Soundproofing my workshop.

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cfullen

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In 30 days I will be breaking ground on my new home that includes a 600SF slice of heaven.  I live in a well populated neighborhood, so I'd like to take advantage of soundproofing techniques. 

The shop I am in neighbors a grumpy asshole that has called the police on me 27 times to date now.  Each time was for noise.  While I don't break the sound violations and thus are not breaking any laws, I'd like to avoid this in the future should I have another asshole for a neighbor. 

I am planning to use 2x8's on my exterior wall and fill them with foam. I think this will be sufficient, but wanted to open the discussion for alternative techniques.
 
There are some sound waves that are dampened by mass and others that travel through it.  I've had the best luck mixing materials but can't give you any scientific information.  If you built a pair of  2x4 walls with staggered studs you wouldn't get sound vibration traveling through the whole 2x8 from inside to outside.  I don't know your insulation detail, but you may get more sound absorption through a combination of foam and fiberglass.  Hanging sheetrock on resilient channel may be sufficient to create a break in the wall.  Good luck with the neighbor.
 
I had good luck with a master bedroom Reno we did using blow-in fiberglass into 2x6 walls, it really deadened the outside noise of a nearby major road.

You might also have good luck doing regular fiberglass batts then running a layer of foam board insulation over the studs before the drywall. Spray foam the windows and doors with a low expansion spray foam.
 
If you were going to drywall then consider this option http://www.quietrock.com, some Lowes stores sell it. But I would think the doors and/or windows would still be a big issue, what's your plans for these?
 
The audio/video industry has been attacking this problem for home theaters for a long time and there is quite a bit of material online if you google for keywords "home theater soundproofing".  What you are trying to do is to decouple the inside walls from the outside walls so sound does not transfer from one to the other.  The most effective solution is to create a box within a box construction with the inner box decoupled from the outer box.  Unfortunately, this tends to complicate the design and building of the walls and therefore be expensive. 

Just using thick studs is not that effective because a single stud will translate the sound directly from the inner wall to the outer wall. 

Products like quiet rock mentioned above, and other similar products, build the isolation into the drywall.  I've also seen a product used (can't remember the name) where a special caulk is used to glue 2 drywall panels together.  The glue acts as an isolation barrier decoupling the inner drywall from the outer drywall. 

Hope this helps

Jay
 
Since sound is transmitted through walls and ceilings, to some degree, by vibration, there is a method out there that uses methods to isolate the vibration and prevent transmission. I did not use it when converting part of my basement into a workshop, because I wasn't going to finish the ceiling or walls. I'm sure that it could be found on the internet. I merely used fiberglas insulation in the ceiling, but it doesn't completely stop the sound, just enough so that it isn't a real problem in the house, though. In our family room we used double drywall and the result was excellent.
 
A good friend of mine is a superintendant for a commercial acoustic company here in the CA, Bay area. What they do for sound barrier is they frame the walls, insulate and hang 5/8 drywall and finish it to a level 3. They then use metal hat channel and screw it to the drywall over the existing studs. The final step is then re-rocking over the top of the hat channel and finishing to whatever desired level of finish. If budget allows they use sound proof rock on one or both layers. The theory behind this is that whatever sound makes it through the rock will dissipate in the air space between the hat channel and first layer of drywall. Its quite more expensive and time consuming, but works very well. Hope this helps.
 
jbasen said:
The audio/video industry has been attacking this problem for home theaters for a long time and there is quite a bit of material online if you google for keywords "home theater soundproofing".  What you are trying to do is to decouple the inside walls from the outside walls so sound does not transfer from one to the other.  The most effective solution is to create a box within a box construction with the inner box decoupled from the outer box.  Unfortunately, this tends to complicate the design and building of the walls and therefore be expensive. 

Just using thick studs is not that effective because a single stud will translate the sound directly from the inner wall to the outer wall. 

Products like quiet rock mentioned above, and other similar products, build the isolation into the drywall.  I've also seen a product used (can't remember the name) where a special caulk is used to glue 2 drywall panels together.  The glue acts as an isolation barrier decoupling the inner drywall from the outer drywall. 

Hope this helps

Jay
Click to expand...

Yup, Since im in the field it is something that is addressed on just about a daily basis.

"Mass" stops sound, the heavier the material the better sound "absorption" it will have. Quiet Rock is a good barrier but it is expensive, roughly $55-$75 per 4x8sheet depending on the area of the country you live in (its around 80 here in the philadelphia market)

For a shop i would absolutely build a "room within a room" bring the interior walls roughly 8-12" in but making sure to stagger the studs. Insulate the first exterior wall like normal (spray foam would be good as it adds mass) Insulate the second interior wall with something like roxul (since its cheap), then hang the 5/8" drywall like normal but have the drywall crew use this: http://www.greengluecompany.com/ then have them hang a second layer using green glue too. Or you can skip the green glue for the second layer and add the metal hat channel like was suggested above.

This is the cheapest most effective way to go about getting a noticeable reduction in sound, i can go into more detail if needed, but understand sound deadening is not cheap. Alot of the sound transmission will also come from windows and doors, so if you can try to avoid windows ( i know not ideal) another thing is your garage door is going to be another source to transmit sound, the best thing i can tell you for that is find the heaviest door you can possibly find (wood?)
 
I agree with mini, double 5/8 with green glue and roxul in the walls. I've been doing a lot of research into soundproofing as I have a job coming up that needs it and the one thing I have learned is that it's not cheap and it can easily be done wrong and you can just end up wasting a lot of time and money. Don't bother with rc channel, it can be effective but 90% of the time it is installed incorrectly and the second you run a screw through it and into a stud the system is short circuited and you have lost the decoupling that the rc was providing. Sound is like water, it will travel through any point that isn't soundproofed like mini said, windows, doors, even your electrical boxes so it's kind off an all or nothing thing.
The basic elements of soundproofing are: decoupling (double stud walls or rc channel), mass (double 5/8 ),and dampening (green glue)
There is a lot of info online about it but most of it is by manufacturers claiming there system is the best. I found green glues site to be really helpful with several different construction methods depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Good luck.
 
Man, this takes me back in time.  For a year or so after I built my shop and posted the results on Sawmill Creek I would get emails from people wanting to "soundproof" their shops.  Then some of them would argue with me about it saying that I didn't do such-and-such so it certainly wasn't good enough.  I also got emails from "sound professionals" saying that what I did wasn't good enough and my advice was unsound  [wink].  I try to stay out of the discussions now, but I will add a little.
One of the things to keep in mind is the inconvenience of some of the methods.  Using multi-layer isolated drywall means you have to be careful how you hang things on the wall.  So, no big lumber racks or heavy cabinets full of tools for you.  I used staggered stud walls to help here, but it does compromise the isolation a bit.  Good enough for me though.
Also when someone upstairs hears me working in my basement shop, it sounds like I'm doing it in the back yard (actually it's quiet enough that it sounds like I'm doing it several blocks behind the back yard).  That's because the glass french door and window in my shop both point out back.  But, I wasn't willing to give up natural light.
To prevent annoying your neighbors, ensuring the walls are all insulated well and making sure the doors and windows are minimal and solid would be my first cut.  Keep it simple.  IMO, if you don't need complete and total isolation, most products for soundproofing are serious cost escalators.  A few basics should be good enough to keep the neighbors at bay.  Block or cement walls would be awesome.  Thicker walls as described or 2x6, maybe with staggered studs should also be fine.  But I suspect your best bang for the buck is going to be heavy doors, good windows and good insulation.  I'd also suggest an insulated staggered stud 2x6 wall on the interior side where your shop meets the house and an exterior door between the shop and the house.  That'll keep house mates happy too.
 
Search the internet for box-in-box sound insulation. 

inside walls can be made from one layer osb on metals stud.  Roofing (without stones)  attached to that.  Gypsum on top of that.  Fill the metalstud with homatherm or rockwool.  If you put that in front of an outside wall with some air in between the outside wall en the inside wall you'll be fine.  You need mass and air to soundproof. 

Be ware of doors and windows.  These will be you weakest links.

And don't forget fresh air if you make everything soundproof.  Sound doesn't make u-turns.  So if u use something like sonoflex  (insulated flexibel duct)  and you bend it twice 90degrees, it will be soundproof.

 
I used roxul in my ceiling to keep the noise down between the 2 floors and it works well but I still can hear noise when it comes from certain angels (there were holes in the sub floor which I didn’t fill) If I were to do it again I would have used 1" of spray foam to fill all the small voids and cracks or in your case seal every thing up from the outside then stuff the ceiling with as much insulation as I could fit in. A wall of solid foam would not work as soundproofing. Green glue and quiet rock will give you a good barrier so will hanging acoustic panes or heavy curtains over the windows to keep down the echo.  Putting your dust collector/ compressor in a closet will help too.
 
ive been doing some research on antivibration gloves, and i came across this some information search "impacto.co" on the web. don't forget about sound traveling through your floors!
 
Surely you need to work the other way around? The first thing you need to know is what are the noisiest and most frequently used machines that produce high levels of noise then determine what levels of sound deadening you need.

Also, I'm not sure I saw any similar advice up there ^ but given the cost and effort in soundproofing - this may be an opportunity to control the sound level at source. For example;

> Should your nosiest machine be a thicknesser / jointer / planer, etc then look to invest in spiral cutters.
> Replace noisy universal motors where possible.
> Get a quieter DC system if possible or at the least soundproof that unit.

Maybe separate your work space and minimise where you run noisy machines and hence reduce the cost and work involved, i.e. put a smaller box within the larger building (if that makes sense).

Whilst I appreciate your need to minimise disruption to your neighbours, a main priority should be your own ears within your shop.

Oh and when can we get some pics  [smile]
 
The real first step is to determine how much you really need to sound proof. Is this an outside building? Is this a garage? Is this in your basement? Each of those might be different in what level of soundproofing you want to end up with. Is there a need to essentially completely soundproof to the outside world or just enough so that neighbors aren't bothered. When is most of your work going to be done? During the day? Late at night (when people are sleeping)? I would take the view that extraordinary measures may not be necessary, meaning that getting most of the noise blocked to the outside world would be enough; not essentially 100%.

I would also agree that your hearing is a high priority. You would want to keep noise to a minimum in the shop regardless of the effectiveness of the hearing protection you wear. Since I've moved more to Festools and other lower sound producing tools (like hand tools), I found the noise levels have dropped also and aren't so important (still need hearing protection though).

So, if it were me, I'd take a look at the whole picture and decide whether the incremental improvements in sound proofing justify the additional cost.
 
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