Styrofoam as sound proofing material

i think you mean acoustic treatment instead of soundproofing. what are you trying to do with it?
 
Flat Styrophone can be very reflective which is great if you have a duel listening/recording space. Some shaping can be good for bass traps. You could proof with it 'as stuffing' but you'd want to add some sort of other material on top - I think
 
Styrofoam as soundproofing can be reasonably effective. Personally, I prefer extra layers of thick drywall (as it doesn't require deconstruction).

Can't recall the actual numbers, but if I'm not mistaken, an additional 1/2" of drywall attenuates about as well as 1" of Styrofoam. Could be off on those numbers, feel free to correct if something else comes up.
 
Massive Master said:
Styrofoam as soundproofing can be reasonably effective. Personally, I prefer extra layers of thick drywall (as it doesn't require deconstruction).

Can't recall the actual numbers, but if I'm not mistaken, an additional 1/2" of drywall attenuates about as well as 1" of Styrofoam. Could be off on those numbers, feel free to correct if something else comes up.
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I don't have any objective data, but my experience suggests that 0.5" drywall would be considerably more effective at attenuating sound transmission than 1.0" of Styrofoam® (or any expanded polystyrene foam). Mass almost always trumps alternative techniques when it comes to soundproofing (limiting transmission)...the only possible contender being Isolation. However, contrary to intuition, Styrofoam® does not attenuate sound transmission via Isolation; rather, the non-uniform cellular structure of foam provides a more gerrymandered path for vibrations to propogate, slowing sound transmission and converting some of its energy to heat. All in all, a much less efficient method of soundproofing than simply adding another ~70lb slab of gypsum.
 
My experience with styrofoam (3/4 to 1 inch) leads me to believe, that while it has a slight decoupling effect with decreasing some strucutre born vibration, it does nothing for blocking anything significant in the way of mid to low frequencies.

I believe you will find only heavy mass does it (such as sheetrock) with any sucess worth considering.

Incidently, I only used it inside my walls between 2 layers of sheetrock and the studs..
 
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Styrofoam inside the wall cavities, along with heavy SoundBoard® and double the drywall is quite decent at sound proofing.

Not trying to confuse the noobs.

Granted - I understand that it doesn't have enough mass to absorb a lot of energy - It *does* have enough mass to decouple adjacent surfaces.
 
It might be a little too late for me to chime in on this, but I was able to somewhat sound dampen a room on the cheap, starting with picking the right room to use. My newbie attempt involved...

-I picked a basement room, in a corner so two of the walls (and floor) were solid to begin with.
-I stuffed the other two walls with "safe n sound" insulation and then put up two layers of sheetrock on them.
-I separated the sheetrock layers with rubber pads every 2 feet, so I gave the wall a semi-floating/absorbing effect - or so I like to think.
-I bought a thick floor pad, on which I put thick hardwood floors
-I stuffed the ceiling with two layers of 'safe n sound', blocked the air vent, and then put up a couple layers of fabric to hold it all in place and to keep it looking nice (fireproof fabric). Adding sheet rock instead of fabric would of added more sound proofing, but that wasn't my main goal.
-I went crazy with the foam hole filling gun, blocking all holes.
-put up a heavy door, with weather striping.
-added sound panels and bass traps to the walls.
-added a rug.

I still get a bit of deep bass getting into the room when playing loud music in the room above it, or when someone stomps by upstairs, but with the door shut its a hell of a lot quieter than when I started.

I really wouldn't think Styrofoam would be good for sound proofing but i can see it useful for absorbing some structural vibrations. Heavy materials = better. Lead walls would be perfect!
 
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