Sound Stop By Celotex

[David Gaudreau]

Stop by the house today to check on construction, and look what I found sitting in the concession stand room before you walk into the theater.
A big fat stack Of SOUND STOP. Sweet..... I plan on having all the walls and even the ceiling covered in this stuff. I'm going to use "rotten cotton" in the walls, then "SoundStop" then 5/8" drywall. This should be pretty effective!!

Well I hope..............

 

[Savant]

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but:

It should be noted that when compared side by side with gypsum board, SoundStop® is not quite as good in a straight up STC comparison. ... Bearing that in mind, SoundStop® is good if you want to change up the composition of the layers in your construction. This will dissipate resonances well. However, for sheer mass, gypsum board is a much more cost-effective alternative.

Source. Probably reliable - I contributed to the site back when I was with Auralex. If I can find any public-friendly data to share, I will.

 

[Glenn Kuras]

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but:


Source. Probably reliable - I contributed to the site back when I was with Auralex. If I can find any public-friendly data to share, I will.

Jeff,
I will be saving this thread for future use. GREAT POST SIR!!! That will save someone a ton of money down the road.

Glenn

 

[mtrycrafts]

... That will save someone a ton of money down the road.

Glenn

Dollar bills or hundred? LOL, could not pass it up

 

[gullfo]

generally speaking the SoundStop stuff is more absorption than isolation, and 5/8" drywall is about $15/2 US... as Jeff points out, the drywall is the better choice for isolation although the (Celotex) SoundStop can be used in combination with the drywall.

specs:
http://www.soundstop.net/documentation/Default.aspx
http://www.soundstop.net/documentation/pdfs/ss_stc_ratings.pdf

 

[David Gaudreau]

yeah, I was planning on a layer of soundstop and than a single layer of 5/8" drywall on top of that. Should I also use a heaver insulation in the wall for this room? like R-38

 

[barnaby2122]

I've heard that SoundStop works well in stopping vibrations across all frequencies and not while drywall only works with the high frequencies. Is this true? what's the website for soundstop?

 

[Savant]

I've heard that SoundStop works well in stopping vibrations across all frequencies and not while drywall only works with the high frequencies. Is this true? what's the website for soundstop?

I've never heard anything like that. I cannot imagine why that would be the case. If you can find any data to show or link, it might help. Soundstop is a Celotex product, and I cannot remember the name of the company that bought Celotex. Google might be able to help. Of course, homasote is basically the same stuff. I couldn't find any TL test data on the site. Just some figures with "STC-XX" written on them. Looking at any of them, the same STC can be achieved with different (less expensive) materials. The question you're asking is whether the TL at different frequencies is comparable to walls with drywall (or something else) in lieu of "sound board". Since the comapnies that sell "sound board" are - in my experience - incredibly reluctant to disclose test reports, I doubt it's that much better than drywall. I had to pull some teeth to get single-layer TL test data from one of them a few years ago. When they finally sent it, I understood their reluctance: the "sound board" was about 4-5 STC points worse than drywall for the same thickness... If I can find the data, I'll post them. (I said that already, didn't I? Well, I got sidetracked - it happens...)

 

[Savant]

PDF attached with some data I have on a typical "sound board" versus GWB of the same thickness. Both sets of data are for the raw material only, i.e., not a wall construction.

A note also about vibration isolation: What the attached shows are airborne sound transmission loss (TL) data. The graph is not indicative of impact isolation, which - when I look back - may be what barnaby was asking about. For impact isolation, a "sound board" may offer some minor advantages over GWB, but both are rigid building materials that will transmit impact (vibrational) sound relatively easily. For maximum impact isolation, resilient materials and building techniques are the recommended approach.

HTH.

 

[barnaby2122]

I've never heard anything like that. I cannot imagine why that would be the case. If you can find any data to show or link, it might help. Soundstop is a Celotex product, and I cannot remember the name of the company that bought Celotex. Google might be able to help. Of course, Homasote is basically the same stuff. I couldn't find any TL test data on the site. Just some figures with "STC-XX" written on them. Looking at any of them, the same STC can be achieved with different (less expensive) materials. The question you're asking is whether the TL at different frequencies is comparable to walls with drywall (or something else) in lieu of "sound board". Since the comapnies that sell "sound board" are - in my experience - incredibly reluctant to disclose test reports, I doubt it's that much better than drywall. I had to pull some teeth to get single-layer TL test data from one of them a few years ago. When they finally sent it, I understood their reluctance: the "sound board" was about 4-5 STC points worse than drywall for the same thickness... If I can find the data, I'll post them. (I said that already, didn't I? Well, I got sidetracked - it happens...)

soundstop.net is the website for the soundstop product by Knight-Celotex. Apparently Knight Industries bought the fiberboard division of Celotex in 2001 and renamed it "Knight-Celotex". They claim that the product stops sound at more frequencies then drywall and can get STC ratings as high as 69 by using rockwool insulation. (keeping it a green system) They also have soundproofing for floors. soundstopunderlayment.com is the site
Does anyone know anything about these guys?

 

[Savant]

barnaby,

The claim regarding performance versus drywall has been addressed above by Glenn and me.

As for STC ratings "as high as 69," I am willing to bet that those ratings can be closely duplicated by substituting drywall for "soundstop."

If your goal is a "greener" system, the "soundstop"-type products may offer advantages over gypsum-based products. Of course, it might be worth noting that there are "greener" insulations to use than Rockwool. And it might also be worth noting that one type of insulation versus another does not typically change the STC of a partition by much.