Insulating a 2x4
- Thread starter bbundy96
- Start date
T.J.Hooker
New member
Insulating might not work
If you have enough space, the best way to soundproof, is to build another wall in front of the exsisting wall. Leave about two, three inches of space between the two walls. If there is dead space, the sound has nothing to reverberate through.
T.
If you have enough space, the best way to soundproof, is to build another wall in front of the exsisting wall. Leave about two, three inches of space between the two walls. If there is dead space, the sound has nothing to reverberate through.
T.
i have a crawl space on the other side of the walls i want to insulate. this is an attic type of room. the roof rafters run all the way to the floor level of the room and are insulated with R-30 encapsulated insulation. will the room between the knee wall i have built and the roof rafters be sufficient?
Here's a sketch to get a better idea of what my situation looks like:
Here's a sketch to get a better idea of what my situation looks like:
T.J.Hooker
New member
How bad is the outside noise ? It looks like yuo are upstairs. You might be able to cover the wall with a few layers of rug or something.
(BTW) That's a cool sketch.
T.J.Hooker
(BTW) That's a cool sketch.
T.J.Hooker
There isn't a constant noise going on outside, but i do live on the corner of a medium travelled road and a side street. i was reading in other posts that material such as rug will only filter out high and mid freq. sound, but nothing on the bass end of the spectrum. is that true? It seems like people were preaching rock wool. but where would you find massive amounts of rock to fill a wall cavity?
jim
jim
T.J.Hooker
New member
Well...Looking at your sketch again. I would just try to insulate the shit out of the outside walls, and the inner walls. The crawl space should act as a good sound trap, so to speak. As far as the rug not helping with low freq. That is probably true if there is just a rug there. But with the big crawl space, or Dead air space as your going to use it, I think the rug will help alot.
P.S.: Let us know how it works out
Goodluck,
T.J.Hooker
P.S.: Let us know how it works out
Goodluck,
T.J.Hooker
frederic
New member
I have the same issue on the back wall - the ceiling slopes down past the 38.5" high back wall, all the way to the eve, which makes a crawl space. What I am doing might be unique, but coincidentally the back wall measurement is exactly the same width as (8) 19" rack rails, with 2x4's in between. So, what I've done is remove the back wall (but leaving the studs of course), and building the eight racks 20" in front of the wall. This leaves room for equipment depth of course and wires, which I can access behind these racks, in the crawl space. The crawl space is accessable from the bathroom immediately next to my studio.
Inside the crawlspace, I replaced the saggy cruddy insulation with new insulation, and using 3/4" plywood re-lined the crawlspace, top, back, front, sides. Behind the racks, on the studs, I've made four 1.5" thick doors out of two pieces of plywood glued & screwed together, hinging them at the top, so when they swing into the crawl space, they are flush with the ceiling. I just have to make a catch of some sort that holds the doors up so I can climb between said doors and the equipment on the other side of the studs. While I live on a quiet street, I tested this configuration by running a few MP3's through my studio monitors at a very loud setting (too loud inside the room), then went outside, and walked around the house to see where noise is coming from. Nothing from the front of the house (where the slanted ceiling is), but a lot of sound goes right through my window airconditioner. In fact, thats about it. One can barely hear the bass (or highs for that matter) in the bathroom immediately next to my control room, or in the garage immediately underneath. The walls of the console room (minus the shorter, back wall) were ripped apart, filled with carpet and acoustical insulation, then boarded over with tongue and groove dense paneling. I haven't mounted the Aurelex studiofoam on top of the walls yet, as I have to paint the paneling "superwhite" to give the room a little brightness. My foam is charcoal in color, and I'd like the room not to be that depressing, so superwhite is a good choice. Oh, behind the tongue and groove paneling is 3/4" MDF.
The MDF was affixed using silicone epoxy then screwed to the studs using 2" sheet rock screws. This creates a reasonably air-tight seal that "chambers" the wall to act as a sound barrier, much like others have suggested. The paneling was then attached in the normal tongue and groove fashion, whereas finishing nails were nailed on the tongues on an angle, thus hiding the nails from view in the room. Of course, I used silicone epoxy behind the paneling as well, to ensure no matter how much bass I crank, nothing rattles loose.
Anyway, I hope I didn't go overboard - I have a lot of rackmount gear, mostly older stuff I won't part with, so eight 19U racks at the back of the room really works for me. Plus I have 11U accessable in the homemade console table above the console surface, and 16U below the console table for the two rackmount computers, and the four amplifiers (console monitor amp, stereo L/R, rear L/R, center and sub/LFE) and the headphone amplifiers.
Anyway, maybe you can draw on my "overkill" and arrive at some suitable way of insulating your crawl space better. Insulation and MDF does work fairly well. You can even carpet the wall of the studio, in the crawl space. It helps, and you don't have to look at the carpet.
Inside the crawlspace, I replaced the saggy cruddy insulation with new insulation, and using 3/4" plywood re-lined the crawlspace, top, back, front, sides. Behind the racks, on the studs, I've made four 1.5" thick doors out of two pieces of plywood glued & screwed together, hinging them at the top, so when they swing into the crawl space, they are flush with the ceiling. I just have to make a catch of some sort that holds the doors up so I can climb between said doors and the equipment on the other side of the studs. While I live on a quiet street, I tested this configuration by running a few MP3's through my studio monitors at a very loud setting (too loud inside the room), then went outside, and walked around the house to see where noise is coming from. Nothing from the front of the house (where the slanted ceiling is), but a lot of sound goes right through my window airconditioner. In fact, thats about it. One can barely hear the bass (or highs for that matter) in the bathroom immediately next to my control room, or in the garage immediately underneath. The walls of the console room (minus the shorter, back wall) were ripped apart, filled with carpet and acoustical insulation, then boarded over with tongue and groove dense paneling. I haven't mounted the Aurelex studiofoam on top of the walls yet, as I have to paint the paneling "superwhite" to give the room a little brightness. My foam is charcoal in color, and I'd like the room not to be that depressing, so superwhite is a good choice. Oh, behind the tongue and groove paneling is 3/4" MDF.
The MDF was affixed using silicone epoxy then screwed to the studs using 2" sheet rock screws. This creates a reasonably air-tight seal that "chambers" the wall to act as a sound barrier, much like others have suggested. The paneling was then attached in the normal tongue and groove fashion, whereas finishing nails were nailed on the tongues on an angle, thus hiding the nails from view in the room. Of course, I used silicone epoxy behind the paneling as well, to ensure no matter how much bass I crank, nothing rattles loose.
Anyway, I hope I didn't go overboard - I have a lot of rackmount gear, mostly older stuff I won't part with, so eight 19U racks at the back of the room really works for me. Plus I have 11U accessable in the homemade console table above the console surface, and 16U below the console table for the two rackmount computers, and the four amplifiers (console monitor amp, stereo L/R, rear L/R, center and sub/LFE) and the headphone amplifiers.
Anyway, maybe you can draw on my "overkill" and arrive at some suitable way of insulating your crawl space better. Insulation and MDF does work fairly well. You can even carpet the wall of the studio, in the crawl space. It helps, and you don't have to look at the carpet.
bbundy96 said: