Best Sound Insulation?
We have an exposed brick wall in a brownstone and we can hear perfectly the next door neighbors. We are decided to put sheetrock on the walls of the parlor floor. Any recommendation for sound insulation? Someone told me about Homasote, someone else about spray foam, Quiet Rock… Any experience? What is the best sound…
We have an exposed brick wall in a brownstone and we can hear perfectly the next door neighbors. We are decided to put sheetrock on the walls of the parlor floor. Any recommendation for sound insulation? Someone told me about Homasote, someone else about spray foam, Quiet Rock… Any experience? What is the best sound insulation material?
jrfosterny, the Quiet Rock is an excellent product, but as you’ve concluded, it’s only good if it is used properly. For example, if you had a concrete deck as a ceiling, applying any material directly to that concrete would do very little. In your case it wasn’t the product, but rather the plan that failed you.
insul123 we provide and encourage consultation but do not charge for it. Generally it’s a question and answer process to determine what you’re up against in terms of construction and noise source. We may have you poke or probe in the offending wall or ceiling and then offer a few choices for solutions.
Some proper time spent up front really reduces the risk of failure as jrfosterny experienced.
I tried quietrock on a ceiling to reduce noise from above. It did very little and cost a lot because I had my contractor do the work. I would go to a sound insulation contractor or consultant.
Dear agentofthesquid,
Could you be more specific on the details of your solution? Did you DIY or you hired a very specialized contractor? I am sure many of us would love to hear from all the details of your experience.
Dear Ted White,
I see on your profile that you are an expert and you also have a company specialized on sound insulation. Do you consult and diagnose the problem and possible solutions or you have contractors to do the job?
Thanks in advance to both!
Thank you. You really have to know what you’re up against if you want the optimal solution for your particular situation.
A lot of what Ted White is saying makes a lot of sense.
I got almost complete relief from my neighbor noise by creating an air cavity because there was no existing air cavity, but some mass. There were two layers of bricks.
Sound is tricky. The man pontificates for a reason, there’s a lot to know about this subject.
Gregg, maybe should consider not posting that exact same email in every forum you come across. If you have relevent data for the OP, all would appreciate it, I’m sure.
Lighter weight drywall of any kind isn’t a benefit, it is a distinct liability, yet you would claim it is a good thing?
All laminated drywall is difficult to cut, there’s nothing “easy” about it at all.
If you are considering QuietRock, you should also consider Supress, which is lighter-weight, easier to cut and less expensive. http://www.supressproducts.com
my pleasure 🙂
insu123, we could assume for a moment that you have a solid slab of mass. Could be one brick deep or two, but again, let’s assume no air cavity in there. Anyone with different information, chime right in, as I’m certainly not sure there’s no air cavity. Let’s also assume that your neighbor has plastered directly against their brick and there’s no air cavity.
Given that for the moment, your biggest problem is stiffness. You already have plenty of mass, so the addition of more mass (drywall), while a bit helpful, won’t be a huge difference. You can add damped mass to your brick, but effective damping won’t occur. Why? Let’s say you applied a damping material to the brick and added drywall. Why won’t damping occur? The reason is that the brick and drywall are entirely different stiffness. Optimal damping requires that the two layers surrounding the damping material be relatively the same stiffness. So 5/8″ drywall over a wood framed plaster wall works great. The same 5/8″ drywall over thick cement does almost nothing.
CCBrownstone, the quantity of damping material per sheet has always been 1,2 or 3 tubes per 4×8 sheet. Another manufacturer for years used to recommend 1 gallon per sheet… and have since changed their instructions.
Maxsdad, thank you for your kind words.