# Workshop Sound Control



## SWM (Jan 10, 2010)

Greetings fellow Lumberjocks,

I am in the beginning stages of covering walls/ceiling of my basement workshop. Our master bedroom/bath is directly over the shop so every little noise that I make goes straight to the top floor! I am not looking to block everything out or go really overboard. I just want to make a decent attempt at stopping the high pitched planer router noises.

I had hopes of installing soundboard (fiber board type 4'x8' sheeting) directly to the overhead ceiling joist and covering with a finising material such as corrogated roofing or drywall. Apparently Lowe's and Home Depot do not carry the stuff. I'm pretty sure that they used to (based on some random blogs/forums that google found) however all the local stores around Atlanta act like they have never heard of the stuff.

Does anyone else have a good alternative? I thought that maybe the foam insulation board would help to isolate the finished drywall/roofing????? I also ran across some stuff called "green glue" (www.greengluecompany.com) that looks really intersting, but it's nearly $300 for a 5 gallon bucket. I wouldn't mind paying that if I knew that it would work.

Thanks for any suggestions

SWM


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## lilredweldingrod (Nov 23, 2009)

I saw Mike Holmes use a greenish/brown insulation for the wall between the homes in a duplex. Also fire proof as well. I'll be dipped if I can remember the name of the stuff. I do remember that it really worked well on the sound deafening though.


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## SWM (Jan 10, 2010)

I think that I remember that episode. If so, i believe that you are talking about "Quite Rock". It comes in various densities with one sheet equal to 2,4,6,8 seperate pieces. It's also very expensive and heavy. I had hoped to find a panel material like corrogated roofing that could be taken down if needed because my application is in a basement, with lots of electrical and plumping fixtures overhead.


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## whit (Jul 6, 2007)

Do you have space for a suspended ceiling of sorts? That's what I ended up doing in an office that's just below our master bedroom. I run the engraver, vacuum, and ventilator in the office (usually at odd hours of the night . . . and early morning) and was afraid my wife would COMPLETELY lose her sense of humor when the end-of-job beeper kept going off.

The advantage is that the suspended grid is separated from the floor joists - except for the wires - so the sound isn't transmitted directly up to the flooring like it would be with direct-attached sheetrock. The main disadvantage is that you have to be able to give up some head space.

Whit


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

plain old fiberglass bats add a lot of sound proofing.


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## DanLyke (Feb 8, 2007)

I have seen sound board at either Lowes or Home Depot recently, but from what I've read, if you're going to go with drywall as your finish surface, I'd hang it from resilient channel. And maybe use Quiet Rock or a similar two-layer drywall.

As I'm reading it, the main thing is that if you screw your drywall through sound board to the studs, then the screws still work as a sound transmission medium. So even if you put a layer of sound board up there, you'd want the RC decouple the joists from the drywall.


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## Pop (Aug 6, 2007)

There are several ways to stop or absorb sound. In an audio studio we use all of 'em. 
Isolation: Room not touching other rooms. Not an option for you.
Isolation pads under machines. This stops vibration not radiated sound.
Density: MDF or the likes. That's what they use in speaker cabinets. Very heavy.
Absorb: There are foams made such as "Sonax" which has preformed peaks molded into it to eat sound.
2 down sides I can think of. It's expensive and it will collect sawdust. It works very well

Pop


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Ya' know ….. while this wouldn't work for the router table …. easily …. I've read about a FEW people who simply took double-walled corrugated boxes … cut a few holes in 'em (infeed, outfeed, and controls), and slapped them over their planers.

And you could line the box WITH EPS panels, for even MORE soundproofing.

I'm trying to think about what % of the sound on MY router table comes from ABOVE vs. below. Whatever % comes from below wouldn't be that hard to squelch, either-the same way.

I used hardboard panels to box in the sides of my Kreg PRS2000 router table. Made a dent in the noise. Again: insulating THOSE panels could make a bigger dent.

And-of course-*Pop*'s right. I used to be an audio guy. Those Sonex panels could make a BIG difference … as could (literally) egg crates, or egg crate foam (hardware store). You could just build a four-sided box, line IT with the foam, put in lighting, if you wanted, and probably knock out a BIG chunk of the noise from the top.

Good luck !


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

I have seen a smaller channel attached to the stud before the drywall is attached that is supposed to be for sound proofing. It was on commercial jobs. Didn't look like it would do much, but it must ;-)


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## gerrym526 (Dec 22, 2007)

When I remodeled my basement, including the workshop, 15yrs ago, I used what's called Z-channel. It's galvanized metal strips in the shape of a Z that fasten to the basement ceiling joists. The drywall is then attached to the Z, which isolates it from the joists-eliminating the "drumhead" noise transfer effect. I also packed the space between the ceiling joists with pink fiberglass insulation.
The soundproofing was very effective. Workshop is below the living room and my family can't hear the tablesaw or router when I'm using them. Has no effect on the TV watching they do-LOL!
Gerry


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