Soundproofing & Doors

[leemanning]

We're going to start renovating our house in the new year and I wondered what people use and what method for sound proofing rooms?

We will (hopefully) be having one of the rooms as a home cinema and I'm keen to soundproof that as much as possible, but also want to soundproof other rooms too.

The house was built around 15 years ago and internal walls are generally stud partition.

Also interested on any solutions for the door to what will be the cinema room. At the moment double (slightly narrower than standard) doors with glass panes open into that room, so obviously no good for it's intended use.

[ben5575]

A lot will depend on where the home cinema is. I'm assuming it's on the ground floor.

We put cinema installations into our resi/student schemes. There are loads of standard details, but as a starter for products:

http://www.british-gypsum.com/white-book-system-se...

http://www.british-gypsum.com/white-book-system-se...

http://www.british-gypsum.com/products/gypframe-rb...

Be careful of the detail around flush mounted sockets. If they are surface mounted then the integrity of the soundproofing is maintained. If you cut holes in the plasterboard to install back boxes for sockets and switches then you compromise the system. Again there are standard details for this. None of it is complicated, it just needs an attention to detail.

I've got NBS 40/45 or some such secret code in the back of my mind. I'm sure one of the resident architects will be along shortly to direct you to the correct spec.

[ben5575]

Sorry just to add (more simply/perhaps more helpfully), you could simply double line the plasterboard. One better is to double line and use the resilient bars. Better still is to use the bars + soundproofing quilt.

Again, that's about the total of my Client understanding and experts will be along shortly, but ultimately it is a value judgement for you - just how quiet do you need to go vs the cost of achieving it.

[VEX]

On a major project a couple of years ago, we actually mounted two doors back to back to each other, one opening in the other opening out, with an air gap over the wall depth.

Then neoprean tape around each door frame to ensure a tight / snug fit when shut. Works wonders isolating the noise from inside the room.

Double layer of plaster or sound board works, over lap it so the joints dont line up and in my own room we used Greenglue as an isolating compound between them both.

HTH.

V.

[Driller]

Don't forget the spring (glass fiber insulation) between the two layers of plasterboard (mass).

[Douglas Quaid]

I used a fire door on mine. Much heavier than normal and a tight fit so works well. Apart from that also used acoustic plasterboard which is twice the weight and also acoustic insulation behind that between the studs. Plus I fitted a new ceiling inc joists a few inches lower than original and packed out the space between the two with more acoustic insulation. There is a bit of transmission to the rest of the house if really loud but I can watch films and play games at a decent level without it being an issue, just not full volume which I don’t tend to use anyway.

[dobly]

Basically, you want to build a room within the (existing) room - one that is acoustically isolated from the rest of the building. How far you go to do this depends on the size of your wallet.