Some thoughts on achieving STC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Jones
  • Start date Start date
Michael Jones

Michael Jones

New member
I've been giving a great deal of consideration to STC ratings and how to achieve those, and I've come to a conclusion:

In typical wood frame construction the ENTIRE integrity of a sound transmission class is totally dependent on the interior wall construction.

And here's why I think that:
I finished the OSB sheathing and trimming out of the soffits on my studio today. I was diligent about obtaining cabinet maker tolerances on all of the OSB joints. Today I was caulking the joint where the soffit meets the OSB, getting a really good bead on it, and then it dawned on me:
There's a VENT in the soffit! One about every 6 feet. That's a direct path for sound right into the attic space! And it happens right where the ceiling would meet the wall.
No matter what you do on the outside, you're going to have this vent at the soffit.
Now, I suppose you could do a furr-down at the top of the wall, where it meets the ceiling, but that's still INTERIOR wall construction.

Any thoughts?
 
Ha hah hah.... IM not the only one!

I had a similar thing happen and now Im screwed and the only way to fix it would be to yank 2 walls and a 10ft by 8 ft section of the ceiling. Its amazing how these small acoustical anomalies just pop up. I wonder how big studio's deal with it? Rip it out and blame the architect? Naw....sometimes, more times than not, tolerance stack-ups in home construction will cause anomalies like this.
If you still have access to the attic space you should take advantage and seal off everything... put lights on bright in the studio, go into the attic at night to see where the light peaks through...get your calking gun and go for it...then IMO get some owen corning batting and pack the internal corners an wall junctions...batting still allows some breathing but absorbs just enough to save you....

Too late for me...Ill just cringe and bear it!


SoMm
 
Well, its under construction, so I still have access to it. I haven't sheetrocked anything yet. But you can't caulk off a soffit or eave vent.
You HAVE to vent the attic. It would be a hell hole in the summer if you didn't and building and energy codes dictate it.
I guess rather than building another internal wall, it would be easy enough to build a furr-down that could aid in isolation of that wall/ceiling corner.
Done right, it would make a nice looking diffuser too. And could maybe even carry an A/C vent inside of it.
But the point is that's still internal wall construction.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top