Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - Sound Dampening

We have some aweful college kids neighbors that like to play thier bass a lot. Can someone tell me what my options are for sound proofing our shared walls? I like the sound of the blown insulation because it would not require me to remove all the drywall. Is this a good option? How much would this cost (ballpark)? And could I do it myself (I'm fairly handy)?

Thanks

- Dustin

True, blow-in doesn't require removal of drywall, and you can do it yourself, not sure about the price, but you should know, it settles....over time....and there would eventually be space at the top of the walls with exactly what you have now...nothing. You could just add to it when this happens, but that means more holes in the walls, more plugs, and eventually the new would also settle. Blow-in has it's place, but IMO walls are not it.

Fiberglass Insulation doesn't do this, but as you said, it does require access to the stud spaces.

I guess a simple "please keep the music down a little for the benefit of your neighbors" is outta the question?

Ha. If only it were that simple. We've talked to them atleast 20+ times. Called the cops 4 times. Had HOA fine them 10+ times. And we continually pound on the walls in frustration (I've punched holes in drywall in my anger). They've partially learned their lesson as the music is not as loud, but we can hear and feel the bass.

If there is no good solution for soundproofing our walls, then we will have to move. Very frustrating.

Any idea on the costs of the blow-in? Or where I'd purchase it? Frankly I'd be happy if it lasted for 2 years.

Had another thought: I assumed that the blown in kind is an expanding foam. Is that correct or is it like blown-in fiberglass batting? We do have that now and its no higher than a foot off the floors in the walls.

Blow in doesn't expand, it just flows in and sits...and settles. It's not really fiberglass, but similar. It can be purchased at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. and it should last your 2 year requirement :) . Unsure about price as I said, but I wouldn't think it would be too much, its mostly just recycled newspaper.

I think before I moved, I would remove the drywall and put in fiberglass bat insulation. Not only should this help with sound, but will be a little payback if you nail up your drywall on saturday at about 9am...ya know...when the neighbors are probably sleeping :D

I thought I read somewhere that the fiberglass insulation batting wouldn't dampen sound. I think the justification was that sound needed an air gap to weaken it, and the insulation would just provide a sound conduction that may increase the sound. Air gaps are ideal I understand but impracticle for me. Do you think this logic is falty?

FG insulation is full of air gaps, thats how it insulates, but it very well may be true what you read. Even so, they do sell insulation made just for sound control, ask at your local HD, Lowe's or lumber yard.

I just had another thought, this would involve taking off drywall again, but accoustical tiles on opposite side of wall cavities, then insulation, then drywall with sound dampeners between the rock and the studs. I've heard about little.....clips, for lack of a better term....that go between sheetrock and studs so theres not as much surface contact, and hence, less sound transfer. That may seem a little extreme, but so is moving...don't ya think :) .

Hopefully one of the pro's can give a name for the little "clips" for attaching drywall...I'll ask in the wall & ceiling forum also.

last summer I installed a sound system for our local museum so that they can play classical music outside of the museum's front entrance.
It has reduced loitering and vandalism by young people to almost nill.

Perhaps if you were to play the museum's favorite cd, the soundtrack to Fantasia 2000, with a pair of speakers mounted against the wall, on an endless loop, they might get the idea. :D

Ha... Thats the best idea I've heard. My wife had a similiar idea that she would play bagpipe music early in the morning (6am) on our shared wall. Its a good thing I like classical... :D

http://www.pac-intl.com/rsic.htm

these are the clips I was talking about. Thanks to joneq in the walls & ceilings forum.

I took a noise control class in college and among other things tested many forms of noise control measures.

The answer is not simple. Low frequencies are the toughest to control because their waveforms are so large that they transmit very well from rigid structures.

Two things are mainly involved, absorption and transmission loss. The amazing thing is, a 1/2" gap on the bottom of a door in a house can reduce the effectivness of the sound proofing by more than 20%.

I learned an unbelieveable ammount of information in that class. My final project was building a bose replica which was very fun.

Anyhow, blow in insulation won't do much for you as far as transmission loss. The best absorption for basically all frequencies is heavy wool blankets. A major source of sound transmission is also windows.

In most cases you have to have 50dBC at the property line in order to have a noise violation. Have your local police department test the 20hz to 400 hz frequency range for noise violation.

If I were ever to build a theater room, I would build a two 2x4 walls at each wall with a 6" gap and insulate both walls leaving the gap open air. In addition, I would line the interior walls with a certain ammount of cloth to reduce high frequency reflection.

Another issue with your low frequency noise is that it occurs in "modes". There will be areas where you are in a low pressure of the waveform and not be able to hear the sound as you would in another spot.

That class sounds so much cooler than the ones I took.

The noise is primarily bass. I understand that its the worst to deal with, especially since we can sometimes feel it reverberating thoughout the house. I don't think that can be fixed.

We're in a condo now, but as I do all the research into soundproofing, I find myself daydreaming about a home theater room... man its going to be sweet when we move into a house. :cool:

Back in my day, I was unfortunately the kids on the other side of the wall from you...except we tried our hardest to soundproof our area so we could play.

The best idea for you is the "wall within a wall"....simply get some 2x4s and 3/4" plywood, build frames (ours were 4' x 8', fit to the top of the ceiling), fill with R-24 insulation or equivalent, and line your adjacent wall with them. Then put layers of carpet on your side to further deaden the sound....you can even leave a 6" gap between your wall and the built walls....

Depending on how much surface area you share with these guys, this might or might not be cost effective and/or easy to do, those walls are quite heavy when built. They deadened the sound alot, though it won't eliminate it, especially the bass, which others have already commented on.

We actually got the plywood for free, ended up spending about $300 on 2x4s, nails and insulation.

If you are really considering moving you should first look at Quiet Rock(http://www.quietsolution.com/quietrock.html). I had wanted to use on my basement home theater but it was to expensive. They make some pretty strong claims about it's sound proofing capability vs other methods. You should research further the other methods. I had seen some information that they are easily compromised.

Good luck.