Soundproofing advice neeed --

[Hell Hath No Fury]

Here's the scoop -- I renovated the upper floor of my house to get in a tenant to bring in some much needed $$$. I am now in the basement/garage of the house -- it is actually the first, above ground story of the house -- here in SF they are known as "soft story" houes. When I look up there is no real ceiling to my space, only the underside of the second floor -- the joists and the upstairs subfloor, on which sits a lovely solid oak floor.

My problem: the upstairs noise is DEAFENING! I can hear everything that is going on upstairs -- every convesation, every scrape of a fork on a plate, every fart for gosh sakes. :crazy: I knew it was going to be noisy until I insulated, but DAMN it is making me nuts.

My question: what is the BEST way to go about making my space the most quiet it can be from upstairs noise??

In doing some reasearch, I am thinking about rock wool insulation, a little Green Glue on the joist faces, and QuietRock panels or regular 5/8 sheet rock.

Any thoughts on my plan? Any better suggestions?? It can't be too expensive -- I blew every cent I had on the upstairs reno. :(

Thanks!
Hell

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

1. Insulating and sheet rocking will make a big difference.

There is sound absorbing material although it is quite expensive. Insulating well and sheet rocking the basement will reduce the noise to a tolerable level.

I once as a contractor addressed that problem in a commercial building 7200 sq. ft two floors ,drop ceiling panels.-noise resonating in law offices is very bad. I was able to reduce the sound travel by doubling the panels and in some areas adding insulation. The sound absorption material was far too much in cost.Those wood floors will always be noisy. But between sheet rock and insulation it will be tolerable. I would suggest you keep it very basic. And remember,if you see a good deal on insulation ,you are insulating for sound so don;t get stuck in the r values of the insulation. You pack it in there and fill ever crevice and crack! Just pack it in. Than sheet rock it.

You can do a experiment ,find a area where the sound is the worst ,insulate it first to find out how much of a difference that makes. Than sheet rock it with a 4x8 or 4x12 i/2 inch or 5/8. Any other way and you are going into specialty material. you will never eliminate the sound completely,but you will reduce it considerably.They make styrofoam insulation to fit between joyces ,expensive and I really don't know how much more sound those panels will absord.

Anyway, find the area where the noise if the worst and do your experimenting. From there proceeding should be simply a matter with fallowing up with what you started.

My suggestion, insulate ,owens corning,sheet rock.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. We are going through this right now for our downstairs neighbor.

We are in the process of adding a bath in our condo and a bath in the downstairs neighbor's condo (working with her and her father). While we have both places torn up we figured we would add sound proofing to the neighbor's ceiling to alleviate her complaints when I walk around at night - the complaints, although mostly "tongue in cheek" have been a source of friction between us and our friend downstairs. We live in a 100 year old building with zero insulation between floors and REALLY squeaky floors.

Anyway. We went over her existing drywall with 2x4s "on the flat" and added 1.5 inch styrofoam insulation between the 2x4s. Over that, we placed a 1/2 inch of "Homosote Sound Barrier 440" and then "resilient channel and then 1/2 inch drywall.

It didn't work worth a shit.

Those squeaks and "mechanical noise" of walking around are a tough nut to crack.

If I were you, I would isolate the new ceiling AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Ideally, a completely new ceiling unattached to the floor above with a bunch of insulation in between. If you have the height, I would run new joists and attach to your walls. Depending on your spans, maybe you can use a smaller joist if height is an issue and "hang" them from the joists above for support.

It's just so hard to stop those noises once they start. The ideal way to handle this problem is to stop the noise before it starts with sound proofing under the hardwood before the subfloor.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

3. I thought so ,you confirmed what I suspected.

To add to Hassin Bin Sober's suggestions, You could add a drop ceiling ,drop ceilings are adjustable so if you have the height even six inches to spare or four ,you could add a acoustic drop ceiling.Insulate with standard insulation up in the Joyce's right down to the drop ceiling. Hell too ,sheet rock over the insulation than add the acoustic drop ceiling ! It may seem to abe a bit of a over kill,but since you are at the stage where the noise is getting to you,you may find the over kill idea somewhat soothing for the time being!

Suggestion, price out the acoustic drop ceiling. Replacement ceiling panels are about $20.00 a box,I think there are eight to a box maybe ten as I recall.And find a deal on insulation .

Acoustic drop ceiling double paneled does help. And so does adding insulation .The acoustic drop ceiling does have noise reduction values.

That could be the best way to go.Got a home depot close by? That is a job you could do in stages over time.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

4. Sounds like you need to learn kung fu!

You know, walk like the wind.



:silly: Or may be get some Shag carpet :rofl:

[Jamastiene]

5. You could use egg crate foam on the underside of the top floor.

Just staple it up there every six inches or so.

To add to that, you could start building an acoustic ceiling tile setup, then add some insulation to that as you go, if you have the "head" room (height).

Egg crates work wonders though. I'd try those first, then see if it solves some of your noise problems enough to make life bearable. If not, go with insulation and those acoustic ceiling tiles.

The main idea is to add enough soft stuff (the cushion-y the better) to counteract the hard stuff (like wood and stuff like that). Remember, sound travels in waves and is amplified by hard, dense objects.

Examples:
-Like if you are playing a guitar and rest the headstock on a wooden nightstand. It'll amplify it enough that you can hear an electric guitar loud and clear without an electric amplifier*.

-If you build a garage space for band practice, the concrete floor and the walls will bounce those sound waves every which way and it sounds like ass. If you add egg crate foam to at least 2 of the walls (adjacent to each other), but not all four**, the sound waves can't bounce so easily.

So, dense objects amplify sound and softer, less dense objects muffle sound.

*...but not if you have a punk rock drummer in the room banging every drum at once. That'll drown out the "magic night stand" guitar amp.

**In the garage scenario, if you add the egg crate to all four walls and the ceiling, like one person I know did :eyes: , it muffles the sound too much and you cannot get any natural reverb. That, too, sounds like ass.

[tavalon]

6. My house has no sound insulation to speak of

but since I'm the only one who suffers, I use a sound machine and I'm gold.