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I will soon begin building an up and down duplex and would like some suggestions on how to mitigate noise transfer through the floor. We will be using standard plywood joists, drywall ceilings, and fiberglass batts. However, it seems that the sound still finds its’ way through the joists.
Any ideas? Are there acustic sheet materials sutable and effective, for ceiling or floor underlayment?
Thanks.
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Tin RC channel screwed perpendicular to the bottom of the joists.
*Greg, place your mouse ontop of the gold boxes at the top of your screen,a dn right click on "Search". A good keyword would be soundproofing. You will find a number of good discussions on this topic.The key is creating an air pocket and isolating two hard surfaces, like two pieces of drywall isolated from eachother and with an air gap in between The RC Channel does just that.Good Luck, and ask the question again, if you can't find it in archives.
*I REALLY HATE TO SUGGEST THIS BECAUSE I THINK THE STUFF IS OVERPRICED GARBAGE-BUT.....Icynene sure makes a great soundproofer.
*Last I checked, Roxul costs about the same as, or less than, fibreglass around here. It is much better for noise insulation.Check the prices in your area.
*I've heard that egg cartons in the joists are good sound absorbers, much less expensive than placing sheets of cork under the flooring, which muffles sound as well. A web search will show you where you can get egg cartons by the bazilliions.
*I would look around for some poor guy like me who is renovating and throwing away old, coarse fiberglass insulation. I used all I could for soundproofing my duplex and it works great!! Put it in the inside wall cavities and in between the floors. itch,scratch
*Greg, pour a 2" layer of "litecrete" over your subfloor. It will add a considerable amount of stiffness and quiet the entire floor.blue
*I'm pretty sure that FHB had at least one articleabout this very subject some yrs ago. One thing that is important horiz. or vert. is to break the rigidconnections between the two parts. E.g., cushionbetween 2 separate walls with no single fastenerbridging the two. Same with floors. All to dampany vibrations.
*I've seen pictures of egg carton installations mostly for eliminating echo within a room but I wonder if such use will be safe for fire.
*Definetly use RC channel on the first floor cieling. If you want to go further and spend more top your upper floors with lightweight concrete.
*the article in fhb is in the march, 1990 #58. it is a great article. it gives charts on transmission levels of various products, including types of doors.
*Latest issue of JLC has a good article.Just remember A.D.D.I.Air tight- The more airtight the more resistant to airborne noise.Density- The greater the mass the more resistant to airborne noise.Decouple- Isolate surfaces between areas to reduce sound transmission.Insulate- Helps to reduce sound by absorption.Plagiarized from the JLC article but practiced for years. In a floor situation, I would recommend mass (extra layer of drywall, plywood, concrete, etc.) and insulation. Although used extensively for sound abatement, I don't think fg works well for this purpose, Icynene or dp cel would work better.
*LEVELING - Does anyone remember the article on leveling structures or frames by looking at the way doors were out of square in their frames? What edition of FHB was it in? I have a porch with 2 doors to level.
*There have been a lot of discussions on this in the Breaktime archives. Do a search and you will be swamped with ideas and advice - much of it worth what you are paying for it... Sometime in the past, I posted a number of links to sites that give some pretty good practical advice on soundproofing. Unfortunately, I don't have the links at my fingertips to repost.And, yes, paper mache egg cartons were used as an inexpensive means of damping echos when improvising a semi-anechoic chamber. Some people sprayed these with borax based fire retardant, others didn't. For use between floors, I doubt that they would be as effective as blown in cellulose insulation.
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I will soon begin building an up and down duplex and would like some suggestions on how to mitigate noise transfer through the floor. We will be using standard plywood joists, drywall ceilings, and fiberglass batts. However, it seems that the sound still finds its' way through the joists.
Any ideas? Are there acustic sheet materials sutable and effective, for ceiling or floor underlayment?
Thanks.