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Sound Proofing/Dampening a basement
urahonky
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Yeah it's me again! I have a new house and found out that our basement has very poor sound insulation. Basically the master bedroom and my daughter's (1 yr old) bedroom are right above the basement. In the basement we have our computers and gaming consoles. If my daughter is laying down in her bed and fighting her nap then you can hear her everywhere in the basement and that's bothersome.
We have a drop ceiling in the basement so it shouldn't be too hard to place something down there, but I have no idea what to look for or what is good/bad. Also is there a way to dampen the sound in the air vents for the AC?
We have a drop ceiling in the basement so it shouldn't be too hard to place something down there, but I have no idea what to look for or what is good/bad. Also is there a way to dampen the sound in the air vents for the AC?
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http://www.acoustimac.com/owens-corning-703-6/?gclid=CjgKEAjwoJ-dBRDbjfKN7IzN0FsSJAAP0G_DcwIqG7QjFdtMbosVq0Mx7sESmSNolmw2T7aksVNmXfD_BwE
Thankfully with a drop ceiling, you likely have a bunch of space to work with. Note that if your problem is things like thumping, you usually can't solve that short of updating the structure to have things like offset joists etc. that means any thumping will transfer through a number of connections. That would involve completely tearing up the floor and redoing it joists-up.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ceilume-Soniguard-24-in-x-24-in-Drop-Ceiling-Acoustic-Thermal-Insulation-Case-of-25-SONIGRD-CASE/204260961
As for silencing the HVAC duct work... that's a big hassle and probably not even worth it. Anything you do to dampen sound will increase the amount of energy to cool/heat the rooms. Is it the AC itself that's annoying or noise carrying from room to room? If it's the former, meh, you'll get used to it. The latter, there are baffles you can install, but you may not want to.
Yeah the best way to silence a room is from the offending room itself.
I'd probably tear up the floor and put a sound-proofing membrane down if it was from a laminate/tile/hardwood floor. Carpet pretty much stops sounds completely. But you'll never get rid of thumping noise.
Luckily it's just actual noise. When my buddies were downstairs helping us move we could hear what they were saying almost clearly from our bedroom.
The AC itself isn't that noisy. I am honestly not sure if the air vents are carrying the noise at this point (I'm assuming the drop ceiling is the main offender). I just wanted to see if there were options just in case it was a problem in the future.
If you have vent covers like this:
Change them to vent covers like this:
They stop noise a whole lot better.
to the outside of the ducting to reduce sound travelling along the vents?