We did do some special drywall between our bathroom and bedroom as well as in ceiling of basement and the floor of our son's room (which is over garage). Not sure if it is "sound board," or what, but it has been good.

We just used the pink insulation

We used fiberglass batts, and it works pretty well. Make sure your doors get as close to your flooring as possible for spaces to really be quiet. We also used spray foam on the exterior, which keeps out a lot of exterior noise.

Home Theaters also employ two layers of drywall, usually half inch and quarter inch, or they use a channel system that attaches to the studs with rubber mounts. That's probably more effective for base than regular noise.

To soundproof bedrooms is prohibitively expensive except in masonry construction so you need to decide what level of sound abatement you want to achieve and at what cost.

I usually double the drywall on one or both sides and add insulation (if there is no door). Adding Green Glue between the layers would also help as will sealant around the perimeter.

For a ceiling, resilient channels are the best at a reasonable cost. A double layer of drywall, insulation and avoiding recessed lighting will also help.

Ditto on the pink insulation and doors close to the floor - solid wood doors - not hollow core. Also carpeting - large area rugs will help deaden sound, strategically placed closets, etc.

I am doing the spray foam insulation, so doing some extra stuff around some of the rooms like laundry, bathroom, and then also between the finished basement (where the teens will be) and first floor, and then again between the 1st and 2nd floor.

why don't you just throw up some QuietRock - a soundproofing sheetrock by Serious Materials?

It is inexpensive and very efficient...

modern_miss,

We wanted to use QuietRock, but so far have found it too expensive--for the 5/8, they're quoting something like $66 for a 4x10 sheet. Did you use the 510 (1/2") or 525 board? And, if I may ask, what did you pay for it (and where did you buy it?)

Have you or anyone on this board used viscoelastic glue between sheets of regular drywall? Are there any differences between the makers of this product?

Thanks, Mark

I can vouch for the spray foam insulation. I was remodeling a basement and using the metal channels or extra layer of sheetrock would have lowered the ceiling too much to satisfy code. I also put in solid core doors between the finished basement and the doors into the utility area and stairs going upstairs--not cheap, but very effective.

use a unfaced fg batt..(these are friction fit batts).

off set electrical recepticles on opposite sides of
2x studs instead of backing them up on same sides of studs.

sound moves in straight lines offestting boxes will lower sound transmission.

these are affordable options that only take minimal cost and follow through. ordering unfaced batts may take a week to come in, but the sound will be absorbed on both sides
whereas with faced batts the sound is only absorbed on unfaced side.

I recommend to my clients to insulate walls between living rooms and bedrooms, and baths should be insulated for sound.

talking to electrician and making sure he understands to offset boxes is also worth the time and effort. a side benefit to this is that he applies what he has learned to other projects in the future.

sound channels, sound board are all options although I
question the cost, following this cost vs performance foam also would not be an option.

theatre/media rooms are worth this but I would question the cost for baths bedrooms and living rooms or dens.

best of luck.

I'm kicking myself because our GC talked us out of bat insulating most of our interior walls. He did two walls, one separating living and a bedroom and dining separating the master bedroom. I'm hoping the bathroom will not be a problem. I wish I would have stood up and voiced my concerns before drywall went up. Oh drywall....don't get me started!

We did foam insulation on exterior walls (which helps for sound from outside) and we did the same foam between floors. The foam people also sprayed foam underneath the air conditioners in the attic. You can still hear them come on, but only if it's dead quiet at the time. Doesn't stop all the noise, but definitely helps!

We used solid wood doors for the master bedroom, and powder room. We also used batting in all the bathroom walls where they shared a common wall with living space or another bedroom.

Green Glue.

Quiet Rock is an inferior Green Glue laminating thin sheets of sheetrock with a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE markup. Green Glue is THE cheapest and MOST EFFECTIVE choice for STC--sound traveling through air. I put it between the master bedroom and the bathrooms. Amazing, the difference!

Both Quiet Rock and Green Glue perform well according to independent test results, with Green Glue excelling at low frequencies.

I've used resilient channels for 20 years, but was impressed with a Quiet Rock installation I did. It pretty much goes up like conventional drywall. Only it's a lot heavier.

Fiberglass in the wall cavities doesn't do much.

Has anyone used Roxul's Safe 'N' Sound? How well does it perform? I see it used all the time on HGTV's Income Property. Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roxul's Safe 'N' Sound insulation

The OP is looking to soundproof lots of space so cost becomes a big issue, but what if you are just looking to soundproof a small powder bath, where the amount needed of anything is not large?

We have the framing up but nothing else and I was looking into mass loaded vinyl. Nobody mentioned that product here. Is there a reason why?

I've used Roxul once in the ceiling of a basement rental apartment. It made no apparent difference.

I've read about mass-loaded vinyl, but not used it. A design consultant I used to speak with was big on lead sheeting. But, then, that was for bank and corporate meeting rooms where privacy was of utmost concern and cost was largely irrelevant.

Thanks Worthy. I assume you were using the 'Safe 'N' Sound for sound proofing rather than one of their other products for thermal insulation? Roxul itself says that its thermal insulation does nothing for preventing sound transfer.

Like californiagirl I only need to insulate a smallish area (two baths) so cost is not the greatest issue. I will read up on mass-loaded vinyl.

Some good info here.

http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/channel.htm

To isolate my daughter's room from the adjacent laundry room, I'm doing double 1/2" drywall with Green Glue. I've added Pink insulation but it only abates higher frequency transmission by a couple of dB.

My GC used Roxul in his own home and isn't totally impressed but it shouldn't be expected to control low frequency noise like footfalls.

With soundproofing....anything worthwhile isn't cheap and is highly dependent on the quality of the installation. The cheapest, most reportedly fool-proof way I've found is the double drywall/Green Glue method.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soundproofing retail site

I've used Green Glue. It rocks!

One REALLYREALLYREALLY important thing to consider is duct work. Green Glue does no go if your AC ducts directly connect the bedrooms to noisy spaces. Our bedroom is across a small (6' wide) hall from the kids' rooms, but we can't hear a peep with the fan on because the ducts are on separate runs from the air exchanger.

no go=no good

An acoustic consultant once told me that the difference in sound separation of rock wool "acoustic" insulation (Roxul, etc.) and thermal fiberglass insulation could not be measured in the field so he only specified thermal fiberglass insulation.

Insulation doesn't provide much direct sound absorption (in thicknesses less than 10") but it does help by absorbing sound that enters from one side of a wall through a crack and then bounces back and forth in the wall cavity until it finds another crack on the other side of the wall. So it does help but it is not a substitute for other more effective barriers.

sis3

Yes, I used Safe'n'Sound.

Green Glue does no go[od] if your AC ducts directly connect the bedrooms to noisy spaces.

Indeed, flanking sound transmission negates the best-designed walls, ceilings and floors. Sound finds and takes the easiest route.

Years ago, after noise complaints from tenants in a five-plex we owned, I added a carefully-done layer of drywall on resilient channel. Virtually no difference. The noise was still coming through and under the floors shared by two apartments. My next planned step was to put in a concrete block wall in the crawlspace beneath.

But before then, my business partner bought me out. Voila! I no longer had a noise problem.