Insulating for noise reduction in a new home

[Matthew Dawson]

Hi All,

I am building a new home this year and would like to reduce the noise transmission from outside to inside, from upstairs to downstairs (it's a loft house and there will be no carpet upstairs) and between rooms.

I have been looking at the following:
insulation batts, like these (Autex 'QuietStuf'):
http://www.goingsolar.com.au/pdf/catalo ... lation.pdf

and these:
http://www.soundblock.com.au/pdf/tontin ... _batts.pdf

noise reduction plasterboard panels for the ceiling and walls, like these:
http://www.soundblock.com.au/walls.html

and acoustic insulation 'fabric' that you lay across joists under the upstairs floor, like this:
http://www.soundblock.com.au/pdf/nuwavebarmat.pdf

The 'music room' will (eventually) be in the shed - the above is just to make my house comfy.

There are lots of people on this forum who have done this sort of stuff before ... I would be interested in your thoughts. Am I on the right track? Am I going over the top? Any other suggestions?

Cheers,

Matthew

[Kurt]

Have a good read on http://www.johnlsayers.com forums, heaps of good info.

[Ausrock]

CSR had a good booklet about (domestic) sound proofing................check out who in your area are CSR agents and ask if they have any literature available, then armed with that info, go do some reading at john Sayers site.

[Chinagraf]

A friend used the CSR Soundcheck plaster in his home theatre a little while back. Says it does a great job. Unsure of the price but it's obviously more than regular plasterboard.

[Sheer Noise]

second on the soundcheck plasterboard. I used that (with Rockwool insulation) in three rooms when I built my house and the stuff is great.

[Bent my VU]

fireshield is the best IMO followed by soundcheck.

[Martin]

we used the 13mm firecheck from CSR and tontine, its thick, and heavy - but you can get it most places

[Adam Dempsey]

Double - or triple - glazing windows.

I still cannot believe double glazing is not a mandatory standard in this country.

[Linear]

If I were to build a house, I reckon I'd put up on the walls 1 layer of yellowtongue and 1 layer of 13mm firecheck or soundcheck together with 1" semi-rigid fibreglass.
I still believe fibreglass is a better insulator but can understand if everyone hates it for health reasons. Once it's in the wall you never have to be exposed to it again.

two reasons for the yellowtongue:

1) you get better sound reduction if you use two layers of different densities/properties.
2) you can screw anywhere into yellowtongue. so no more searching for damned studs when you want to hang something.

a sheet of yellowtongue is about the same price as a sheet of firecheck or soundcheck (last I checked anyway).

and make sure everywhere is airtight! all the insulation in the world is useless if it's not airtight.

Chris

[Damien]

all of pony is built using barrierboard....

its fantastic..

[heathen]

In our new house I went with CSR souncheck level 2, has 2 layers of soundcheck fixed to resilient mounts and soundscreen bats in the walls and ceiling. I was going to use "green glue" as well but.......... the builder did'nt really want to know about it, all this was only done in my studio. I went and had a look yesterday and everything in the studio seemed to be done correctly except for these crap doors they installed, we specified solid wood and they use the same crap as the rest of the house. Oh well, I'll have to get that sorted out.

http://www.gyprock.com.au/oursolutions/ ... tions.aspx

Also the council would'nt let us double glaze due to fire rules, grrrrrr, so I'll be getting that done after handover. Also for windows I found this other product called "Magnetite" which I may use instead of double glazing.

http://www.magnetite.com.au/page.asp?pID=232

Good luck with the build.

[TimS]

In our new house I went with CSR souncheck level 2, has 2 layers of soundcheck fixed to resilient mounts and soundscreen bats in the walls and ceiling. I was going to use "green glue" as well but.......... the builder did'nt really want to know about it, all this was only done in my studio. I went and had a look yesterday and everything in the studio seemed to be done correctly except for these crap doors they installed, we specified solid wood and they use the same crap as the rest of the house. Oh well, I'll have to get that sorted out.

http://www.gyprock.com.au/oursolutions/ ... tions.aspx

Also the council would'nt let us double glaze due to fire rules, grrrrrr, so I'll be getting that done after handover. Also for windows I found this other product called "Magnetite" which I may use instead of double glazing.

http://www.magnetite.com.au/page.asp?pID=232

Good luck with the build.

That Magnetite looks the shit..

Simple, cost effective and removable also..
Thanks for the tip Heath..

[heathen]

No worries mate, could be really good, definately worth a try, if it's not so good I'll use double glazing and the "Magnetite".

[Ausrock]

It's interesting but what concerns me is what they don't say.

Glass has more mass than acrylic and won't vibrate as readily as acrylic, so on a 1 to 1 basis, glass is preferable. Disregarding the obvious safety advantages with acrylic, what they're doing is relying more on the air gap to enhance their "test" results than the acrylic itself. Their concept is possible to do with glass with almost guaranteed better results but whoever has done their marketing blurb has earnt their money.

[heathen]

It's interesting but what concerns me is what they don't say.

Glass has more mass than acrylic and won't vibrate as readily as acrylic, so on a 1 to 1 basis, glass is preferable. Disregarding the obvious safety advantages with acrylic, what they're doing is relying more on the air gap to enhance their "test" results than the acrylic itself. Their concept is possible to do with glass with almost guaranteed better results but whoever has done their marketing blurb has earnt their money.

I would have to agree totally, yep double glazing will be a must I think.

[ChrisW]

Hoping to start my studio build sometime this year (builder gone awol).
So this is all great reading for me. Thanks.

[Matthew Dawson]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

It is all very helpful ... I knew I could count on the Turtlerock community!

A few of you have mentioned 'soundcheck' plasterboard.

According to the information here:
http://www.soundblock.com.au/pdf/barrie ... arison.pdf
The difference between 'soundcheck' (10mm) and regular plasterboard (10mm) is not that great.

Any thoughts? Is it just marketing 'spin'?

Of course, I need to do the cost/benefit analysis of all this stuff ... I haven't been able to compare prices for everything yet.

Matthew

[Damien]

call me .... its NOT the plasterboard that makes a large difference, its the barrier between the layers.....

much better than green glue etc. the problem with the glue is you cant make every layer the same, you cant evenly spread the glue, especially then the plaster gets screwed together...

if your in melbourne come and listen to the "spin" on barrierboard...

it works really well.

damien young
0412 354 254

[Matthew Dawson]

Thanks Damien,

I'll give you a call. Good to see someone using barrierboard - it certainly looks the goods.

Cheers,

Matthew

[Senad]

As far As insulation inside the walls (ceiling, floors..) Bradford Soundscreen Rockwool is a great product. I used the 3" (32 kg/m3 or there abouts..off top of my head) version in my studio, couldn't be happier with the performance. That would provide you with both, good acoustic and good thermal insulation.