Floating walls

B

blinddogblues

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I am building my basement studio, and trying to soundproof as much as possible on a limited budget. I am using fir strips to connect to the studs and then putting up paneling. Can I use some foam weather stripping to give my walls some float and just pop a nail through the fir strip into the stud? Or will this defeat the whole purpose? Do I need to use the resilient channel to actually physically separate the strip from the stud?
 
When I did my room I built new walls out 3" from the old existing walls so they didn't share any structural supports. Sound driving one wall wouldn't drive the other.
 
How much noise

Hi, I just have a few things to consider. First of all, exactly what kind of noise, and how much are you trying to keep in/out. 50db, 75db, 150 db. You don't need to build 120db construction to keep out 75db. Measure it with a sound level meter at the noisiest time of day. Wala-this will enlighten you to really what you are dealing with. You are already in a basement. Is it a half basement? Are part of the wall is above ground level? Whats on the other side of the studs? Normally resiliant Z bar is applied over an existing cement block, brick,concrete or sheetrocked wall. Apply one layer to the studs over insullation first. On an existing sheetrock wall, the bar does 2 things. One it inhibits airborn vibration from transferring to the space with in, and provides an air space between layers which also helps inhibit sound tranference(if sealed properly at the joints), you can float the second layer about a half inch above the floor with removable blocks and seal it with 3/4" foam backing rod and calking and cover that with some type of base board and cove adhesive or on a 1/2" x 1" layer of sound board(cut in strips from a 4 x 8 sheet). This second sheet provides twice the mass of one layer as well as the air gap. You can even apply a third layer over the second, screwing it (yes- use sheet rock screws!!!!) through the second layer or better yet, use construction adhesive for this layer and stagger all your joints. Ceiling joints are another animal. Remember to make tight joints around doors(fill all construction joints between studs with fiberglass insulation, and caulk all studs/jamb connections with expansion foam or backer rod. Mass is what inhibits airborn noise. Any opening, even around electrical outlets, air supply and return vents, lighting, etc. can allow airboarn noise to enter, and defeat all the other solutions Now, what did you have in mind for your ceiling? If there is structural born noise from above, this is an animal of a different color, and other techniques will have to be used.Not enough room here. Hell, I already used up half the forum space. Email me, and I will go into detail. Not having an idea what all your dealing with here is not the best way to help you. I am a Cad Draftsman and can provide details if you are interested.
Rick Fitzpatrick rmfdesign@rcsis.com Feel free to contact me.
 
Hi Rick, I can email you directly but it sounds like you really know what you're talking about and others might benefit from being able to read it here. Basically, all I am trying to do is to prevent as much sound from escaping the room as possible so I can play music and not wake up my sleeping wife! My studio will be in a large room in the basement, the bedroom is on the first floor, not directly above the studio, but adjacent. I will be playing acoustic and electric guitar and doing mixes on various projects. I am attaching a picture so you can see what I already did. I am going to put up one more wall. I took this picture from directly under the master bedroom and the photo is of the room that will be the studio. I will build one more wall to separate these two rooms and that wall will be the most important in keeping the sound out. I have used R-25 insulation in all walls and all ceilings and I plan to use a drop ceiling with a grid. The tiles I picked were rated by the mfr. as excellent for sound control. On the wall that I haven't yet put up, I plan on making it 6" instead of 4". I am going to put R-25 insulation in the wall, then cover the inside with 1/8" neoprene, then one layer of 5/8 sheet rock, then attach
1 x 3 firring strips (using weather stripping on the back of each one to reduce vibration), attached with nails (?), then one layer of 5/16" pine paneling. The other side of the wall will get the firring strips and the pine paneling only. So that's my plan, please shoot holes in it. I don't have enough money to do much more that what I've just described, finishing 1,200 s.f. of basement in expensive enough without trying to soundproof! Oh, one more thing, I will put a standard carpet and pad down as a last step. Thanks for any help and suggestions.

Jim
 
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Tiles?

Hi Jim, don't have much time at the moment. There was no picture attatchment that I could see. That would help much. But for now, let me ask you, is there existing sheetrock on the ceiling that you are going to suspend the grid from? Even if there is, if
what you are talking about is the acoustical tiles in a metal grid frame work hung from the structure above, it will do little to keep sound from transferring to the rooms above.
The manufacturer is correct when they say "sound control". What they are taliking about is reflections from the ceiling. In a noisy environment, such as an office, voices, telephones, etc. reflect from and travel along the ceiling. Do this experiment. Sit in front of your console, close your eyes and have someone behind you reach over your shoulder with a piece of wood about 16" x 20" and place it about a foot in front of your face. Tell me later what happened. Have them move it around from left to right. Your ears are designed to pick up REFLECTIONS. You have 2 to tell direction. The time differential between sound arriving at one ear to the other gives you directional info.
The tiles are designed to ABSORB a frequency range that incorperates speach, and general noise. It does nothing for sound traveling through it. It will impede some frequencys, but louder noise will travel right throug it. I'm going to say it one more time. MASS is what stops sound completely. Thats why concrete stops noise dead in its tracks. I'll give you a couple of ideas tomorrow. Put on the pictures. And its nice to talk to you. I like to help people with what little I know, but sometimes people get real snotty to me and that shuts me up. Fitz
 
Sorry, here's the picture. There is nothing yet on the ceiling, it is new construction. The picture shows where the control room will be. There will be a wall built between that room and where I am standing while taking the picture. The bedroom I want to be silent is above where I am standing. The structures you see at the ceiling are the frames around the ductwork.
 

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Lot of work!

Hi Jim, Rick here, wow, I am envious. Can't wait to see it finished. I bet your really getting excited. How long have you been working on it? I work at a regular job, so any studio projects seem to take forever to finish. But mine is just my personal studio for having fun, and its pretty much finished. I don't even have soundproofing or acoustical treatments in the room. But I love it. Its pretty cool. I built everything including my console. I'll post an attachment but the pictures suck. But getting back to your situation. Hmm, ok. Lets take a look at it. Your main concern is your wife. Will she kill you if you wake her up?lol I know the feeling. Well, the first thing I see in the pictures is a ducting plenum. Does this conect to your control room as well as the bedroom, even with seperate ducts? Normally in a studio, the control room hvac is a seperate unit from the studio hvac. This eliminates a path for sound to conduct from one room to another. HOWEVER, this is reality in a home studio. I know.(But there are solutions to everything.)
Maybe you could take some more pictures with closer details. Walk around the room
and take a picture of each wall, the ceiling, doors etc. If you feel like it. I only offer help. But I can help better if I know EXACTLY what it is I'm dealing with. You can send them directly to me but I'll respond here if you like. I don't know everything, I'm not a know-it-all. But I know how to build. Hell, I design for a living. I build macys on paper. Thats not a studio by any means. But I am totaly familliar with concepts that are common sense, as well as tried and true. I'm sure there are people who will poke holes in my ideas, happens everyday. Untill it comes time for them to specify. Then its another story. These are only opinions, and you have obviously spent a lot of time planning, and building it already. I think thats half the battle. Making it succeed at your goals is the other half. Anyway, I'm going to sit and think about it.. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Fitz
 
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