A simple 2nd floor question.

Yes, I have a 2nd floor studio. No, there's nothing I can do about it now. No, I'm not going to ask you how to do a floating floor. I have 2 rooms. No, I'm not going to redesign it and go down to 1 big room. It's 1/2 built. Now that that's out of the way.... It's above my garage, there are 2 X 10's, 16" O.C. with 3/4" ply on top. The studio is roughly 24' X 17 1/2' The joists are currently open to below(read: unfinished). I've been told that the plywood acts as a drum head, and that noises will be transferred very efficiently from one room to the next. My question is: will this sound transfer be better, worse, or exactly the same if I insulate the joist cavities and place a layer or two of drywall on the ceiling below? I'm not concerned about sound transfer between floors, as I'll just make sure no one uses the garage if I'm tracking. Thanks folks Keith

Keith - I wouldn't drywall it - I'd pack some insulation between some of the floor joists to help the acoustics downstairs, otherwise I'd let those 10 x 2's act as diffusors.

Thanks John. Will do.

One more query, If, in the above situation, I place two layers of 5/8" particle board on top of the existing 3/4" plywood, therefore increasing the mass of the floor a bit, will I derive any benefits regarding the amount of sound transfer from room to room? Cheers Keith

I'm no expert but I presume if adding something like that to the floor you may as well sandwich a layer of rubber or such material to act as a damper between the two timber layers. Doing as much as you can now is better than ripping up the floor in a few months. That IMO would be a good solution. Paul