Staggered studs with RSIC clips - benefits to doing both?

[DanCostello]

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to design the ceiling in my basement studio. Because of an existing structural beam, I can't run a set of new ceiling joists that span the entire room - at most, they'll be able to go about 2/3 of the way, before running into the beam. And because of several issues related to the layout of the space, head heights, and existing plumbing, I'm having trouble figuring out a way to position a new beam (parallel to the existing one) that could support those new ceiling joists while also not being in physical contact with the existing structure.

So, regarding the ceiling design, I'm going back to the drawing board. This is what I've come up with:

Option #1 would be to just use RSIC clips on the existing ceiling joists and attach the drywall to those. I'm reluctant to do this for a few reasons. 1.) RSIC clips are kind of expensive, and if I can get better isolation for the same amount of money, I'd rather do that. 2.) The existing joists are old and some of them are warped. They can probably handle the load of a new ceiling, but I'd rather not risk it.

Option #2 (which I just devised) would be to install new ceiling joists interleaved with the existing ones, have one end of the new joists attached to the top plate of my new wall (which is otherwise decoupled from the rest of the structure), and have the other end attached via joist hangers to the existing beam. The way I figure it, this design would be similar to a staggered stud wall (just on the ceiling), except that only one plate is share between the sets of studs, rather than two (in this case, that shared "plate" is the beam).

Obviously, since there is some mechanical connection between the new joists and the old ones above, the isolation won't be as good as if there were no connection - but would the isolation be improved if I installed rsic clips on the new ceiling joists? Or is there enough isolation already in this plan that the rsic clips wouldn't help much?

If this isn't clear, I can whip up some pics in sketchup later today that should better illustrate what I'm talking about.

[DanCostello]

A pic to (hopefully) clarify what I'm talking about:



Yellow line = existing beam.
Blue line = new wall.
Green lines = proposed new beams.
Joists shown are proposed new joists. Existing joists are not shown.

My original plan was to attach the new ceiling joists to a beam running along the bright green line. That bright green beam would have been supported on one end by the dark green beam. But I can't install a post underneath where the two green beams would intersect, and having the whole 1000+ lb ceiling supported by one span (bright green beam) which would then be supported on another open span (dark green beam) was more engineering than I wanted to mess with.

So, now my idea is to have the new ceiling joists attached to the blue wall on one end, and the existing (yellow) beam on the other end. The existing joists are attached to the top of the yellow beam and to the masonry wall outside of the blue interior wall.

I hope that's clearer.

-Dan.