HT Walls (1 Viewer)

[Marcus Smith]

The room I plan to use for my home theater looks like it was a small garage long ago, and a previous owner made it a bedroom. The floor is concrete with carpet over it. The walls and ceiling are thin plywood with some type of plaster covering giving it a textured look. I would like to listen to and feel my movies without disturbing neighbors too much. So my questions are: Can I attach drywall to my current walls? Do I need to scrape the plaster off? Or do I need to take down the plywood and put 2 layers of drywall?
Thanks
Marcus

 

[joseph westcott]

It depends on how loud you think it is going to get in the garage and if it will bother your neighbors due to proximity or lack of insulation.

Since most gargages are not insulated, you would probably have to remove the existing panels to get insulation in the walls unless you use some blow in or expanding foam solution.

If you are really concerned about disturbing your neighbors and want to really make the sound level acceptable, I would build false walls on the four walls andinsulate between them. You have access to the attic I assume so insulating up there should be easier.

Just depends how bad the problem is and how determined you are to fix it.

If you build false walls, it will drastically improve the sound quality within the room!

 

[Marcus Smith]

I decided to start tearing down the walls today, 2 sides were plywood the other 2 are drywall. I pulled the whole ceiling down, it was all plywood with worn insulation and a ton of rat droppings, all the walls and ceiling had insulation but badly worn, maybe the mice ate it.

 

[chris_everett]

Good call to tear it down. I'd remove everything down to the studs, then you can install your wiring, insulation, etc.



Unfortunantly, this is not really true. False walls, or what is commenly referred to as double-wall construction, will do wonders for soundproofing. Also, a soundproof room will _tend_ to sound better, because it's built "tight" and won't rattle. Some (very smart) people have said that the walls will become bass traps if they are properly assembled. While this may be true, determining what frequencies theses "traps" will be effective at, and building them so that they work, is probably beyond the capablities of 99.9% of DIY theater work. For that matter it's probably beyond 99% of pros.

 

[Marcus Smith]

I have the insulation replaced now. Now to replace the ceiling and wall. I'm considering 5/8 drywall + Green Glue + 5/8 drywall. I spent some time reading on a studio forum and the avs forum. Many seem to like the green glue.