Sound Proofing

[thirdparty]

I need some soundproofing for my new garage. I don't have pics yet because we don't move in for another month, but I thought I would get a jump on the soundproofing I need to do.

Here's the situation: I do metal working, welding, etc. and am moving to a new neighborhood where the neighbors probably won't appreciate the grinding and metal sanding noise too well.

The new garage has a nice newish aluminum door with a screw drive opener. I was thinking of putting the sound deadening mat on the back of the door like you would use in the floor pan of a car to deaden noise. This material is also used in custom stereo builds.

After this i might put a layer of foam/foil, kind of like they have in generator enclosures.

Anyone have any experience doing this type of stuff? I'm thinking this might cause problems with weight.

Also, around the sides and top of the garage door, there is about a 1 in. gap. Any ideas on how to deal with that?

 

[Wingnut65]

Welcome to GJ, thirdparty. Congrats on the new shop. Good idea to plan ahead to prevent conflict instead of starting off on the wrong foot.

One thing to be concerned with is how much additional weight the garage door opener can handle. Usually sound deadening is best handled with mass - for walls, it would be thicker walls, thicker drywall, more layers of drywall, resilient channels to keep sound from going straight through the wall, and then using sound attenuation blankets (insulation) to fill the wall. For a door, there is limited space to work with and the weight is critical.

There have been a couple threads here about insulating a garage door. Heres one: "Door Insulation" that mentions adding the rigid foam insulation added to the door. I just did this over the weekend to one of my doors using 3/4" blue Dow insulation board inserted in the voids. (I have pix still on my camera at home, so I will try to post them tonight) I did notice a quieter garage behind the door with the insulation. I can't wait to get it installed on the other door as well.

For your condition, your doors may need the 1-1/2" thick foam panels.

Good luck on your move and your new shop.

 

[thirdparty]

Welcome to GJ, thirdparty. Congrats on the new shop. Good idea to plan ahead to prevent conflict instead of starting off on the wrong foot.


For your condition, your doors may need the 1-1/2" thick foam panels.

Good luck on your move and your new shop.

Thanks for the input. I've used those panels before for a different project. I was trying to build a light, moveable generator enclosure. Unfortunately, those rigid foam panels did little for sound attenuation. They lack the mass as you stated.

What's interesting though is that if you look in home stand-by generator enclosure, it's just some kind of neoprene type foam with a foil face. If I could find some of that with a some sound mat under it, it may be just the ticket.

Weight will be my biggest concern though. I'll have to look up the specs on the opener.

Forgot to add, this will be the first stage. The second stage will be to redo the drywall and add some kind of sound deadening insulation and drywall.

I've seen on the home shows that they use rockwool batts and extra thick drywall for this. Does anyone know the actual product names?

 

[Grinder Bill]

The product I'm familiar with is Owens Corning 703 rigid fiberglass insulation. Comes in 1", 2" and 4" thickness for sure, maybe others as well. Commonly used as boiler insulation and for soundproofing. I made several sound absorbing modules by inserting a 2'x4' rigid batt into a burlap coffee sack and stitching it closed: instant temporary fix.

And while I'm at it... Rather than take down the existing drywall, you may want to consider just adding an inch of soundproofing and drywall over it. I'd tape up the existing joints then stagger the new sheetrock one stud over with resilient channel so the joints don't line up. And I'd use a different thickness of dywall for the second layer, say 5/8 if the original was 1/2"; this way you eliminate any chance of resonance (as in the top and bottom heads of a drum). And vapor barrier/acoustic sealant the hell out of it; if air can't get out sound is going to find it difficult...

Do some searching on the music boards for 'room-within-a-room' stuff.

 

[digdug18]

I think the egg crate foam sound deadening material would work fine on your garage door, to more muffle the sound emanating from your garage then anything else.

Sound deadening can get expensive, if you were building a studio I'd say get some soundboard drywall, as well as the foam and call it a day, it would deaden the sound, making a close to ideal space for it. Soundboard drywall is very expensive, not worth it really for such a large space as a garage.

I think you can get away with a normal finished garage, much as everyone else here has. So insulation, vapor barrier and drywall. Should be fine for what your doing. A friend of mine has a blacksmith shop in his garage, has that for walls and you can't really hear it from the outside. If you have an air compressor, put it in a separate closet, isolated from the rest of your work space. To cut down on the overall interior noise.

Is your new garage attached to the house? If so I think you'll have more of a concern of noise inside your house then the neighbors house. They're are ways around that as well, pretty easy as well.

Andrew

 

[digdug18]

Here are the drywall sound deadening product links...

http://www.fiberboard.org/sound_pubs.html

http://www.quietrock.com/quietrock-drywall.html

 

[thirdparty]

These are all good replies, thanks. I'll be worried about sound in the house as well, but that is the second project.

If there's already a good insulation in the joists and walls, I might just relayer with a heavy duty Quietrock. Didn't think about that.

 

[digdug18]

Price quietrock before you decide on it, its not cheap, hard to order as well because most places do not stock it.

 

[thirdparty]

Price quietrock before you decide on it, its not cheap, hard to order as well because most places do not stock it.

I will certainly do that. If anyone has any other products that are comparable in quality/performance but don't have the marquee name, please post it.

 

[mobetta]

first off, mass loaded vinyl is about 1Lb per sq ft, so it will add weight to your door. the opener should handle it fine as long as the spring tension is right. you may need to upgrade the springs.

quiet rock is basically two thin layers of drywall w/ green glue(or equivalent) in between them. and it is expensive. QR 510 is about $40+/-sheet.

you already have 1 layer of drywall, just add a second layer with green glue. it is not cheep, but it would be easier than demo'ing everything and starting over. green glue is about $150/case of 12 tubes, recommended 2 tubes per sheet, so it is about $30/sheet inc. DW.

if your walls are hollow now, consider dense pack cellulose insulation first.

and dont plan on grinding chassis at 3am.

 

[green.bubbly]

Not sure how big your garage is or how big the pieces of metal will be but perhaps you could build a small insulated room inside your garage. You could use that room for your grinding instead of trying to insulate the entire garage.

 

[thirdparty]

Not sure how big your garage is or how big the pieces of metal will be but perhaps you could build a small insulated room inside your garage. You could use that room for your grinding instead of trying to insulate the entire garage.

This probably won't work as the grinding parts are all varied sizes, depending on the project.

I won't need total studio silence as the neighbors aren't too close (big hedges, fence, and small side yard separate us).

But, I don't want to wake up the kiddo in the house. Fortunately, his room is totally opposite of the garage. Right now, my garage couldn't be more loud and it doesn't bother the kiddo when he's sleeping, even if I grind a bunch. He's good like that and keeps Dad out of trouble.

 

[thirdparty]

I've been doing a fair amount of research. As you can imagine, there are lots of opinions on Quietrock and its effectiveness.

I re-watched the Holmes on Holmes episode where they install a QR wall and it was impressive.

Skip to 7:00 for the final test.

But, it looks like an extra layer of 5/8 in. drywall Green Glued to the existing drywall will probably work for me, and be much cheaper.

The quality of the garage walls is already very good, but I'll need to punch through and see what kind of insulation is there.

 

[ehegwer]

You might want to consider the ceiling, too. Every surface.

 

[thirdparty]

You might want to consider the ceiling, too. Every surface.

Absolutely the ceiling. Forgot to mention that...

 

[rickycobra]

It should work just be careful with the weight.

 

[Wingnut65]

You are getting some good info on soundproofing the shop. Do you have a ceiling in the garage or just exposed trusses? If you do have a ceiling, check to see if you have any insulation on top, between the trusses. That can contribute to reducing the sound transmission upward and sure helps on keeping the heat out. I haven't heard of the Quietrock before so that may help out on some current projects we have in the office.

FYI, I have posted the process I used to install the insulation panels in my garage door last weekend to the "Door Insulation" Thread, post 36. Hopefully it can give you and others some ideas to assist in adding soundproofing to your door.

Please be sure to update us on what you decide to do to your door, walls and ceiling.

 

[ludakris04]

I know I am bring back an old post, but was checking for some info.. anyways, I found this site

http://www.acoustiblok.com

The prices are kind of high, but if it works would be a good step.