hiring somebody to soundproof?

DaleH · Post by **DaleH** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:46 am

Hey all-I have *no* knowledge about construction, but I need to soundproof my garage to make a rehearsal space/amateur studio. should i just call a general contractor or who should I contact to do this? What do you look up in the yellow pages? Thanks!

rod gervais · Post by **rod gervais** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 11:47 am

Please don't look in the yellow pages.........

Ask friends - the parents of friends.......... ask around until you find some reputable companies who have years of experience in construction.

Then check their references......... at least the last 5 or 10 jobs they have performed. Make certain they have good relations and track records with their clients.

Get some help here with design and the basic requirements for the work to be performed........ write down a basic specification for the work to be performed....... and get at least 3 quotes from the firms you have faith in.

Trust me - even liscensed companies can rip you off quicker than you could believe - the fact that they advertise in the yellow pages does not make them any good.

Rod

DaleH · Post by **DaleH** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:43 pm

I wasn't saying I'd just pick somebody out of the yellow pages at random; what I was trying to get across is I don't even know what category that kind of service would be under. Once I know that, the Yellow Pages can give me a list of companies to at least check out.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:03 pm

Dale, the main point Rod was making is that there are very few contractors who specialize in sound proofing, and even fewer who know what they're doing - I've had several licenced "old timers" claim that Resilient Channel was worthless - without exception, they were putting it in the WRONG place in the construction; no clue whatever.

Probably your very best bet given your location, is to join this forum -

http://forum.studiotips.com/index.php?s ... 0aa691a90e

And ask your questions of Scott Foster, one of the moderators there - he lives in Jacksonville, so probably would have a much better idea of who to contact in your area... Steve

DaleH · Post by **DaleH** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 5:11 pm

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. I'll go check that forum out.

cpl5571 · Post by **cpl5571** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 7:28 am

Hi Dale,

Unless you are willing to pay for someone who specializes in soundproofing construction, even if you use experienced carpenters and tradesmen, make sure that you do all of the research about soundproofing principles so that you can be the expert in that regard. I just finished building a 15 x 30 double-wall room in my backyard. I was lucky in that I had friends who do concrete, framing, drywall, etc. So, with the exception of the electrical, all of the labor was free. Still, even though these are guys who are experts at what they do, they were not experts at soundproofing.

After spending hours and hours reading as much information as I could (especially this forum and the one at homerec.com), I was the "expert" on soundproofing and made sure that these guys knew what to do.

It is important that you find someone you trust, and who is flexible and willing to do things that may be different than what he normally does, and who won't mind you asking a million questions about things.

Did we do everything perfect and by the book? No, there are several things I didn't do that I probably should have, but I am very pleased with the end result.

Regards,

Craig

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:42 am

Craig, very well put - your comments are what I was referring to when I mentioned contractors in my previous post. Couldn't have put it better meself, thanks

... Steve

DaleH · Post by **DaleH** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:39 am

Actually it's looking like I might just do the construction myself. I didn't realize how simple it would be to frame and drywall some new walls myself. Do you guys think that a new room within a room (4 new walls with sheetblok appllied to all) in the garage with a foot of dead air space in between the new walls and the garage walls would be enough to practice w/a loud band?

AVare · Post by **AVare** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:59 am

Do you guys think that a new room within a room (4 new walls with sheetblok appllied to all) in the garage with a foot of dead air space in between the new walls and the garage walls would be enough to practice w/a loud band?

If it is built properly, yes. Think of sound isolation like heat insulation. If you do the walls and nothing with the roof, the sound will go out there. If you don't do the doors and ex doorways tot he same standard of isolation, the sound will go out there.

There is a lot of useful information on this forum , on the links from the main page, and of course all the people here. The more detailed information you give us, the better we can help you. The better that you know it, the better you can spend your time and money to get the best possible performance for your effort.

For starters on information; what is the size and construction of the garage? How close are the neighbours? What type of neighbourhood are you living in? How loud is the band?

cpl5571 · Post by **cpl5571** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 3:55 am

Dale,

The room in my backyard is double-wall construction (4" gap between walls). Going from outside to inside I have -

- Wood siding
- 5/8" sheetrock
- 5/8" sheetrock
- exterior frame with R-13 insulation
- 4" air gap
- interior frame with R-13 insulation
- 5/8" sheetrock
- 5/8" sheetrock

The ceiling is also 2 layers of 5/8" sheetrock. I have R-19 insulation in the roof trusses and the ceiling joists. I used acoustic caulk to seal all gaps in all layers of sheetrock.

If you walk 30 feet away from the room you cannot hear a thing. We're not a metal band with our Marshall's cranked to 11, but we play rock and are fairly loud. My neighbor's patio is probably 20 feet away from the room. If they are outside, they can hear that something is going on inside the room, but it is not loud (much quieter than if I'm mowing my lawn).

The big problem you will face is cooling and ventilation. You've just taken great pains to make sure you have a completely airtight space so sound can't escape, but now you've got to somehow get fresh air into and out of the room. Since you are in your garage you may be able to run a duct in from your existing A/C.

Craig

z60611 · Post by **z60611** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 9:17 am

Yesterday I was looking over some email from someone who many months ago I thought was pretty good at sound insulation, who sold Kinetics stuff. He wrote "Don't put up multiple layers of sheetrock/drywall. They add mass. What you want on the inside of a wall system to maximize transmission loss is something light and flexible. That way the sound will be absorbed."
Today I'm pretty sure that's wrong. Decoupled mass is a good thing, until it falls over and kills you.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 9:55 am

There is some truth to that, although it's not the whole story - I've calculated different wall scenarios til I'm blue in the face, trying to compromise between good room sound and no sound transmission - you can't get there from here...

However, I found that you can get nearly the same TL with grossly unbalanced mass, and doing a light inner leaf WILL enhance bass trapping through the panel trap effect. You have to keep in mind, though, that for max isolation you're better off (costs being ignored) by building a heavy, dissimilar, double leaf mass-air-mass barrier and THEN worrying about acoustics (much more trapping required though)

When calculating RT60 of a room, the panel resonance of drywall needs to be included or you end up being off in calculations - in really large rooms, even air absorbence has to be considered, along with chairs, people, clothing, etc -

If I remember correctly, when I modeled some walls I found that instead of 3 layers one side and two the other, if I cut the inner leaf down to one layer I needed to add two layers to the outer leaf for almost identical TL - the upside of this would be less bass trapping required for tuning the room, due to the lighter inner leaf.

I've not tried this yet with real world materials, so keep in mind this is all hypothetical... Steve