Champagne taste beer budget Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Is Soundblok still the preferred material for killing sound transmission through walls, or has something new come along in the last couple years I'm not aware of? Does anyone know a place that discounts it? For the ceiling and one wall that seperates the loud rooms (workshop and dedicated listening room) from the rest of the downstairs area, I'm looking at approx 1,000 s.f I need to do some rereading of old posts, but though I'd throw this up as a seperate thread to see if anyone is aware of new product or great pricing on old product. On one hand, I want to get by as inexpensively as possible. On the other hand, I need to do it right the first time, so if it's more than I want it to be I'll just have to keep saving pennies. I certainly don't want to go with some new product that's 'supposed' to work as well, only to find out when I get done that it really doesn't and I have to rip out walls to fix it. Any advice or opinions are, as always, appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Never heard of soundblok What are you trying to accomplish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 I did a bit of research on soundblok (or similar material) and found it much too costly for what I am trying to do in my basement. Additionally, from what I have read, it offers a lower density than doubling up on your drywall. Check out the avsforum for more information on this. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Sorry, I had the name a little screwed up. See here: http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_sheetblok/sound_isolation_sheetblok.asp I'm trying to prevent as much sound transmission as possible from a listening room and a work shop from getting out and up to bedrooms directly above and the into the house in general. This is in a downstairs area with two of the walls poured concrete. The "Design My House" thread has drawings of the rooms in question. I already have the staggered studs in one wall and intend on double sheetrocking it, along with sealind any openings with caulk type sealant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I already have the staggered studs in one wall and intend on double sheetrocking it, along with sealind any openings with caulk type sealant. I was under the impression that this was pretty much as far as one needed to go....offering an STC of around 60dB. Now that I've seen a picture, you can actually get that sheetblok stuff at Home Depot. We purchased a ton of it to go under our wood floors. It did make a difference in how "echoey" the floors were. But it's not going to be very effective at lower frequencies which is why you need to do the mechanical decoupling of surfaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I will attach two articles, as wall construction and magical sound transmission materials keep reappearing almost as frequently as magic cables. One is by someone who routinely has the budget to use platinum walls if they worked better. But as he routinely deals with reality and what DOES work, you might be surprised as to what his tests and experience specifies. But many may complain as it is not the most exotic solution. The other attachment to follow is a general wall construction guide for both wood and metal stud walls. Note, all drywall in both attachments is attached with an elastomer adhesive. Also, if I may make a comment and then run away without going into more detail... Ron Sauros is going to be presenting several very important papers regarding the acoustical ratings of acoustical materials. In the process of performance testing the Space Array and Space Couplers, he has raised quite a few very significant issues. The least of which indicate that ALL of the heretofore STC, etc. measurements are, well, meaningless. Come to find out other products have been tested on 'scale models'...Yep. And the measurements do not correlate to reality - and not only that, but the measurement process and valid measurements themselves have proven to be a very elusive animal to catch... Rather than bastardize the findings with an incomplete description, one might wait a bit to read his findings which are going to turn the entire industry on its collective ear. Chalk another coup up to Russ and Ron! In the meantime, save your money and resist the temptation to spend the big bucks on magic panels. [] As Russ says, How something is constructed is more important that of What it is constructed. Well, within limits of course![] BTW, pardon the fuzziness of the post and the diagrams which are expanded to show a bit more detail in spite of the originals fuzziness. If you are anxious to simply know the answer, go with wall D! Partitions.RBerger.ConcatSep.a.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Here is another very good synopsis for wall construction for sound transmission. Soundproofing Walls1PDF.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Sorry, I had the name a little screwed up. See here: http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_sheetblok/sound_isolation_sheetblok.asp I'm trying to prevent as much sound transmission as possible from a listening room and a work shop from getting out and up to bedrooms directly above and the into the house in general. This is in a downstairs area with two of the walls poured concrete. The "Design My House" thread has drawings of the rooms in question. I already have the staggered studs in one wall and intend on double sheetrocking it, along with sealind any openings with caulk type sealant. It looks like you are doing all the right things. You mentioned the staggered studs and double sheets on the walls, have you taken comparable measures for the ceiling? The additional culprits at this point would be doors, windows and any paths through electrical conduit, HVAC, and plumbing. Good Luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 The additional culprits at this point would be doors, windows and any paths through electrical conduit, HVAC, and plumbing. Tom is right on the money! May I suggest that these 'small' aspects are even more critical than the walls and ceilings. Literally. More sound is transmitted via these vectors than via the walls or ceilings surfaces themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Mas Mas Mas... I thought you'd get a kick out of what happened to me. I downloaded & printed your files. As a bit of history, I recently decided to go to the eye doctor as I've not been to one in probably 35 years. I'm starting to notice the need to "lengthen my arms" as I read. vision is "20/20" however he said I can stand to use some $3.00 1 diopter reading glasses, bought at Walmart/other. I picked your stuff off the printer... hmm...can't read worth a damn... reach for my $3.00 glasses... STILL fuzzy as heck...what gives??? I have a damn fine color laser printer... Oh...seems the work itself is essentially out of focus. My initial reaction was all the sudden my eyes have gone KAPUT on me and now I realize it's a sinister act by yourself to simply freak me out. I (honestly) can't decide if its easier for me to read with the glasses ON or OFF. Quite a quandry. As my basement is my next big project (after the bathroom is painted/finished) this is going to be of specific interest to me. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I know, I know! I apologize for the fuzziness! The original is like that. Especially Figure 5 which is very fuzzy! If its any consolation, the diagrams are not really that critical except to show the basic relationships. The critical thing is to realize in Figure 5 is that the curve for wall B (pictured lower right) and wall D (upper right picture) appear to be joined about mid-graph just above where the line from wall A (upper left) points to the curves. And it is easy to erroneously match the lower end of one curve (wall D) to the upper curve of wall B. Totally lost now???? I have included that description just for the few of you who weren't! OK, so now all of us are all lost on the same page! [] The lower half of the wall B curve (pictured lower right) is concurrent with the heavy curve for wall A (pictured lower right) for much of its run and its thinner tail can be seen diverging about where the arrow from Wall A (pictured lower left) points to the curve in the lower left of the diagram. The curve for wall D (the configuration of the wall that you want to use!!!) has a better low frequency response meaning that it transmits less LF energy. It takes a dip and then turns quickly upward just after it intersects the heavier/darker curve from wall C (pictured in the upper left). I'm sure glad I am not dependent upon reading this description to figure out which curve is which! [][] As I said, just pick wall configuration D and wonder "why?" some other time! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Somewhere in one of these threads are these same images, in color and good focus. I believe they were from Edgars' site, but I can't say for sure, may have been 2 years ago. I thought about searching for them when I was at work with a fast connection, but we got everything done and handled for the week, it was either browse old posts or go home early on a Friday. The locks clicked close not too long after. Suffice to say, I intend on doing staggered studs and double sheetrock on both sides, insulation inside the walls, not exactly image 'D', but close. Since I'm home, I can verify that I still have 16 tubes of DAP Dynaflex 230 left for sealing every nook and cranny I can find to seal. The ceiling is really my biggest concern for containing sound since it's all open joists excepting the HVAC and water ins/outs, which are not insignificant. There is only one duct outlet into the listening room area, in the ceiling, but there are a myriad of ducts that run through the joists as they go to different rooms upstairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 If you have a forced air outlet in the ceiling, did you put a "hush" box in line and put at least 1 90 degree bend? If you have not sheeted the ceiling, now would be the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 There is one, and I do plan on putting in a couple bends before closing up the ceiling. Thanks for the reminder though, I am sure there are things I already know to do that I won't remember until it's too late to implement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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