Insulate Ceiling for Sound

[Mike Lamb]

A client had a question for me about insulating a ceiling for sound. This is about a 10-year-old Chicago condo that most likely has a wood truss floor/ceiling system.

I was thinking laminating a thick foam board with a drywall finish to the ceiling. Any other ideas?

[ghentjr]

A client had a question for me about insulating a ceiling for sound. This is about a 10-year-old Chicago condo that most likely has a wood truss floor/ceiling system.

I was thinking laminating a thick foam board with a drywall finish to the ceiling. Any other ideas?

Is he trying to keep upstairs sound out or his sound from annoying others?

[Chad Fabry]

Another layer of 5/8 drywall mounted on resilient channel is fast, cheap and highly effective.

[inspector57]

Lots of different products out there and it depends on the frequency that is the biggest concern. There used to be a product called "Deciban (sp?)" that is a plywood type product that could be layered. Resilient channels that create a thin air space between layers of drywall are another option. Don't forget the acoustic electrical box wrap.

[Marc]

What Chad said. Whatever you use, it needs to be dense - heavy. The more dense the material is and the thicker it is, the greater the attenuation. The low pitch sounds will see less attenuation than the upper. So a man's voice will carry further than a woman's voice and I'm not being sexist.

Marc

[Rob Amaral]

Be careful.. factor in the dead-weight of any materials..

"Quiet rock" is a product used by recording and rehearsal studios..

I did a double-layer of drywall with resilient channel and it cut down the highs very, very well... (not the LF)..

[John Kogel]

Condo ceiling - he or she wants to cut the sound of footsteps upstairs.

[Mike Lamb]

Is he trying to keep upstairs sound out or his sound from annoying others?

Would it matter? Noisy dog/foot traffic above.

[ghentjr]

Originally posted by ghentjr

Would it matter? Noisy dog/foot traffic above.

I think each would be handled differently. If one had a music room and wanted to keep the noise in, it would require a different method than trying to quiet noisy footsteps from above. In this case, the best solution would probably be to pay for them to carpet their apartment.

[Scottpat]

I see several homes a year with soundproofing around rooms of the home, most are used for music studios. They are built pretty much like Chad described but they fill or pack the resilient channel(2" to 4" airspace between the sections of walls/ceilings) with fiberglass or spray it with dense cellulose insulation. Then the final sheet of drywall is mounted with rubber or felt pads over each point of contact/attachment to reduce the vibrations.