Sealing electrical boxes...

[Death By Darwin]

Hi,
It's been a while since I've posted on this board, but still making headway on my studio now over a year in the making...

I have a quick question regarding electrical boxes,
So I have gone to the trouble to make individual 2x4 wood boxes with 2 layers of 5/8" drywall caulked and screwed to the back to contain each electrical box and every xlr jack plate. That way any sound that penetrates through the first leaf through the recepticals is contained. I have drilled 1/2" holes through the wood sides of this box to bring the wires in. What is the best compound/caulk/putty to seal these holes?
I have been thinking of a number of different options:

A) Duct seal - grey putty that is sticky and doesn't dry out used for sealing ductwork. Inexpensive easy to work with. We use it a work for weather sealing around wires entering a building.

B) Acoustic caulk - obvious answer, but I am concerned that the caulk will run down the wires when the room is warm and just make a mess.

C) PL 400 - messy and not to nice to work with.

D) Teck cable sealing compound - special epoxy liquid used for making gas tight seals around wires running through multipair teck cables. Permanent gas tight seal, but expensive and tough to work with.

Any suggestions? opinions?

Regards,
-jER

[Soundman2020]

The normal recommendation here seems to be to use putty packs. But why do you think that silicon caulk would melt and run in hot weather? I reckon it would have to get pretty hot for that to happen!

[Death By Darwin]

Thanks for the reply...

I am not talking about silicon caulk, everyone here seems to suggest that silicon caulk is not adequate for sound sealing and thus we must get ourselves and everything we touch covered in the super stick never drying acoustic stuff! it is the acoustic caulk/sealant that we use with backer rod to seal drywall joints I am refering to, when it is reasonably cool it seems to hold its form pretty well, but i am concerned that on a hot day the space between the leaves might get hot enough to allow the caulk to drip down out of the hole. I guess if that did happen all my beefup layers on my outer leaf would loose their seals as well...

-jER

[Soundman2020]

everyone here seems to suggest that silicon caulk is not adequate for sound sealing

I'm not sure where you got that idea: silicon caulk may be more expensive than acrylic, but there's nothing wrong with it as an acoustic sealant, provided that you get one that a quality one that is guaranteed to remain flexible, never set solid, and not shrink. Many people here have used silicon based caulk on their studios with good results.

OK, true "acoustic caulk" may have some advantages, but I don't think anyone here would say that silicon caulk is "not adequate for sound sealing", and some of the experts here recommend it: it has good density, sticks well to the types of materials commonly used in studios, remains flexible, doesn't shrink, etc. I can only think of two negatives for it: expensive, and cannot be painted.

Anyway, getting back to the point: what brand of acoustic caulk did you use, and what does the manufacturer say about temperature rating? If you are concerned that it might melt/drip/run at high temperatures, then maybe you should write to them and ask exactly how it will behave, for your own peace of mind? And if you do have concerns about it for the specific use you are talking about (electrical sealing) then maybe you should go with something else: Like I said, putty packs seems to be the common recommendation here, but silicon caulk would work fine too for that application, I reckon.


- Stuart -