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Join us
now for another virtual tour through a soundproof basement project.
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Robby is the young dude you met when you visited his soundproofed
apartment. He seems a little more friendly
now, perhaps because you've already met.
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"I joined a band,"
he explains. "then
we found we needed a place to practice. We had the cops come a few times before we
realized we absolutely needed a place quiet enough where we wouldn't disturb the
neighbors"! (more)
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"What did you do"? You inquire.
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"At first, we had some luck by moving the practice out to
the country, but that was not practical for all members of the band. We tried a large room
in the back of a house and then a large garage, but that was no good at all.
We always found we needed soundproofing. Some of the guys tried out
their ideas of egg cartons and mattresses, but that turned out to be a
joke, a real waste of time and money!"
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" We knew we needed solid walls, so we tried putting the practice in a basement, but
the sound just went up through the house and out as well as out the windows of the basement. We
were now certain we had to make a serious effort to soundproof our practice area and figured the
basement was the best place to start. Reading up on the subject here at
the website, we found
that masonry is a good soundproofing material and
our basement was quite full of it!"
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"What seemed to be the biggest obstacle to
soundproofing the basement, the sound passing up into the house"?
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"Well yes, we knew it probably wouldn't be possible to do good enough
of a job to allow watching TV upstairs while we practiced, we are really loud!
But we wanted to at least keep
the neighbors happy! Any soundproofing effort has limitations, translating to
a question of time and money. Different levels of soundproofing are reached with a
different application level of effort and materials. Neighbors have different
annoyance levels too. Perhaps some acceptable level can be reached with a minimum effort
and money, but maybe one has to go "all out" from the beginning. This is what we
decided to do, at the same time trying to substitute cheap labor, (the bands), for costly
materials".
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"Did you make a plan"?
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"Yes, we decided to carefully survey what would be
required by reading everything here on the web site and to then select materials and
determine a systematic method to apply them. The guys at the website were
very helpful, too". (760) 752 3030
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"How did it work out"?
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"C'mon, let's go downstairs"!
He points
to a door.
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You stop to examine the door. "Say, this seems a
bit unusual".
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Yes," he explains. "This
is a solid core "outside" or "exterior" solid core door. You'll
notice it has padding on both sides of it. The inside padding is cut a
little oversize so as to provide a seal over the crack around the
doorjamb. We used gasket material (tape) for additional sealing.
We left the
regular interior door in place and added this door, creating a kind of
"Airlock"!
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You follow him down the stairs into the basement, shutting the
doors carefully behind. You enter an area that seems muffled, noticeably quieter, yet somehow
full bodied. Obviously, the acoustics were much improved.
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"This house has part of the basement exposed
above ground so we elected to soundproof the entire outside walls from top to bottom, rather than
just the part that was exposed to the outside. This proved to be a good move. We first
applied a vapor barrier, studding and sound barrier under 5/8" drywall.
Again, the mat would be first choice, but for the expense. We also could have used
asphalt roofing material as it's also cheap, but has an odor. We did
save money by not using resilient channel or
rubber sound clips, we just taped
the studding with the stud tape
for padding".
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"What about the windows? You ask. |
"They are now history, because of the excellent way glass
transmits sound energy. They are still in place, but we first sealed them with caulking
compound. Then we cut 2" Super Soundproofing Mat slabs to a little
over the inside frame size
and forced them in, again sealing the edges. We then covered the entire window frame with
Celotex ceiling tile cut to fit even with the basement wall. We could have made
removable "Plugs", but because we don't
care about the light, or need to open them, we didn't bother.
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This is a large basement so we weren't concerned with
losing space to the false walls we constructed by studding away from the cement
block walls. The walls were built so that none of it
touches the rest of the building except through isolation mounts. It is thusly suspended.
We made the mounts from vibration isolation pads obtained from the web site,
spaced about 2 feet apart. We framed it using as few studs as possible
and placed more "Soundboard" inside the framing. It is spaced out from the
house basement wall about six inches, creating a dead air space. On the outside is Gypsum
wallboard, thin soundproofing mat (1/4"), and then a layer of Celotex ceiling tiles for looks. We used as
few nails as possible to aid vibration isolation! When the wall was in place we caulked
all around the edges of its rubber mounting, sealing all cracks and crevices".
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You look around. "I see the lights are
not built into the ceiling"!
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"Remember, the ceiling is for soundproofing!
We didn't want holes in it! The
ceiling is quite high, so we could suspend the light fixtures from the dropped ceiling
easily using chains".
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Say, Robby, what are these"? You
indicate some large wheeled portable panels covered with acoustical soundproofing material.
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"We found that the low frequency from the drums was
still noticeable outside, so following the principal of attenuation of sound at the source,
we made these panels from 3/4" plywood covered with Super Sound Proofing Mat . Under
the mat we applied asphalt roll roofing with staples. We cut some panels
in two and hinged them for storage. They open like a "V"
on it's side. We pull the panels over to surround
the drums and put them back out of the way when not needed".
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"Did you run into anything unusual in doing this job"?
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"Yes indeedy! We discovered the furnace ducting was
carrying the sound of the band up and out of the basement"!
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"Then what did you do"?
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"We painted the ducting inside with
Super
Soundproofing Liquid, then covered it with the mat. We still had a bit of a problem,
because the sound was following the ducting, so we made a hinged door the fits inside the
duct. It is covered with the mat and is hinged closed so as to swing open when air
passes through the duct. Otherwise it's closed at all times, effectively blocking
any sound through the ducting. That took care of the problem. Ducting made of fiberglass
instead of metal would
have perhaps prevented the problem in the first place".
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"Can you give me some pointers"?
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"Sure! Before you even start, make sure all cracks
where sound can
escape are sealed! Cover the windows! Cover and seal the doors!
Provide mounting isolation to your sound walls and seal them too! Forget about flush lighting, hang 'em outside! Paint metal ducts with Liquid sound proofing and cover them with mat! Make and
use portable acoustical barriers! Use common materials if possible, but when you need it,
don't be afraid to use professional stuff! BTW, egg cartons are
not suitable for sound proofing, nor is fiberglass batting"! (A
better replacement for fiberglass batting is
Natural Cotton Fiber).
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"What happens if you do
all this and it's still not enough?"
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"You can always put MLV
under the carpet upstairs!"
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"Thanks, Robby, you've been a big help"!
I've got to go home now.
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"Thanks for coming!
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NEED HELP!?:
Any questions or pointers of your own, please post to the
Q&A Forum Discussion Group so everyone can see the
answers!! (See the sidebar).
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Call us for
free info from one of our sound control Specialists or visit
us!
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760-752-3030
8-5 PT
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