floating the walls

[snapper]

I'm building a room within a room and will float the inside
walls. I will be using 2'x4's for the top and bottom plates. Am I correct in understanding that I must use at least a 2" wide strip of neoprene rubber the entire length of the bottom plate. Or would I just cut it up and place squares of neoprene every 12 or 16 inches under the studs and then caulk all the gaps between the neoprene?
One more question. I found acousticsfirst.com and soundproofing.org sell neoprene. Can anyone tell me if there is aother source of affordable neoprene that would suit a floated wall?

[Transputer]

I used ordinary roofing felt - bituminous to be exact and rolled it into strips 13 folds gives a metre long piece about one inch thick and 4" wide. I tacked these to the bottom of my wall plates 4 by 2s timber. I wanted to use neoprene but cash was short..

I record drums in said room and believe me this felt is not the weakpoint of the soundproofing - for me sealing doors aways is.To float all the walls and floor I used three 10 Metre rolls at less than £5 a roll (plus I literally covered the concrete sub floor in one inch thick felt). The room is tiny 7 foot 2” by 6 foot 3".

If you have the funds for neoprene it is better - but I have never seen any hard empirical evidence to prove that ;-).

Cutting your neoprene into pucks will definately save u cash and not compromise the design - see Auralex u boats etc. Silicone caulk the gaps and it's job done.Try http://www.kineticsnoise.com/floormount.html for some in depth acoustic floor info.

Cheers and let us know how it goes.

[John Sayers]

Yeah - that's a good idea transputer - we used rubber which we purchased in 3" x 1/2" in 50m rolls.

Yes you can use small pieces and fill the rest with an expandable seal.

cheers
John

[snapper]

Just so were on the same page here john, were talking about
the bottom plate for the wall? I'd just place a 3"x3" square of neoprene every 12", shoot a bolt thru the concrete, attach with a neoprene washer, and fill the gap between pads with expandable foam sealent. Btw thanks for the info transputer.

[cmick]

A studio friend of mine has said that he got good results from a sort of bubble pack that is used for insulating hot water heaters, ducts and underneath hardwood flooring. The stuff is cheap and I am assuming available worldwide. It's silver in colour. I am considering 3" of this under a 6" wall and then caulking. Anyone had any experience with this product?

[snapper]

I found a company that sells neoprene direct for way cheaper than the "acoustic products" companys. There called http://binkelman.com and they sell direct and ship the same day. I received today a 24 square foot piece of half inch neoprene(60 durometer) for $135. Four square feet of 5/16" neoprene from acoustics first or any other place is about $90.

[snapper]

I found a company that sells neoprene direct for way cheaper than the "acoustic products" companys. There called http://binkelman.com and they sell direct and ship the same day. I received today a 24 square foot piece of half inch neoprene(60 durometer) for $135. Four square feet of 5/16" neoprene from acoustics first or any other place is about $90.

[sjoko2]

This might sound strange - ice hockey pucks really work well :>)

[ola]

I would have though that hockey pucks were too dense to work well. Maybe the American pucks are softer than the Swedish ones...

[sjoko2]

you gotta defrost them before you put them under the joists :>)