Soundproof Any Wall for $200 + (DIY Budget Way that WORKS!)

[@Old1Biking]

If you are building a double wall assembly the first rule is to NOT place drywall between the two walls as the intermediate layer of drywall acts like a drum skin repeating the vibrations onto the other side. It is called a drum effect. If you look through all the STC tested wall assemblies you will notice that none of them have a drywall layer between the two walls, this is because it does not work, it actually makes the wall less effective . The drum effect would be more evident with low frequency noise.

[@SteamvilleQuintet]

OSB is a much better sound AND temperature insulator than drywall, and doesn't cost much more. An added plus is being able to hang pictures and things with needing tiger anchors. And no "drum effect".

[@Antonnn1111]

@@SteamvilleQuintetyeah I’m going to buy OSB panels, attach them to my drywall and then luxury wood panels over that. Won’t be as good as building a 2nd wall, but it also won’t shrink my room by much and it’s still good soundproofing

[@SteamvilleQuintet]

@@Antonnn1111 It should work right well. Do a study though on the possibility of moisture / dampness / mold growing between the OSB and drywall, as you'll have no airspace for evaporation. Even a 1/2 or 3/4 inch airspace might be in order. Best to you! Oh, in my opinion, OSB has an insulation R factor of around 9, and yes, I'm old now - I was a carpenter.

[@incognitotorpedo42]

@@SteamvilleQuintet There is no way that OSB is R9.

[@SteamvilleQuintet]

​@@incognitotorpedo42 < Back up your bull, publish the R value and decibel reduction per thickness.

[@kierand9410]

Nice vid. What would you recommend to drown out traffic noise in a loft conversion where weight of materials is a factor? I was thinking of adding soundproof drywall to the existing drywall but now thinking about replacing existing drywall with soundproof drywall for weight's sake.

[@johnwhite2576]

Floor vibrations will connect the two walls- put something-acoustical caulk etc under base plate(s)

[@lprice5583]

I would love to have a video done on the sound qualities of a hempcrete building. There are a couple ways they are framed. One common way is to frame a double wall and infill the wall.

[@dorrito]

Im not sure about this, because fire thrives on air, and extra insulation like rockwool could help slow that, right?

[@noreaction1]

I can’t afford rockwool or other expensive insulation, so my solution was to buy 5/8” plywood to put directly on the frame, and 1/2” drywall on top of the plywood. The double wall is an inch apart and the wall is built with standard 2x4’s. Is this just as good?

[@incognitotorpedo42]

Where I live (SE Pennsylvania) you can get R13 fiberglass for around 50 cents a square foot. That's 24 bucks for a 4x8 area. The 5/8 plywood would be a lot more than that. The plywood is probably better soundproofing due to its mass.

[@ecttreker9816]

I could be mistaken, but from a fire fighting perspective, I believe that space between the walls will aid in a faster spread of fire? Also may not meet building/ insurance codes in certain areas?

[@geoclimbs]

exactly, this guy is clueless about construction. Just doing it for clicks. welcome to social media 2024

[@soundproofguide]

Flammable materials, like standard drywall or certain types of insulation, can allow a fire to spread more quickly. To reduce this risk, ensure all gaps are sealed with fire-rated caulk, avoid using highly combustible materials, and consider adding fire blocks within the cavity. While not ideal, these measures can improve safety, but using fire-resistant materials is always the best practice. Building a double wall or a staggered stud wall is nothing new. This method has been used in many constructions.

[@richardpellis]

The construction shown as exactly how they build apartment buildings. Well minus the good insulation. So no, it doesn't help with the spread of fire. If it did code would not allow it and apartment buildings wouldn't be built this way

[@incognitotorpedo42]

@@richardpellis I've seen it done in condos. They used drywall on the inside and metal studs. The drywall on the inside is supposed to be worse than no drywall from a noise perspective. The way these walls are sealed at the top and bottom makes me less worried about fire. By the time it gets in between those walls, the house is toast anyway.

[@miketesoriero]

Fill the gaps, dont use rockwool or heavy insulation, use light weight "pink fluffy" insulation. (The cheap stuff) And dont have a layer of plaster in the middle, only on the 2 outside faces of the wall, a layer of the plaster in the middle will lower the isolation.

[@FactbasedReality0421]

i'd pull a vacuum between the walls. A no air gap! Costly, but no one can hear you scream in space!

[@SteamvilleQuintet]

OSB is a much better sound AND temperature insulator than drywall, and doesn't cost much more. An added plus is being able to hang pictures and things with needing tiger anchors.

[@mountains1233]

What is your opinion on these concrete domes or concrete cube tiny homes in order to block outside low-frequency noise to come in?

[@incognitotorpedo42]

Well, there's a lot of mass there, so it will probably block noise pretty well. You couldn't pay me to live in a dome, though.

[@user-bk9dw1he1z]

Hey there! Do you offer consultation services? I appreciate that your soundproofing solutions are accessible in both cost and execution. I'm looking to make some adjustments to a rental apartment with some odd quirks and would love to talk to you one on one. Let me know!

[@soundproofguide]

Yes I do! I’d be happy to help! You can join my comprehensive membership.

[@arcadepiano]

i use elastic dampeners to minimize the sound pollution i create so it bothers less to the neighbours. in example i placed old sandals as feet to my washing machine. the results is that it shakes more and it's more noisy to me, but the floor is not absorbing the vibrations hence there is less transmission of waves through the solids to my neighbors. i place the loudspeakers over a trampoline, similar to how the shockmounts for microphones separates the air transmission to the solids transmission of waves if i want my furniture to absorb the music, i get rid of the rubber feet, then the wood becomes a speaker. but if i dettatch it, in example using elbow/knees sports protection at the bed, then there is more reverb in the room, but more realistic sound of the speakers. using sorbothane under your speakers is a good way for preventing the desk to vibrate in sympathy (euphonics). a cheap version of sorbothane is that toy called the sticky hand. today a neighbour threw to the garbage a formula 1 tyre, and it's perfect as a dampener underneat my electric guitar speaker's cabinet as stand up far from the floor and prevent the transmission through solids to the floor one way to stop creating problems to your neighbours is considering adding any type of foam underneath your tv so the solid feet has dampening, elasticity. and you can always store behind the tv some wood, and use old shoes for separation between the wood and the floor, and another foam to lean it towards the wall sometimes it's our fault. we contaminate. sometimes just rubber washers could leviate the problems we create with motor's noises. rubber washers beteen the drivers and the speaker cabinets reduces the lows. speaker cabinets where there is not front pannel but the driver is holded from behind by its magnet it results in less bass to bother the neighbour. the subwoofers must be placed in very elastic place in example between a spider web made of gym elastic bands.

[@incognitotorpedo42]

Have you gone into your neighbor's apartment and actually listened or taken a sound level while the washing machine was going? I wouldn't count on a sandal to make that much difference. The concept is good. Maybe something like a thick piece of carpet with a sheet of plywood on top of that?

[@arcadepiano]

@incognitotorpedo42 for decoupling a washing machine vs the floor you want elasticity of soft material like rubber instead of solid materials like plywood. one way to understand this is place the index fingertips on your earholes and chew chewing gum ( soft) vs crunchy snacks. i do suffer noise contamination from my neighbour playing bass because the 3 houses touches each other. the mass only increases the sustain. you could have a castle one meter thick wall and the noise passes through, similar to how native americans could hear the distant train coming by placing the ear on the railroad. the transmission through solids is more effective. another way to demostrate this is bite the headstock of guitar and place fingertips at your earholes. it sounds incredibly better than the transmission of waves through the air. the structural noise pollution needs very expensive floating room within a room within a room, minimizing the contact points by using rubber, and with air gaps instead of filling, because filling is solid. if you change the bridge saddle of guitar and nut to titanium you get better transmission of sound and more sustain. the contrary is rubber, the string stops sooner. johan segeborn once attatched a guitar to the metal structure of his building and achieved the highest sustain ever. i use sorbothane insoles full strike for running shoes, it dampens shock absorbing. i use rycotte shock absorber to my mic because it decouples, otherwise the steps would be captured as if hitting the mic because transmission through solids. warren hwart from produceliieapro shared a tip of placing the toy game called thestickyhand at the kick drum for shorter duration of the sound. that type of rubber is similar to sorbothane, both are sticky. the old sandals i placed to my washing machine are judo sandals called zoories from decathlon, and i also added rubber to the sides otherwise would hit the walls and move around jumping like its alive. i noticed that if i placed rubber feet to slide the furniture, then i had more reverb as if the room was empty because the pine stops the absortion because poor contact to the floor. the higher the density and the more pressure the better the transmission through solids. kids at school builds the telephone experiment with 2 plastic glasses and a cord, so you can whisper at distance and be heard more effectively. and you want to tight the cord for more volume. you can do the test of how much your bedroom music is heard at your kitchen with vs without rubber dampenings. when you place shoes under your washing machine you will hear it way louder, because that energy is not absorbed by the ground anymore, it is the physics of energy preservation. the air will have more volume, and the floor ( then walls and ceiling of your house and neighbors house) will have less volume. the speaker cabinets should have inner shock absorbers instead of ampifying the speaker by the solid of the box. a speaker without a cabinet is not creating the bass that bothers the neighbors reason why i built the electric guitar speaker frame instead of cabinet, so without front pannel but holded from the back, from the magnet. if added a front pannel then it sounds more volume and heavy V shaped eq like a bass, and engineer sound guy doesn't needvto roll off the eq bass to my guitar because naturally, mechanically i don' t create the lows in the first place. in my garage when i often play music loud with opened door i can make the street listen to my music, but the neighbour has no contamination and can sleep or watch his movie because the speakees are placed at rebouncer trampoline, and yesterday i changed the trampoline to a formula 1 wide tyre. which is rubber. riding with punctured bicycle tyres is uncomfortable or using seats without foam at the bus. another way to understand the transmission through solids is place the head towards the window at bus, car or train, then you vibrate feeling the noise.

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

How do you sound proof a pocket door?

[@richardpellis]

The only option is a solid core door.

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

@ Not enough. If you have air gaps, doesn’t matter if you have a concrete door and sound will still go right through the gaps.

[@robertyasumura]

I would be concerned with this assembly in fairly cold and/or fairly humid environments, because you might be creating areas where moisture could get trapped. I'm not saying its bad; it's just not something I'd do myself without consulting someone about vapor and air barriers.

[@brianmahoney4156]

just used RC on my latest build and it sucks. it does not lower footfall sound to the point of it not being a problem. the only good solution is to build a double ceiling, like a double wall but on the ceiling. thats what im going to do on my next build.

[@Masseur-pd3uj]

If the drywall screws that you use to attach the drywall to the RC go into the joists that the RC is attached to, then it doesn’t work. You have to make sure that those screws just go into the RC and no further. Otherwise you are connecting the drywall to the joists and it defeats the purpose of the RC

[@brianmahoney4156]

@ the screws never went into the joists. i checked all of them

[@user-sb6pf9tw4z]

Better be careful about creating a new unconditioned space, meaning no heat or ac managing it. You could run the risk of a mold sandwich if there isn't proper ventialtion/moisture mitigation in place.

[@Diasus3205]

you on bluesky?

[@soundproofguide]

I’m not.

[@johnnyv5995]

Nothing like adding a second wall to a finished home, come on! What happens to your window(s) surround? Electrical? Unless this is a new construction this is a NO. Second option with double sheets of drywall makes more sense. 3rd option, again unless you are building new or gutting, no go.