Soundproof basement ceiling

[marshall409]

"Adam, you can't be playing guitar or music after 9pm because I need to get up in the morning."

"Fine, pay to soundproof the roof."

"Fine."

"Wait....really?!?!"

Ok so I need to soundproof my roof. Not 100 percent perfect but I'm willing to take the time to get this as close as possible.

Right now I have open rafters and the bare wood floor above.

I want to:

Insulate with rockwool

Resilient channel and drywall

Green glue, and another layer of drywall

Questions:

Am I fundamentally on the right track here?

Should I do anything to the bare floor above before I start? I've read of people putting sheetrock right up against the floor, and of people caulking in between the seams. Are either of these worth the time and $ and which is better?

The two layers of sheetrock should be different thicknesses IIRC from my research...but which should be thicker? The inside or outside?

Would the fluffy pink stuff or Roxul Safe n Sound (3 inch semi-rigid rockwool) be better for the ceiling?


Any other suggestions are welcome.

You guys haven't failed me yet, I love these boards and I thank you in advance for your help.

Adam

 

[pandamonk]

"Adam, you can't be playing guitar or music after 9pm because I need to get up in the morning."

"Fine, pay to soundproof the roof."

"Fine."

"Wait....really?!?!"

Ok so I need to soundproof my roof. Not 100 percent perfect but I'm willing to take the time to get this as close as possible.

Right now I have open rafters and the bare wood floor above.

I want to:

Insulate with rockwool

Resilient channel and drywall

Green glue, and another layer of drywall

Questions:

Am I fundamentally on the right track here?

Should I do anything to the bare floor above before I start? I've read of people putting sheetrock right up against the floor, and of people caulking in between the seams. Are either of these worth the time and $ and which is better?

The two layers of sheetrock should be different thicknesses IIRC from my research...but which should be thicker? The inside or outside?

Would the fluffy pink stuff or Roxul Safe n Sound (3 inch semi-rigid rockwool) be better for the ceiling?


Any other suggestions are welcome.

You guys haven't failed me yet, I love these boards and I thank you in advance for your help.

Adam

I think you should definitely sheetrock or caulk between the seams and the pink fluffy insulation should be fine. You don't really gain much by using rockwool for isolation. Everything else seems good to me, although it may be a bit overkill for what you need (let us know).

 

[Chili]

You need to be concerned with putting two layers of drywall on the ceiling because it's a heavy load. One 4' x 8' sheet of 1/2" drywall is nearly 60lbs. 5/8" is about 70lbs. You can check with the builder or consult a structural engineer to confirm the house structure can handle the additional load. More than likely, it's fine, but you need to know for sure.

I like the pink fluffy in between the rafters. Stuff it good. Be sure to caulk all the air gaps. What are you going to do about the walls??? One sound short pretty much defeats all your efforts.

Don't expect complete isolation.

 

[pandamonk]

You need to be concerned with putting two layers of drywall on the ceiling because it's a heavy load. One 4' x 8' sheet of 1/2" drywall is nearly 60lbs. 5/8" is about 70lbs. You can check with the builder or consult a structural engineer to confirm the house structure can handle the additional load. More than likely, it's fine, but you need to know for sure.

I like the pink fluffy in between the rafters. Stuff it good. Be sure to caulk all the air gaps. What are you going to do about the walls??? One sound short pretty much defeats all your efforts.

Don't expect complete isolation.

It seems like it's his family above that Adam doesn't want upset, so walls shouldn't matter.

How is you room/house laid out marshall409?

 

[suprstar]

You need to be concerned with putting two layers of drywall on the ceiling because it's a heavy load. One 4' x 8' sheet of 1/2" drywall is nearly 60lbs. 5/8" is about 70lbs.

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. You could be putting up thousands of pounds on your ceiling easy. So 2 sheets of 5/8 would be 140lbs spread out over 32 sq ft. + mud, caulk, screws, etc, you're talking about appx. 20 lbs per sq foot, which is a LOT of dead load.. Investigate dead load limits for the kind of joists you have, and the span. Understand that the floor above is also part of the dead weight already present. I did all that research for my basement a couple years back, I ended up stuffing the cavities with the pink fluffy stuff and putting a drop ceiling up, which made a notable difference.

And I never heard anything about using 2 different thicknesses, how could 1/2+5/8 be better than 2x 5/8?

 

[Supercreep]

Unless you are able to somehow decouple the lower part of the house from the upper, you will have structural transmission.

Also, sound flanks - so you might put a lot of effort into the ceiling just to have the LF go around.

The most effective way to do this is to knock it off after 9 p.m. If it's not drums, don't worry about it. Get a POD or something to jam on with headphones after hours.

 

[marshall409]

It seems like it's his family above that Adam doesn't want upset, so walls shouldn't matter.

How is you room/house laid out marshall409?

It's a backsplit semi. The neighbours next door don't care, we know them well and they're nightowls and so are we so they've said they don't care about a little noise during quiet hours. I don't play drums or loud electric after 8pm just out of courtesy. Also, they say they barely hear it anyway.

The studio is on the upper level of the basement. It's all poured concrete except for the inside wall which has the up and down stairs and the furnace through the other side. I may wall this part off into a hallway, but for now the roof is my main concern.

There's 3 huge terrible windows. They're old and poorly installed and should be getting replaced soon, but I'm also planning on plugging them semi-permanently. I'll leave that for another thread, I want to stick to the roof here.

The kind of isolation I'm looking for is to be able to talk loudly, strum acoustic loudly, mix at half decent levels, etc. without disturbing people in the bedrooms directly above me. Even more importantly is I want to be able to record without disturbance from footsteps and water running upstairs.

Thanks for the replies so far...let's keep this going this could be a great thread for future readers if we follow through.

Adam

 

[VSpaceBoy]

And I never heard anything about using 2 different thicknesses, how could 1/2+5/8 be better than 2x 5/8?

Because it changes the way the lf transmits through it. Anytime you can change densities and/or thicknesses on the same wall is a good thing. (assuming you're using the right materials)

Unless you are able to somehow decouple the lower part of the house from the upper, you will have structural transmission.

Also, sound flanks - so you might put a lot of effort into the ceiling just to have the LF go around.

The most effective way to do this is to knock it off after 9 p.m. If it's not drums, don't worry about it. Get a POD or something to jam on with headphones after hours.

+1

Its going to cost soo much money, and if you get ONE thing wrong, its all going to be a waste and you will be cursing the day you spent the money on it. I would spend your money on new electronic gear and $300 dollar headphones.

 

[Weasel9992]

Unless you are able to somehow decouple the lower part of the house from the upper, you will have structural transmission.

Also, sound flanks - so you might put a lot of effort into the ceiling just to have the LF go around.

The most effective way to do this is to knock it off after 9 p.m. If it's not drums, don't worry about it. Get a POD or something to jam on with headphones after hours.

+2. Isolation is only as good as the weakest point. If you can't address all the factors (walls, floor, HVAC, etc.) then there's not too much point in starting unless your goal is to mostly deal with high mids/high frequencies.

Frank