I hear footsteps

Goodmorning, My studio construction seem to be moving along througout everything else thats going on in the middle of building a house.... The drywallers just finished the ceiling of my studio and I can still hear footsteps. The floor construction is: 3/4" tung and grouve plywood (mainfloor) 14" TJI joists with 2x4 top and bottoms spaced 16" on center 4" of Roxul sound insulation between the joists 1/2" drywall screwed to the bottom of the joist r/c channel 1/2" drywall screwed to the r/c channel Still left to go is: 3/4" hardwood flooring and felt paper on top of the plywood. The studio is located under my bedroom in the basement. Will the remaining flooring continue to help isolate sound or is there something else I should do the the cieling? If so, now would be the time before the drywallers leave. Thanks g :?

Your drywallers installed 1/2" of drywall directly to the bottom of the joists, then installed RC, and then installed another layer of drywall on it? That's a three-leaf ceiling, friend, and that's not good at all. :( Maybe an extra leyer of drywall with 100% application of Green Glue on your ceiling, if you can afford the weight without overloading your joists (which is a big if -- do not make any assumptions that you don't have span table and/or engineering data to back up!) may provide you with some relief... :roll: ...Or, quite frankly, ripping down that entire two layers of drywall and starting over, with RSIC clips and two layers of 5/8" drywall with 100% the recommended coverage of Green Glue in between. Another option, since it seems the upstairs floor is an unfinished subfloor at this point, would be to seal all the seams and the perimeter upstairs with a good acoustic sealant, add a second layer of 3/4" T&G plywood upstairs, with 100% recommended coverage of Green Glue sandwiched in between -- again, only if the joists can support the extra dead load. In any event, the choice of floor covering upstairs is also going to make a difference... Laminate? Ceramic tile? Carpet? Engineered hardwood? :roll: I'm sorry we didn't catch you earlier before making this mistake... But looking at the other threads you started in the construction forum and the design forum, there honestly wasn't much opportunity. We never saw anything that even hinted to the design of a wimpy three-leaf ceiling system. The devil is in the details with this stuff, as I'm sure you've since learned. I realize the train has already left the station in your case, as your house is being built as I type this and your options may be extremely limited at this point. Nevertheless, I strongly suggest you buy Rod's book, study it very carefully, and accept the fact that in spite of this being new construction, you're most likely going to have to approach this from a retrofit perspective, quite possibly after the house is built and you're already living in it. Perhaps the situation isn't as dim as I've made it out to be, but lacking details to the contrary, I have to call it as I see it. :( --Keith :mrgreen:

At the time I had suggested to the drywallers to install the two layers of drywall directly on the r/c. There responce was that the r/c channel wouldn't hold up the wieght of the drywall. I guess its not really to late to change the cieling if I had to. So if some one could help me with a solution that would be great. Thanks g I would like to reuse everything I have. drywall (lots of it) and r/c. :cry:

gusb wrote:

At the time I had suggested to the drywallers to install the two layers of drywall directly on the r/c. There responce was that the r/c channel wouldn't hold up the wieght of the drywall. I guess its not really to late to change the cieling if I had to. So if some one could help me with a solution that would be great. Thanks g I would like to reuse everything I have. drywall (lots of it) and r/c. :cry:

Gus, your drywall contractor doesn't have a clue what they're talking about - 2 layers of 5/8" drywall attached to RC-1 is perfectly acceptable. Pull it down and make them fix it........ Rod

can some-one please point out to me what the differance between rc and rc-1? I'm really confused. Even for additional money, the contractor I'm using seem to think I'm crazy! The issue revolves how around how to properly build the cieling structure for my home studio.... His sources tell him that hanging 2 layers of 1/2" drywall on rc will not hold. Maybe there is a article or some documentation that I can print for him to review. Your help is much appreciated. gus

Not sure how the framing construction is but in my house if someone is upstairs in my game room where the floor joist span 17 feet. If they walk heavy or jump the entire floor moves meaning the joist are flexing. If you are nailing to the same joist I can't see you will ever isolate that. It seem to me you need seperate ceiling joist as you would a second wall so there is no contact. If you have wood floors and someone is walking around in heels I don't think you'll isolate that either. It would be like someone using a hammer you are going to hear it through every board in the house

I'd suggest getting the specs on the RC they used. It should say what the maximum load is. At this point I'm not even convinced they used RC. My gut tells me they used hat channel. :roll: If you're 100% set on reusing all the materials, I doubt your outcome will improve to a great extent. --Keith :mrgreen:

DO you have any pictures of the work?

not really, I didn't get a chance to be there when they did the install. I was working by day job. I have some pictures of the drywall up in all the rooms and some of the initial framing but nothing in between :cry: gus

Listen - go to the link and down load a copy of the picture called: USG Specs For RC-1 This comes straight out of the USG publication called Acoustic Assemblies - and it doesn't state only RC-1 - it states "RC-1 or equal" and all of the one legged resilient channels are structurally equivilent to RC-1. get it here: http://groups.msn.com/RecordingGroups/s ... snw?Page=3 They are apparently trying to rip you off now - I say this because I can't believe they are really as stupid as they sound....... Rod

I wonder how much Rod would charge you for a speakerphone conference consultation in which he verbally rip the heads off of your drywall contractors... :roll: ...and I wonder how much you guys would charge me to listen in on it! :lol: Hang in there, Gus... We're all pullin' for you. --Keith :mrgreen:

Thanks for all your help guys.... I'm talking to the contractor tomorrow morning. I gave him a call just now and dropped the bomb on him. He said he would do what ever is right. He's not so bad after all..... I'll keep you posted. Thanks Again, gus

Excellent news. I'm sure you're sleeping a lot better, knowing you at least have a pledge of cooperation. --Keith :mrgreen:

Well I had the drywaller change my room around so now my cieling assembly will be as follows: (top to bottom) 3/4" brazilian hardwood floorings (soon) felt paper - as part of the hardwood installation 3/4" t/g plywood (glued and screwed) 14" floor joist on 16" centers 4" of soundbat rc track on 16" centers 2 sheets of 1/2" drywall I have had people walk on the floor above at each step of the way and I noticed a considerable difference once the drywall was repaired. I hope that the final flooring will improve the transfer of sound even more. I will keep you posted...! Once I figure out how to make my photos small enough to meet the requirements for posting I will post the building phase. Thanks for all the help folks. g

Looks like a good plan. 8) About the only thing I would suggest to "kick it up a notch" would be to use Green Glue between those bottom layers of drywall, and maybe make 'em 5/8" if you can. It may not be necessary, but it definitely won't hurt and can only improve things. --Keith :mrgreen:

Also keep in mind that most contractors will tell you that stuffing insulation in a wall will make it soundproof... so take everything they say with a grain of salt. If you've done your homework and you know what is correct, don't let them tell you otherwise.