Sound Insulation (1 Viewer)

[Randy Schwandt]

Hi all, after tireless reading, 7 trips to my local sound shop, I am semi decided on a set up. Basically I am in the early stages of redoing my basement for a home theater / living room. The room itself is 14x22. I am redoing everything but the carpeting (just laid it down last year). Right now there is paneling with some very old drywall behind it.

I plan on redrywalling, running data, voice, and speaker wire to both ends of the room, mounting 3 sconces on each side, and pulling down tile ceiling and replacing. 3 of the walls have brick behind them, but my main concern is the ceiling. I have yet to find an affordable way to insulate it from the sound. As it is right now, I can hear the bass from the tv running through an old stereo. My plan is to get some Paradigm Monitor 7's with a PS1000 sub and Onkyo 601 Receiver.

That brings the main question. What can I do to minimize sound from traveling to the upstairs. Obviously the lows are what travel the easiest. Unfortunately, my ceiling height is pretty low with the tiles (about 7'5") since my house is quite old, secondly, my 8 month old's room is directly above the room mentioned. I do have the ability to stick some sort of insulation in the joist's.

Any recommendations before I kick this project off?

 

[Erik Farstad]

Randy, I would recommend, if you have the space, to build a room inside of your existing room. Frame new walls infront of existing once and decouple your new ceiling, which can be hung/attached to your newly framed walls...therefore no sound or more important LFE information is able to travel upstairs since the room will not be "attached" to the adjacent structure. Make sense?

Feel free to email me if you have questions as well.

 

[Randy Schwandt]

That idea crossed my mind, but like I said, I have low ceilings in my basement due to the fact that my house is almost 50 years old. They didn't quite have in mind what I do I have 1x2's bracing my current ceiling tiles now and it's only 7'5" from floor to tile. I'm also 6'4", so that's not gonna work. The only thing I can think of is to find an inexpensive material to put between the floor joists and the tiles. Hopefully someone can tell me different since the room in a room just won't physically work in my application.

 

[Luitz]

Heres some ideas.
Maybe add a little more bracing in walls if they seem weak.
Pack fiberglass between the joists lots.
Use 5/8" type "X" fire rated drywall has much better sound deadening properties dble up.
Run independent power for stereo and tv ( 1 dedictated is not enough)
Possibly run 110v to ceiling for Front Proj upgrade down the road.
Prewire for 7.1
Prerun small Pvc pipe (inwall vacuum pipe)from stereo location to Front projector area for futture wiring when needed

and there this stuff
http://www.sonex-online.com/Barrier%20Pricing.htm
http://soundproofwall.com/
And a nice writeup here http://www.uhfmag.com/Issue63/soundproofing.html
And if the room isn't completely sealed its pretty tuff to completly soundproof it.
Have Fun...

 

[Randy Schwandt]

Thanks for the links, very helpful! I've just had a hard time figuring out what to do with the darn thing.

 

[AaronCushing]

Stuff the joist cavities with R20 fibreglass, or ROXUL if you can get it. Put RC (resilient channel) at 90* to the joists 16" OC. Add 2 layers of 5/8" drywall with off-set seams, careful not to screw through the RC & into the joists. Put a single coat of crackfill on the first layer of drywall. Leave 1/4" gap around the perimiter and fill that sucker with a non-hardening caulk. Skip on pot-lights if you can bear it, and just use sconces and/or rope lights in a valence/crown molding. Mount your FP to the rear wall, or use big toggle-bolts to hang it on the ceiling -- not into the joists.

 

[Peter Overduin]

This is where I screwed up majorly on my HT room. I insulated the ceiling and affixed 5/8 chip rock to the joists. Bad move. The bass does indeed travel up.

At the very least, run sound bars accross the joists and affix your ceiling to that. That will help. If you can afford it, use something better than chip rock.

Sigh...in a couple years i will be tearing out the ceiling and run a new one about 3 inches lower. I love my Paradigm PS1200 - unfortunately, my wife does not.