EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know on the subject awaits you. QUIET rock,seal,seam rf,putty,wood,foam,windows,home,glue,coat,tile,room.....
Probably go with the sound board and skip the doubling up of rock
check the cost that accoustical drywall is very expensive.
Use Roxul insulation. Good stuff, easy to install, and it works. They make a sound batt as well as an insulative batt, make sure you get the correct one.
Others have mentioned multiple layers of drywall. Channels help too. Again, that works. Use the soundboard or use one layer of MLV in the wall. Use MLV or an acoustucal caulk/sealant between the bottom plates and subfloor as well as the top plates and the ceiling joists.
Best door I ever made had a layer of MLV and a sheet of drywall sandwiched between two layers of wood. The door frame actually had a small raised curb on the bottom so the door was sealed against a gasketed stop on all four edges.
With the door closed you couldn't hear any screaming from the other side.
Screaming ...... was that good or not so good. should we be impressed or worried
I couldn't hear the screaming, so I can't tell you if it was good or bad. But even though I couldn't hear it I'm certain there must have been screaming. Or it was just the voices in my head. Again.
I like the suggestion about the door. Have to see where they sell them for pickup in my area.