I finally got my building permit! The contractor (a very good friend of mine) convinced me to go with stick construction instead of metal because of the additional cost. I was also told that heavier gauge metal studs are no better in sound insulation than standard wood studs. Not sure if there is much truth to that. Currently, our exterior walls will consist of 5/8" QuietRock (model 525) drywall on 2 x 4 wood studs, 1/2" plywood w/waterproof membrane (Tyvek or similar) and standard fiberglass insulation in between. Attached to the exterior plywood are 1 x 4 wood furring strips and I plan to attach 1/4" thick 4 x 8 foot HardiPanels to the wood furring strips. The HardiPanels will not be placed butt to each other but will rather have a space of approx 5/8". This is to create a "grid" pattern to the exterior wall. My goal is to build a modern, minimalist home. So essentially, (from the outside in) I have 1/4" HardiPanel concrete board, 1/2" plywood sheet, 2 x 4 stud and 5/8" QuietRock on one wall. Would anyone have any idea what the STC rating of such an assembly would be? I've been told by a local dealer of QuietRock that I should look into the "triple leaf" effect and that spacing the HardiPanel away from the plywood could cause the STC rating of the wall assembly to drop as a result of this phenomena. My reasoning would be that placing the 1/4" HardiPanel 3/4" away from the plywood would increase the STC rating since we are adding a third but very small airgap. Keep in mind, however, that the HardiPanel assembly is not completely sealed and air/sound tight because I am spacing each panel away from each other by roughly 5/8". The other options I was looking at was going with 2 sheets of standard 5/8" drywall and GreenGlue between. I have heard that this assembly would reduce low frequency penetration into the home much better than one sheet of QuietRock 525. Is this true? And another facade option would be to go with stucco so instead of a 1/4" sheet of HardiPanel and 5/8" "air space", I would have densglass, a cementitious coat and the stucco coat on top. I'm not sure if this would provide a better STC than spacing 1/4" HardiPanel away from the plywood but I'm assuming it would. If anyone can chime in on this I'd really appreciate it. For the windows, I am looking closely at Migard's Quietline product. I may just use these windows for the bedroom windows (because of cost) and other windows in the home where people are not so sensitive to noise would likely be a standard double pane windows with thicker laminated (one pane) panes of glass (to achieve at least a 35 STC). Is this a good idea? And is it true that vinyl windows are a better sound insulator than aluminum? Everyone I talked to here says that vinyl is superior to aluminum for soundproofing but I've found some information online to the contrary. My concern with the vinyl is that it is only available in white and an off-white "tan" color, both of which won't match the modern exterior of my building. What would my options be if I went with vinyl but didn't want those frame colors? Regarding flooring, the building is 3 stories high (garage at bottom, kitchen/living second and bedrooms third) I am looking at standard TJI for the floor between the bedroom and kitchen/living area but standard 12" joists for the kitchen/living floor (garage below) and the roof (nobody above). I'm trying to achieve the best "STC per buck". The QuietRock product is NOT cheap - about $60 per 4 x 8 sheet. I'm willing to incorporate other sound proofing techniques/materials as long as the price is reasonable. Heavier insulation may be one of those options. Any advice is much appreciated!

To: pfr pfr I appreciate your answer and position on these "Finger jointed studs". Please remember that I am only speaking of my experience with the use of these studs and not trying to stir the pot with my comments. I can understand that any house can be built out of cardboard boxes and matchsticks secured with glue, but I don't want one, but I have now a house built out of Finger Jointed Studs that I don't really trust. Now to comment on your above. First, no I have not found a wall that seemed to have moved out of its original position so we can count that one out so far. Now, here is one that you can hang your hat on...During our Ice storm, I had a frozen pipe behind the wall, So I had to bust out an area of sheetrock with a hammer (Between studs). When I hit the sheetrock about maybe 5 times with a hammer in order to remove it to gain access to the busted pipe. the Stud actually broke. (And no I was lucky enough to hit enough between the Two studs close enough that it shouldn't have done much damage to any other type of stud. Instead, it broke about an inch and a half across the glue joint. The new homes are being built without the benefit of outside sheeting such as OSB or plywood so they have only plastic sheeting and the Brick positioned further to the outside of the Stud and plastic sheeting. Now you are most likely wondering if either hit it harder than I am saying to gain any benefit of the doubt to all you readers, the answer is no and I did not use a sledgehammer to prove a point. I wish I had thought more about taking pictures that would have been more fact-finding but I did not take any. (Sorry) I was more interested in getting water service to my home during the storm. Now, if the above is any indication of strength, I would not want to be in high winds. Also, not all of the home is without OSB sheeting but the side I am speaking of is. These studs are on 24-inch centers which is the building standard these days.

That should work well. The clips and channels do help. I'm far from an expert, so I don't know if it would be enough difference to warrant losing a layer of drywall, or the labor of tearing it out. Maybe. Thing is, green glue is great stuff, but expensive. You need 3 tubes per 4x8 drywall sheet, at about $17 each, for a total of over $50 plus your drywall. Sound damping drywall is $50-something per sheet, at least last time I looked, so it's a little cheaper, and less installation labor to boot. A layer of 1/8" MLV instead of the green glue would give you an STC 26 barrier at around $35 per 4x8 sheet plus the drywall. I might be inclined to use one layer of green glue, for the isolation, and one layer of MLV. You can also get MLV with a closed cell foam back to add at least some of the isolation you'd otherwise get from green glue. It's more expensive, but not MLV-plus-green-glue more expensive. The most economical fix of all is to stop the hum at its source, either by replacing the humming component with a quiet one, or by isolating it with resilient mounting. But that might require more cooperation from the condo association.

apple_pie_order: You are correct, my explanation wasn't the best. Basically the situation is, as the sun passes in front of the building throughout the day, my Bedroom is significantly brighter than my living room. Accordingly, the transom is intended to improve the space in three ways: 1) Allow afternoon sun from the bedroom to lightly emanate into the living room. Conversely, also allowing the morning sun from the living room to emanate into the bedroom (which has blackout blinds). 2) I have top-down bottom-up blinds. Because I spend most of my time in the living room (to which the kitchen is attached), I prefer to have my living room blinds half up/half down to provide privacy. I do not mind keeping my brighter bedroom blinds wide open and the transom allows me to take advantage of this light in my primary living area. 3) Help bring light into the front of the suite, where the entrance and kitchen are. Although it is a modest effect, psychologically it is slightly better. The dark cavernous living room has been plaguing me since I moved in. Although I am a novice renovator and am certainly not a designer, while I've got the place ripped apart (no floors, site protection up, etc.), I figured i'd seize the opportunity and give the transom a go. Olychick: I suppose I am not hell-set on reducing the height. However, my reasoning was two fold: 1) at the current height, you can see through to the light in the bedroom, or the fan in the living room. If the height is reduced, the angle of viewing for most people will be cut off. Similarly, you could look the transom on the wall, into the one over the bedroom door. 2) Although the ceilings are 8.5', I feel like with reduced height, the wall space will still feel ample and will be able to accommodate a shelf above the TV without feeling cramped. >Can you just enclose/cover the two center windows and have the 3 on each side? Yes, definitely possible, and not actually an option I had considered. I am unsure if I want to build between the studs. They are 16" on centre so roughly 15" opening, after adding finishing material they will be maybe 14" at the widest. I am having a hard time visualizing what 6 or 7x 14" windows would like compared with two long boxes. I was thinking of cutting the studs and building 2 boxes flush to the conduit. One would be 70" long, and the other would be ~55" long. I may tack in a piece of a drywall to get a feel for the "between the studs" configuration.