ceiling soundproofing

[anfieldfc]

hi has anybody got any ideas on how to soundproof a ceiling the people upstairs are driving me mad cheers

[sbowler]

Its not going to be cheap. If you have high ceilings then you could try lowering it by a foot and insulating the void in between. Its the lower frequencies thats the problem and its very difficult to reduce them.

[john59]

Nip upstairs with a couple of the boys, why should you go to the expense of sound proofing when it's not your fault

[Brian Ravnaas]

well, the best place to start with a project like that is at the floor level.

the reason for this is (i'm guessing footstep noise is part of the issue?) that treating the ceiling only leaves many paths for noise to come downstairs and radiate via the walls. impact (footstep) noise is particularily troublesome with respect to flanking noise because its created right in the structure.

Much can still be accomplished, of course, if the floor can't be touched, but it can be a bit more challenging.

is floor treatment feasible in your situation?

[anfieldfc]

has to be from ceiling cant touch upstairs

[Brian Ravnaas]

Originally Posted by anfieldfc

has to be from ceiling cant touch upstairs

OK.

When the floor can't be touched (though sometimes when the floor can't be touched, it can still be modified from below... ?), the challenge of controlling sound (especially foot-step noise) is increased because the sound can enter the structure and move around... and kind of get everywhere.

so sound can make it downstairs via the floor joists to the walls and radiate from the walls, etc. flanking noise.

The best place to start is to modify the ceiling. some options include removing existing drywall and add resilient mounts (clips, less preferably resilient metal channel) and new drywall. When the ceiling is open, add insulation to the cavities if it isn't already present. You can use damping materials as well.

You may find that you also have to improve the other surfaces of the room (the walls) to escape the flanking noise problem (upgrade the walls). While that isn't great news, i know, it is a fortunate situation where improving only a ceiling can really bring this type of problem under control. Flanking noise in this situation is routinely considerable.

good luck,

Brian

[Bacus]

Originally Posted by anfieldfc

has to be from ceiling cant touch upstairs

I had a problem with the sound from my system constantly waking up my little boy... In the end i took down the ceiling (messy job) then put in loft insolating material then fitted new plaster board and replastered !!! May not be the best way or an easy way, but it works !!!

[bluesilver]

does anyone know of a person who can either install or give thorough instruction on how to soundproof a new build room? Any prices on labour would be welcome.

cheers

[sunama]

I too am going through the same problem with my ceiling. I have just bought a new home, but i am finding that noise is travelling to and from the upstairs room too easily. Hence, i have decided to spend as much money as necessary (within reason) to reduce the amount of noise that travels to and from the room.

This solution is summarised in the diagram in the link below:
http://www.domesticsoundproofing.co....ng_rbars1.html

The materials in that diagram will go below the existing ceiling so there is no need to take down the existing ceiling. One advantage i have is that the room I'm in has very high ceilings. Even if i lost a foot, there would be plenty of headroom. Of course, if i follow the technique showed in the link above, i shouldnt lose more than 2-3 inches.

I'm also getting the house rewired, so i have decided to first get the place rewired (should be within the next 2 weeks). Then i will have the ceiling sound proofed.

A great way to soundproof further would be to carpet (using tiles) the ceiling, however, this will be my living room and not a dedicated home cinema room and i feel carpeting the ceiling would be taking it too far.

If anyone has any further ideas on how to further sound proof, then let me know.

[Brian Ravnaas]

hey again sunama, remember when planning a sound-isolation project to consider all the flanking possibilities, and things like seals and ductwork and doors... all the double studs and green glue and mass in the world won't help if you have (for example) a shoddy lightweight unsealed door to bleed noise like crazy.

[sunama]

Ok, a few months have passed and I have just finished sound proofing my bedroom ceiling (more for my own peace than anything else). I will be having a hifi system, as well as a 32" tv in this room. I wont be using at huge volumes. For loud volumes I will be using the system in my lounge (on which work has yet to start - I'm doing one room at a time).

At present the impact/footstep noise from the upstairs people was unbearable. So much so that every morning I was being woken up. Hence, I needed a strong solution to ensure that impact noise was minimised, as well as minimising the midrange noises (travelling upstairs) that my TV would make once that arrives. Below is a rough summary of what I did:

1. remove existing ceiling to expose bare joists.
2. fill the gaps between joists with rockwool, 100kg/cubic metre, 130mm thick
3. below the joists screw in 50mmx50mm battens, running at right angles to the joists.
4. fill the gap between the battens with rockwool, 140kg/cubic metre, 50mm thick
5. below these battens, screw in resilient bars
6. below the resilient bars, screw in a layer of 12.5mm knauff soundshield plasterboard
7. below that layer of plasterboard, screw in an identical layer of soundshield, except this time, put a layer of green glue, to create a sandwich.
8. skim and plaster the ceiling to finish.

All of the above, including labour, came to £1700.

Still to do:
paint ceiling
stick decorative ceiling rose to ceiling
add ceiling cornice
install chandelier

I predict that to do the above, I will be looking at around £800, for a grand total of £2500 to get the entire ceiling finished.

Ive taken LOADS of pics of the project, from start to finish. I will post them up once the ceiling has received its plaster skim.

Im planning to give the same treatment to my lounge, in which my home theatre system resides. My question is: when I do the lounge, should I alter the procedure in any way, as compared to what I did to the bedroom, or is what I did the bedroom the optimum method of soundproofing, considering my budget of around £2500?

[sunama]

Originally Posted by Brian Ravnaas

hey again sunama, remember when planning a sound-isolation project to consider all the flanking possibilities, and things like seals and ductwork and doors... all the double studs and green glue and mass in the world won't help if you have (for example) a shoddy lightweight unsealed door to bleed noise like crazy.

Oh and for what its worth, I have had fitted some very heavy fire doors throughout my property. I will be using a damping strip on the door frame to absolutely seal the door when it is in the closed position.

[anfieldfc]

will these be any good for a suspended ceiling http://www.expamet.co.uk/bp/products/batsph.html

[sunama]

Those things are joist hangers. I presume they are used if you want to add a second ceiling below your existing ceiling, but you do not want the 2 ceilings to be in direct contact with one another. So, you use those things in conjuction with brand new timber joists. Once fully in place, you treat those joists as you would do you existing joists and simply attach your plasterboards onto the joists, then skim plaster over them.

I think using that technique you would better deal with impact noise, however the costs would be substantially higher. Also by digging into the wall (at the points where you are attach your joist hangers), I'm sure that you will be weakening the structure of the (load bearing) walls.

My budget is around £2000-£2500. I wonder if I could afford to use new joists and a second ceiling.

[anfieldfc]

i think they just sit on top of the brick work the idea is to put new joist in between the old ones the joist hangers will give me a bigger cavity then i will build my stagered stud wall to the new joist anyway how did you get on with the green glue cheers