Suggestions for Sound Proofing a Wall, Please
katclaws_mo
11 years ago
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Annie Deighnaugh
11 years agoalways1stepbehind
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Does sound proof insulation really work?
Comments (22)The same applies to the 'isolation rooms' used to allow practice for musical instrument players. It can approach painfully load in the room with no noise audible on the outside. HA. As a semi-professional saxophonist and former music major in college, I've spent an inordinate amount of time in practice rooms. Even the good ones are far from soundproof. Yes, the sound is reduced, but you still can tell the instrument (or voice) being practiced in the next room. Recording studios spend vast sums preventing sound bleed (consider the drum booth), but few homeowners would go to that extreme. Sound dampening is a more realistic goal. I gather that it is too late to reconfigure your floor plan for separation of these rooms, but in addition to earlier suggestions, I would consider where your theater system components are located and the direction speakers are aimed, ways of preventing vibration (especially for the laundry, and sound absorption through your choice of carpets, curtains and furniture. Not that you would want to do this in your beautiful home, but many music students in college towns set up practice rooms in their rented houses and apartments and avoid neighbor complaints by hanging blankets, rugs, and eggcrate mattress pads on their walls. Ugly as sin, but it is a good example of how effective sound absorption can be....See MoreSound proofing, fiberglass/Roxul or rigid foam?
Comments (3)Sound reduction is complicated, the weakest link will always get you due to flanking. I can't speak to roxul (which I think is very good) vs. closed cell foam specificially, but if you're already tearing out the wall I would definitely recommend looking into green glue product (below). Used it as part of our custom home theater design and have been very pleased over 10 years of very loud and massive bass use. Of course we also had multiple layers of drywall, sound damping, isolated walls and RC channel.... RC channel is also another way to significantly reduce sound and if you're tearing out the drywall I'd use that as well. Use the clips and channel,not the stuff that attaches directly to hte wall. Here is a link that might be useful: Green Glue...See MoreWater / Ant / Earthquake / Sound Proof a Kitchen
Comments (11)There are automatic water shutoff leak detectors. http://www.plumbingsupply.com/washingmachineshutoffvalve.html And others. I don't know how well they work. There are drip pans for clothes washers, they are common enough. Finding them in other widths is hard. Here is a 24'' one. I've known people (three) who had huge amounts of water damage to their homes from water leaks. In one case, it actually was the dishwasher. But in each case, it was far more water than the couple gallons that a any drip pan can catch - I mean like the fire department had to come and pump out their basement. I have heard some cases on KF where floods damaged kitchens, but I don't know if that was 1 gallon or 1,000. http://www.floodsaver.com/panFAQs.html The cabinets are not going anywhere in an earthquake. Dishes may dump out of the upper cabinets - this happened to some of my friends in some SoCal earthquakes. Get positive latches on the uppers if you are worried - or just figure that once every 20 years, you will replace some dishes. If you don't live in California or other region with frequent earthquakes, stop worrying. When the ''Big One'' comes in your city, you won't care about your dishes. Noise - go to the Appliance Forum and find a long thread titled something like ''does anyone make a quiet refrigerator''. All kinds of people in various degrees of upset that they can hear the ice drop in their refrigerator. I guess none of them have kids, live in the city, have a snoring spouse, etc. Their experiences and recommendations to achieve silencitude appear contradictory and ineffectual. But when I need a good chuckle, I re-read that thread. As for ants, we have an ant problem sometimes. I find that if you don't leave bread crumbs, Nutella smears, sugar spills, jelly blobs on your counter, you have few if any ant problems. Unfortunately, we do, or at least my kids do. It is often weather-dependent too. 1/8'' will make no difference, unless your cabinets are actually levitating, there will be a route for one of nature's most remarkable creatures....See MoreHow do I sound proof my ceiling to eliminate boards creaking?
Comments (8)Concrete topping over wood joists is quite normal in Canada in low-rise buildings. We see this quite frequently. The fix: everything vs. nothing. As you have guessed, the issue is UNDERNEATH the concrete. And to get at THAT layer your upstairs neighbors have to remove everything, jack out the concrete and then "fix" whatever needs fixing (sigh....guess how many times that's going to happen? Zero). And because the problem is your problem (it bothers you, not them) you will have to spend all the time/money investigating this issue. It is *possible you can rip down your ceiling (yep....throughout the ENTIRE condo) and investigate the problem from BELOW. I'm going to guess this isn't going to happen either (cost is going to be WELL over $15-$20/sf to remove, repair and replace ceiling). The fix that you could attempt without having to investigate the actual source would be to have a drop down acoustic ceiling installed with proper isolation channels and acoustic drywall/ceiling tiles. It is possible to do this for about $10/sf. If you have UNTEXTURED ceilings, it is *possible you can use GreenGlue+Acoustic drywall to create an acoustic barrier that will offer another 36 dB of insulation (5/8" acoustic drywall = 18 dB of insulation; GreenGlue sandwiched between the old ceiling and the acoustic drywall = 18 dB of insulation). This can be done for about $7/sf and will not lose ceiling height. My personal favourite is a "white noise" machine for the bedroom. The simplest option = fan. $15 from Home Depot. And no I am not being facetious. I am offer a cheap, simple (and often effective) solution to a sleep problem. White noise machines will do a tremendous amount for your sleep. Once you get a few months of decent sleep (yes...it takes that long to pay off sleep debt), you will begin to feel better about where you are. And eventually, if everything goes well, you will stop hearing the noises from above. All for $15. This would be my first stop. You can always add more materials to your ceiling and remove money from your bank account if the $15 fan doesn't work....See Morekatclaws_mo
11 years agoAnnie Deighnaugh
11 years agolindac
11 years agoalways1stepbehind
11 years agocamlan
11 years agoteacats
11 years agokatclaws_mo
11 years ago
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