Sound proofing advice needed

[Vitalyg]

Hi there,

I have a small project studio I planning to construct. The situation is that is is in a garage of a condo. Now here is the tricky part: the garage has sheet rock and is insulated, all bordering walls are garages so I'm not worried about that as much, however the cieling borders my downstairs neighbor (my garage is on the first floor, she is on the second, I'm on the third). The room would be apx 12x15 (about half of the garage), the floor is concrete but I'm considering carpet.

Questions:
1) What would you suggest to sound proof the ceiling?
2) What ready materials should I consider and where could I find them?

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[OldGrover]

Well, my understanding is that the best thing is mass, mass and more mass That gets a bit tricky when it is over your head, but still is what helps. Is the ceiling currently finished? If not, you can insulate between the joists then have a double layer of sound board, which certainly should help. How much height do you have to play with? Air gaps are nice, but I've never seen one done in the ceiling....

 

[John Sayers]

I would assume that the ceiling is concrete? by law it should be in Oz.

Either way I suggest a resilient channel , single layer of insulation covered with one sheet of 5/8" drywall, if concrete, double layer if timber.

cheers
john

 

[OldGrover]

Hey, John - not gone yet I see. What do you mean by resilant channel? One of those wavy /\/\/\/\/\/ things? basically an air gap?

I didn't even think of the roof being concrete....

 

[Vitalyg]

The entire garage is finished and insulated, so I'm looking at creating a second layer of sorts. Now I know the floor insulation between second and third floor is solid because I never hear them downstairs, but I don't know what the construction looks like for the insulation betwwen the garage and the second floor. They may have made it less solid considering it is living space to non living space vs. living space to living space. Then again, it may be more solid so the residents don't hear cars pulling in the middle of the night. Once again, I'm not really sure. I'm also looking for good (cheap) sources for the sound deadening materials. If you have any referrences I would appreciate it a ton!

 

[Tekker]

In one of my recording books it talks about attaching a floating ceiling to the above ceiling useing Z brackets to hold it up, that way you would get that air space inbetween the ceiling and the floating ceiling. So if you've got a fairly high ceiling that might be something to think about.