Sound deadening my theater in the basement...? (1 Viewer)

[Billy Gun]

I think the "Room inside the room" method is how I'm going to build it, but what materials do you think the walls, ceiling, and floor should be made of to get the maximum Bass isolation from the rest of the house??

 

[David Hartsock]

Sand filled walls. You asked

 

[Billy Gun]

Are you serious?! Sand..........
I like the idea. Would it work?

 

[Phil A]

You may also wish to look at the products of www.acousticsfirst.com and contact them.

 

[David Hartsock]

Yes, it would/will/has! Very heavy, and negates the use of drywall on the inner wall unless you do the "room" in a room thing. The room will be as soundproof as you can imagine. Dead also. Room refraction and added acoustics are minimized. Hey, go out on a limb and do it. If you don't like it the kids can use it in their sand box. Did I mention to wash the sand first?

 

[Billy Gun]

Dude....Sand..?? Common...Are you messin' with me?!

It does sound like it would work though....

Does anybody else agree with David on the sand?

 

[David Hartsock]

Dude,

I'm not messing with you. I have no reason to do so. If you want the best solution - sand. It may not be the solution you choose due to price/construction reasons, but sand. Insulation, wall coverings may be the right path for your application.

 

[Lee J. Buividas]

Yes sand is the way to go as well as building a room inside a room and so on and so on. I have designed homes for several rock stars and that is the way we started to sound proof their in home recording studios. Although recording studios are a whole other ball game then a home theater especially the finish materials because sound is treated very differently from a home theater then a recording studio and so is light. There have been some very in depth discussions over at the AVS forum from some very serious experts. Also don't use just any sand the finely sifted small grain sand you would buy for your child is a good start. Also sand is very heavy so there will be structural engineering considerations especially for the floors and ceilings. Like I said this is just the beginning there are a million other things you need to handle such as any penetration through those walls ceilings and floors such as wires, HVAC, plumbing pipes all need to be handled for the noise they give off and because they can be a escape for the sound. Then how you finish the room will have a effect and how you hear the sound from the movie, and on and on and on. Don't be afraid but do your research and the most important thing is you are doing all this to enjoy the movie. Enjoying the movie is what it is all about whether you watch it on a 20 year old TV or the state of the art home movie theater it is all about the enjoyment of the movie as simple as that. Have fun!!!!!

Lee J. Buividas

 

[Billy Gun]

Guys,
For me to enjoy movies, they must be played at reference level.
For me to listen at reference level, my wife must not hear the movie upstairs while she is trying to sleep.
Got it.
So.....I must start with how I'm going to attempt to isolate the sound from the upstairs, then I'll wory about the inner wall/ceiling sound treatments, ect......
Yout thoughts.........?

 

[David Hartsock]

You can't look at the ceiling and walls as two seperate problems. If you don't take care of both you still have a problem.

 

[Lee J. Buividas]

Room within a room is probably the way for you to go. Double wall construction with a air space in between the walls also putting in new ceiling joist in-between with the bottoms of the new joist sticking down a couple of inches below the old ones. Another words you put the new ceiling joist up in-between the old and come down below the old ceiling this way you don't sacrifice too much ceiling height. Also be careful the new inner walls and ceiling don't touch the old and the air space between is critical. Put some sound proof batting (not insulation which has very little sound deadening benefit) inside the new walls and ceiling caulk everything with soundproof caulking then double the dry wall and soundproof caulk all the joints. there are several products that you can sheet roll or put up by the sheet that uses lead that is also very good before you drywall. Putting your bottom plate of the walls on rubber also helps.A little tip for you all remodeling or building a new home put down a thin strip of rubber such as a bicycle inner tube between the plywood sub floor and the floor joist it really helps in eliminating squeaks. even under and inside the joist hangers you know the part of the hanger that meets the woodThen you need to address the door such as a soundproof door and gasket. Your room will be only soundproofed as good as your weakest link. Soundproofing all the penetrations such as wires and pipes a separate HVAC system is also critical as sound will travel through the duct work which also must be soundproofed.
And if you have the height you might want to put in a floating floor. Again the air space is critical to soundproofing. Multifamily construction such as apartments is a lot of the time nothing more then two walls separating the units with a air space between and double wall drywall on each exterior side and works like a charm for must every day living. Masonry is not that great of a soundproof barrier or insulator just by itself in the thick nesses we normally use such as a 3" wide brick or a 8" or 10" concrete wall. Owens corning did a fun commercial on this a few years back showing how much thicker many materials need to be just to give the same R value of their 3.5" batts of insulation, the masonry was unbelievably thick in the many feet. That is why we have to insulate our masonry basement walls block or concrete. Although concrete works a little better for stopping sound then for heat transmission because to stop sound you need mass and density. Anyway these are way over simplified answers to a very complex problem and every situation can have very different problems to solve.
Lee J. Buividas

 

[Paul_Saul]

I have a basement that is made of a

fold-form construction = styrofoam

forms that are then filled with concrete

so that there is 3" of styrofoam on each

side of the 8" wall - the result is a

very dead acoustic space.