room isolation

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:35 am

ok i need some help here. I just moved to a loft and have a 500sq feet space to set up my studio. The first thing i need to do is isolate and keep the neighbours away from the loud drum sounds. What is my best bet for the walls and ceiling?I would apreciate the help.

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:05 am

The best/most affordable material for absorbing low end is rigid fiberglass.
Owens Corning 703FRK,Owens Corning 705FRK,and a product called mineral wool,which even comes with the FRK(Foil Reinforced Kraft paper)on it ,which i like better coz one side is sealed off from escaping fiberglass particles into the air.The mineral wool comes without the FRKpaper which is just as useful.Keep reading through this forum and youll have yr questions answered before you even have to ask.
good luck

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:23 am

Where are the neighbors?
What the existing walls, floor ceiling are made of?
Is this place on ground level, floor (?), attic..?
What's going inside the building?

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:32 am

Will,

The guy is asking about isolation (soundproofing) not absorption.

In general he needs room in the room design (mass-air-mass) but we need additional info about his place.

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 12:15 pm

Your best bet for the walls and ceiling are to start on the floor.

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 2:34 pm

not being smart when i ask this,but wont the heavy fiberglass or mineral wool in your wall studs provide a good deal of sound absorbtion/isolation?

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:12 pm

willjrockstar wrote:

not being smart when i ask this,but wont the heavy fiberglass or mineral wool in your wall studs provide a good deal of sound absorbtion/isolation?

Absorption, yes, partially. Isolation - it’s just the part of the game. The fiberglass/wool serves as a spring (with the air) but mostly as damping factor between two masses (it damps vibration of the leaves and cavity resonation). High density wool between the masses could decrease the soundproofing (connecting and transmitting). For damping between the drywalls its better to use fluffy or light density wool.

By itself the fiberglass/wool is not soundproofing material at all.

The mass - is.

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 10:29 pm

Sound board and drywall on a resilient channel!

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:20 pm

Gertok wrote:

Sound board and drywall on a resilient channel!

If this construction is applied to an existing mass/air/mass, like a wall with sheetrock on one side of a stud and sheetrock on the other side of the same stud, you will develop a third leaf. Any two leaf or mass air mass as it is referred to as, system will be affected by installing another layer of air(acquired by RC depth) and another layer of mass.

Based on the little bit I have read, this can have a negative effect on the very frequencies the builder is trying to contain. It is also generally reviewed as a poor idea.

Maybe pictures or a better description of the overall area would help.

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:35 am

The space is 600 sq feet and basically yes what i need is a room inside a room to stop the noise(going out), the walls r concrete walls and it is located on the last floor. The neighbours are next door separated by 2 rooms, so yes i need extra isolation so what would be my best bet.?

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:03 am

michjassir wrote:

what would be my best bet.?

As Brien pointed, the floor will be your weakest link. There is no point to make room inside the room with 60+ dB wall isolation if the floor transmits all flanking noises to the rest of the building.

For the walls isolation, double (separated) frame with two drywall layers on each side and the R13/R19 insulation between will give you STC 63 (should be fair enough). If the mass is doubled (4 layers on each side) this will give you additional 4-5 dB of reduction. This include the ceiling too.

For the floor, a seriously thick and heavy (reinforced concrete or sand filed) floating drum riser could help somewhat.

The main question is – how much of the load the existing floor (and the rest of the structure) can take? You need to contact professional structural engineer to answer that.

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:26 pm

michjassir wrote:

The neighbours are next door separated by 2 rooms, so yes i need extra isolation so what would be my best bet.?

what kind of budget do you have? to sound isolate 600sq ft properly is likely to cost you $100/sq ft. assuming the building can handle the weight. then again, is this a living space or commercial space? if its a living space, then you're probably in the wrong location... if its commercial, maybe the other other businesses operate at different hours and the isolation doesn't need to be as stringent.

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