supposedly tomorrow morning.
HOORAY!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
It's Been Four Months......
"When are we going to have our living room back Mom?"
Sigh. I guess when you decide to hire your buddy/neighbor you trade off on a great price for being continually bumped down on his job priority list. Maybe this week???
Sigh. I guess when you decide to hire your buddy/neighbor you trade off on a great price for being continually bumped down on his job priority list. Maybe this week???
The Great Grover Massacre - Soundproofing How-To DIY
One of the main benefits we hoped to achieve from this renovation was to dampen, to the extent feasible and within budget, the sound from our upstairs tenants. Upstairs is all hardwood flooring, and with no insulation between floors, you can -almost literally- hear a pin drop. At least you can hear EVERY squeaky footstep (this is called 'impact' noise- we don't have a problem hearing people's voices, thank goodness).
SOUNDPROOFING - STEP I- Mineral Wool
When we gutted the kitchen 2 years ago- we used Thermafiber mineral wool blankets to insulate the ceiling, on the advice of the fire-obsessed inspector, but what sold us was the soundproofing benefits of mineral wool (rock wool-same thing). And it does help. But, in the kitchen we used sisterboards bolted into the existing joists, and you can definitely still hear the footsteps above.
For this project we again used Thermafiber blankets as the first layer of insulation, which you see as that yellow stuff in all the pictures below. But we knew that would not be enough.
By the way- a word on mineral wool: GOOD GRIEF, is that stuff nasty to work with. This is not like the cute happy cotton candy pink crap. This is seriously nasty. Long sleeves, gloves, APPROPRIATE LUNG PROTECTION, bandanna around the neck, hat, eye protection, you name it. Then take a cold shower and dont rub your skin until after you've washed off the fibers. and for heaven's sake dont wash those insulation-y clothes with anything else. UGGH. Need i say more?
SOUNDPROOFING STEP II - Ceiling Frame
So in planning for this project i became obsessed with soundproofing and spent many hours on the web researching. What I learned right away, and our kitchen is case-in-point, is that no matter how much insulation you put, if you still have direct wood-wood contact you get vibrations, and that transmits the noise. So, you kinda have to either commit and do it up right, or else not bother. If you are going Pro- the best option is to request a suspended system for the drywall using resilient channel strapping. Since we went D-I-Y, this system seemed a little too complicated for us to wrestle with, so we looked around for other options.
First and foremost, was the decision to build the slightly 'dropped' ceiling frame as we've described in earlier postings. The frame is secured to the perimeter joists of course, so there is wood contact, but the only direct contact with the ceiling joists is via the hurricane ties.
SOUNDPROOFING STEP III - Muppet Massacre
After some research, we knew that installing a second layer of insulation was going to be a key move. But what? More of that ITCHY mineral wool?? We just couldn't bear the thought. Then I read about recycled Denim insulation on my favorite soundproofing web resource: http://www.soundproofingamerica.com
The product picture shows a dude in *shorts* stroking this cozy looking furry blanket.
No Itching! I was already sold!... plus it's a Green product due to its 100% recycled content. The one drawback... its at least 3 times more expensive than regular insulation. But, we decided it was worth it.
We just tore sections of the 'blankets' (a very appropo term, they are so cozy that the dogs just curled up on the stray pieces) and draped them up above the strapping. When we were done, it did look like a whole army of Grovers had given their furry little lives to the cause:
Sure enough, even without the drywall up yet, we noticed that normal footsteps above were barely audible!. Still, I had one last trick up my sleeve...
SOUNDPROOFING IV - Green & Sticky - Acoustic Tape
One nifty piece of advice I also found from the web was the so-called "Poor Man's Float"..a way to help reduce sound if you could not afford the full "floating" ceiling/wall system. This green adhesive tape is made of thin foam (~1/6") and serves as a cushioning layer between the drywall and the studs to help reduce sound vibrations. Again, from www.soundproofingamerica.com It was fairly cheap, and easy as heck to put up, so that went up as the final (ok, yes, anal) step in advance of the plasterers..... who are at the moment...AWOL..
SOUNDPROOFING - STEP I- Mineral Wool
When we gutted the kitchen 2 years ago- we used Thermafiber mineral wool blankets to insulate the ceiling, on the advice of the fire-obsessed inspector, but what sold us was the soundproofing benefits of mineral wool (rock wool-same thing). And it does help. But, in the kitchen we used sisterboards bolted into the existing joists, and you can definitely still hear the footsteps above.
For this project we again used Thermafiber blankets as the first layer of insulation, which you see as that yellow stuff in all the pictures below. But we knew that would not be enough.
By the way- a word on mineral wool: GOOD GRIEF, is that stuff nasty to work with. This is not like the cute happy cotton candy pink crap. This is seriously nasty. Long sleeves, gloves, APPROPRIATE LUNG PROTECTION, bandanna around the neck, hat, eye protection, you name it. Then take a cold shower and dont rub your skin until after you've washed off the fibers. and for heaven's sake dont wash those insulation-y clothes with anything else. UGGH. Need i say more?
SOUNDPROOFING STEP II - Ceiling Frame
So in planning for this project i became obsessed with soundproofing and spent many hours on the web researching. What I learned right away, and our kitchen is case-in-point, is that no matter how much insulation you put, if you still have direct wood-wood contact you get vibrations, and that transmits the noise. So, you kinda have to either commit and do it up right, or else not bother. If you are going Pro- the best option is to request a suspended system for the drywall using resilient channel strapping. Since we went D-I-Y, this system seemed a little too complicated for us to wrestle with, so we looked around for other options.
First and foremost, was the decision to build the slightly 'dropped' ceiling frame as we've described in earlier postings. The frame is secured to the perimeter joists of course, so there is wood contact, but the only direct contact with the ceiling joists is via the hurricane ties.
SOUNDPROOFING STEP III - Muppet Massacre
After some research, we knew that installing a second layer of insulation was going to be a key move. But what? More of that ITCHY mineral wool?? We just couldn't bear the thought. Then I read about recycled Denim insulation on my favorite soundproofing web resource: http://www.soundproofingamerica.com
The product picture shows a dude in *shorts* stroking this cozy looking furry blanket.
No Itching! I was already sold!... plus it's a Green product due to its 100% recycled content. The one drawback... its at least 3 times more expensive than regular insulation. But, we decided it was worth it.
We just tore sections of the 'blankets' (a very appropo term, they are so cozy that the dogs just curled up on the stray pieces) and draped them up above the strapping. When we were done, it did look like a whole army of Grovers had given their furry little lives to the cause:
Sure enough, even without the drywall up yet, we noticed that normal footsteps above were barely audible!. Still, I had one last trick up my sleeve...
SOUNDPROOFING IV - Green & Sticky - Acoustic Tape
One nifty piece of advice I also found from the web was the so-called "Poor Man's Float"..a way to help reduce sound if you could not afford the full "floating" ceiling/wall system. This green adhesive tape is made of thin foam (~1/6") and serves as a cushioning layer between the drywall and the studs to help reduce sound vibrations. Again, from www.soundproofingamerica.com It was fairly cheap, and easy as heck to put up, so that went up as the final (ok, yes, anal) step in advance of the plasterers..... who are at the moment...AWOL..
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