What soundproofing material for my basement?

[Berberman]

Hello all of you experts,

I am a drummer setting up a jam space in my basement. I would do occasional recording in it but I'm not looking for a pro sound out of it. My main concern is not disturbing the neighbors to the right, left, front and back of my house. I live in Boston so houses are really close together (maybe 10-15 yards from one another). I am also considering soundproofing the ceiling of the basement to keep my little family happy when I play.

The basement is thick concrete apart from 5 small windows, but here is where it gets complicated: Half of my basement is a 2 car garage which I am keeping as is, the soon to be jam space and car garage are seperated by a thin sheet rock wall and a door. The 2 car garage has 2 sliding doors.

I am currently building a wall on the concrete, framing it with 3.5" wood lumber, and doing the same on the thin sheet rock wall seperating jam space and garage.

So now comes decision time in terms of what soudproofing material to use inside the frames and what soundproofing board to use instead or in addition to regular shee rock. Also does the same apply for use on treating ceilings..

I've looked at what home depot has for soundproofing and all they have is the 440 soundbarrier which doesn't get very good ratings I hear...

Anyone of you lads could help me with the choice of materials on a budget?

I will post some pictures as I go so you guys can follow the work

Cheers

 

[pandamonk]

Hello all of you experts,

I am a drummer setting up a jam space in my basement. I would do occasional recording in it but I'm not looking for a pro sound out of it. My main concern is not disturbing the neighbors to the right, left, front and back of my house. I live in Boston so houses are really close together (maybe 10-15 yards from one another). I am also considering soundproofing the ceiling of the basement to keep my little family happy when I play.

The basement is thick concrete apart from 5 small windows, but here is where it gets complicated: Half of my basement is a 2 car garage which I am keeping as is, the soon to be jam space and car garage are seperated by a thin sheet rock wall and a door. The 2 car garage has 2 sliding doors.

I am currently building a wall on the concrete, framing it with 3.5" wood lumber, and doing the same on the thin sheet rock wall seperating jam space and garage.

So now comes decision time in terms of what soudproofing material to use inside the frames and what soundproofing board to use instead or in addition to regular shee rock. Also does the same apply for use on treating ceilings..

I've looked at what home depot has for soundproofing and all they have is the 440 soundbarrier which doesn't get very good ratings I hear...

Anyone of you lads could help me with the choice of materials on a budget?

I will post some pictures as I go so you guys can follow the work

Cheers

Sound"proof"ing requires mass and an airtight seal. The best budget way to sound"proof", is with a mass air mass structure with each of the TWO (no more) masses isolated from each other (no flanking path).

A structure is only as good as its weakest points though, and I doubt your windows and doors will isolate as much as a thick concrete wall, so I'd concentrate on the windows n doors (especially garage doors) if i were you. Make sure they are as massive (most mass) as possible and air tight.

Do a little test. Have someone play your drums and walk round the house. I bet you hear most of the drums at windows and doors, and not so much through the wall. Then go into your house and listen to see how much you can hear in the room(s) above the drum area and then check at the access to the basement. If it's loudest at the access point, then there is where you need to focus. If it's equally loud at the access and in the rooms above the basement, then you need to decide if it really requires sound"proofing". If it does, you need to focus on both the ceiling and access.

Once you have decided where to focus, come back to us and tell us your budget.

 

[Berberman]

I think at this point I will concentrate on isolating the windows and doors, the ceiling which connects to my unit, and the wall separating the garage from the studio. The concrete I believe will be thick enough to keep the sound in the house.. My budget is kind of flexible, maybe in the order of 1000 to 2000 dollars or so in materials if that's realistic.
I'm including a diagram of the space.

 

[pandamonk]

I think at this point I will concentrate on isolating the windows and doors, the ceiling which connects to my unit, and the wall separating the garage from the studio. The concrete I believe will be thick enough to keep the sound in the house.. My budget is kind of flexible, maybe in the order of 1000 to 2000 dollars or so in materials if that's realistic.
I'm including a diagram of the space.

It won't completely soundproof your house, but should hopefully reduce the noise to an acceptible level.

 

[twentyfootman]

soffits

I have a similiar basement with neighbors 15 feet away. I used sheetrock over soundboard on the walls and ceiling. I did the walk around while somebody played drums and was losing a lot of sound where the joists meet sill plate on my foundation. I ended up making a diagonal soffit from 5 feet up off of the basement floor[ the height of ground level] to about 2 feet out from the wall. I stuffed it with insulation and carpet and applied soundboard and sheetrock. For the last 15 years I've been able to play at any volume at any time [ full band at 3am ]. That soffit acts like a second wall. No neighbor complaints in 15 years. Before that they hated me.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Anyone of you lads could help me with the choice of materials on a budget?

5/8" Drywall, Greenglue, Caulk, insulation, Solid core doors, seals

I will post some pictures as I go so you guys can follow the work.

Why not post some now. I'd like to see EVERY condition you have. HVAC ducts, pipes, ceiling/joist wall connections etc. And what is the rectangle in the middle of the room?
fitZ