Sound proofing

cosmic cosworth

HI ALL
a man in need of your help. I am buying a new build detached house from a builder. The attic is fully coverted for storage only. However i have asked the builder to sound proof this for me as i plan to transfer this into an ensuite bedroom or a lads hideout with a cinema system in it.. He is already putting in 50mm kingspan on roof only to insulate. He has recommended we put 100mm kingspan in between the jocyes to elimate sound down to second floor. This i have no problem with apart from the price he wants to charge for this. He has quoted me 2800e for this:eek: . I found this rather expensive and was wondering if you could recommend something on a cheaper scale. Also he is going to sound proof the main bed and sitting room down stairs using the same method. Only in between joyces and not walls. I want mainly to elimate sound from the attic and downstairs sitting room only so a person can sleep in the main bedroom without hearing noise from either rooms. noise such as tv cinema system, talking and walking on floorboards.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
many thanks
cosmic

Viking House

Kingspan is not a good material for soundproofing as it is too light weight.

highlydebased

On www.musicstore.com they stock studio quality soundproofing materials, however, its for lining the insides of rooms, so might now be of use to you

Mellor

Kingspan (or any similar board insulation) isn't designed for sound proofing. Its a thermal insulation. Look into getting an acoustic mat/roll.
As for the downstairs, using a SoundBloc plaster board from Gypsum (or Lafarge) will help with sound transfer better than kingspan between joists, will also be a far cheaper option.

greenbastrd

Im building a studio at the moment and im now at the stage of soundproofing.

I would suggest you read every bit of litrature you can find on it. Basically sound is like water. It will bleed through any gop in insulation.

IE if you plan to just insulate between the joists the sound will hit your wall then your joists then the other wall the joists are connected to then bleed through to the room. For maximum sound proofing you need to have a room within a room type thing going on.

My dad converted his attic the method he used was floating the floor which aparantly has to be done anyways.

you re-inforce the roof then hang metal gerders(spelling) from the roof and put the floor gerders on these (I think thats wha he done.) This way you can jump up and down up there and not hear it down stairs.

As for soundproofing.... your entering into a world of headaches as its a pain in the @rse to do!

cosmic cosworth

Thanks for that. I have been advised to use rockwool in the attic and also an acoustic mat type for under the carpet using this as a underlay as well thus saving the cost on underlay for this room. Can i use the same principal between living room ceiling and main bedroom floor. Any advice on which type is best.
many thanks cosmic

Mellor

Some of the methods suggested above are overkill imo.
The acoustic mat I suggested is probably the easiest, and best option.
In the attic, a set-up like:
Carpet
Acoustic Mat
Rockwool between joists (optional)
Sound resisting plasterboard (optional)

Bare in mind that the rockwool will affect the passage of heat to and from the attic. Im not sure of the cost increase in going for sound plaster boards, but that info is easy to obtain from a supplier, as is the reduction in dB, from gypsum.ie


The same setup can be used downstairs. But consider the floor finish.

Will all rooms have this buildup? If not floor levels will differ between rooms, not a big issue if good thresholds are installed.

Will there be carpet laid in all rooms? If not then make sure the mat is suitable for wooden flooring, how compressable is it.

This setup will reduce direct sound, cost on all elements should be easy to find, dB reductions may be harder, but you should be able to estimate a cost to dB rate, this will help you decide which parts to leave out. Flanking sound (accross and down walls) will still be an issue. But its elimination will cost far more for the reduction and also reduces the size of rooms far more. Its not worth it for this issue imo

mellor

Fingalian

Moy Isover make acoustic insulation batts, but could luck trying to buy them, the factory don't sell to the public and none of the listed dealers carried it( Heatons, Chadwicks etc) I eventually tracked down the rep for Dublin but he was not interested in dealing with me ( too small an amount)A good source of info on soundproofing is:

http://soundproofing.org/

I bought acoustic gasket tape from them and put it on the studwork between bedrooms and also on top of the joists before the subfloor went down. Works good.

Like one of the earlier posters said , sound is like water, I spent a lot of time sealing and caulking cracks holes , eliminating potential soundboxes. You sure get to know your house when you've been over every inch of it.

Mellor

I think those Moy batts are for walls not floors.
they are called Calibel as far as i remember, they won a best at show at plan expo in 2004