What does it take to double wall a room?

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YOuHFive

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I have a room that's about 20x20 with 3 windows and 3 doors. I have been considering double-walling at least one wall in the room to help reduce the amount of noise that travels throughout the rest of the house. I don't really know what it takes to double wall something, or if that is indeed what I really need to be doing for that. Just looking for a little advice if anyone out there would like to give it. Thanks.
 
I found some stuff on this page:

http://www.controlnoise.com/dbbloc.html

I'm having similar issues in that i want to be able to practice my drums without pissing off the neighbours. I've read conflicting stuff about insulation materials, some say it's totally necessary, some say not to bother. I just want to build some inner walls and a riser on the floor to effectively cut the sound travelling through the walls. I too am unsure of what i'm doing, but i really want to get going on it.

What's all this stuff about studs, and staggering them? Do i just need to build a frame-work and attach absorbant material? Is 2x1 an ok material to use for the frame?

Someone help.
 
Guys, if you're trying to stop drums and bass please FORGET the STC charts - they don't mean SQUAT, as Rick has tried to point out here and elsewhere. What you should concern yourself with, is LOW frequency Transmission Loss (TL for short) - if you build properly for best LOW frequency isolation, since this is hardest to do, the REST of the audio spectrum will just DISAPPEAR.

What it takes to do this is MASS, insulated AIR space, and a second MASS. That's where the 63 dB STC wall in one of Rick's links gets its 23 dB improvement over another design with EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF MATERIAL...

To get there, you can NOT use 2x4's laid flat on a slab with rubber under them and a sheet of 5/8 plywood OVER them - this may actually AMPLIFY sound at approximately 120-150 hZ. Controlling low bass requires heavy mass, wide air gaps (filled with insulation) and AIN'T CHEAP because of the amount of material required; it also isn't practical in low headroom setups like most basements, unless you're only 4'6" and like to crawl wherever you go...

If you wanna learn more about this (a few days of reading should do it) try here

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

There are "stickies", especially in the Construction forum - the REFERENCE section has several threads and some links that will save you a lot of grief in themselves, not to mention save me a lot of typing.

Oh, almost forgot -

" Dear MacGuyver, Enclosed is a rubber band, a paper clip, and a drinking straw. Please save my dog." - Too late, I already SHOT the dog with the GUN MacGuyver stupidly ran past while looking for an aluminum bar to file into shavings for a Flash Bang grenade...

(Just kidding, I LOVE dogs; just got really frustrated with MacGuyver, always passing on USEFUL tools...) Steve
 
knightfly said:
(Just kidding, I LOVE dogs; just got really frustrated with MacGuyver, always passing on USEFUL tools...) Steve
Click to expand...

MacGyver was averse to guns because he accidentally shot and killed a childhood friend.

Yeah, I've seen just about every episode :o
 
So, was that the CHARACTER or the REAL actor? I can see where that would cause some serious head problems... Steve
 
Thanks a lot guys. I built up a stage for my drummer and that seems to have greatly reduced the ammount of bass drum noise that travels throughout the house. I used a 2x6 frame with 3 joists running across with 2 sheets of 3/8" plywood for the flooring. It's a 6'x7' platform that i then covered with some thick padded astro-turf. It looks cool and it works well. I doubt i'll end up double walling the room since it is not a very cost efficient way of doing things but thanks for everyone's information.
 
knightfly said:
So, was that the CHARACTER or the REAL actor? I can see where that would cause some serious head problems... Steve
Click to expand...

The character not the actor. Richard Dean Anderson shoots people (well, aliens) all the time as Col. Jack O'Neill on Stargate SG-1.

I don't know if he shoots people in real life :confused:
 
Five, glad you're getting things under control; if your drum riser is too boomy, you might want to put enough insulation between the frame pieces to fit snug between floor and top layer; this should damp the boom quite a bit.

MS - yeah, probably one of the reasons I like SG-1 better - I tend to like my fantasy more "realistic" :=))
 
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