Spray or paint-on soundproofing

[Rip Van Woofer]

<font color='#000000'>Still turning basement listening room ideas over in my little brain. Is there a spray-on or paint-on sound dampening material suitable for coating the exposed wooden joists and subflooring in an unfinished basement? I want to soundproof the room as much as possible to keep other house noise out and vice versa. I don't expect such a material to do the job entirely &amp; envision using it with some sort of suspended ceiling. Just looking for alternatives to the full double-layered drywall-w/constrained soundproofing layer technique.</font>

 

[Martin_S]

<font color='#000000'>Given what you're after - good sound transmission loss - I don't think you'd be very satisfied with anything sprayed-on. Popcorn ceiling material comes to mind, and it isn't much good for anything but minimal absorption of high frequencies and diffusion of others. And I think it is meant to adhere to drywall; it may not do so well on wooden joists and subfloor. Surface treatments are mostly for controlling reflection/diffusion within a space.

Besides, it's easy to attenuate high frequencies. The existing floor structure does that a good deal already. The stuff that's still making its way through is higher-energy, lower frequency sound, and there's no free lunch when it comes to stopping it. The more energy, the more mass/volume it takes to absorb it. Mechanical isolation helps too (floating-floor room built within a room) but of course that's just not realistic.

If you're planning on a suspended ceiling in the basement, I might suggest first installing fiberglass insulation in the joist spaces. And maybe there are some thicker than normal panels out there. I know I've seen panels that protrude down from the grid an extra inch or so. Again, the mass/volume of the insulation and the extra-thick ceiling panels will do way more to absorb acoustic energy than any spray-on material.

I'm with you about drywalling a basement ceiling. Although it looks nicer and  it might go toward better sound transmission loss (again with insulation), fixing plumbing, running a/v/data cable etc. after the fact becomes a massive PITA. The previous owners of my house finished the basement with drywall ceilings. Fortunately, I was able to rip up subfloor to install a/v/data cabling since we were getting rid of the carpet and installing hardwood.

Have fun planning,
Martin</font>

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

<font color='#000000'>Dang! I've spent my whole life looking for a free lunch! Foiled again!

Planning is a lot of the fun, for sure. Another idea I had (and the more promising in light of your response) for the ceiling was to basically fabricate my own suspension grid of wood, and make smallish, fairly easy to handle sections of drywall/damping/drywall &quot;sandwich&quot; to fit in the grid. I could finish the visible side of the grid with moulding and paint or varnish for a coffered ceiling look. Could also make the face of the ceiling sections of Homasote or some such rather than drywall. I want to have access to plumbing etc., as you noted for maintainence and emergencies, hence the suspended ceiling. Also, suspending the ceiling would give some mechanical isolation.

One thing I hope to accomplish with my design is to use architectural and decorative features like coffering, cornices, pilasters, etc. whenever possible in lieu of obvious acoustic treatment (of course, this has nothing to do with acoustic isolation). Carpet on the floor, of course. I'm also a fan of Art Deco so that would be the style. My undergrad degree was in theater with a concentration in scenic design (soon got tired of the starving artiste lifestyle!), so I think I can pull it off. I've been scouring books and sketching away.

Another issue I'm dealing with is HVAC, and minimizing sound transmission thru the ducts. I know there are quiet materials such as fiberglas for that. I'm leaning to using a radiant space heater instead since there would only be a few feet of &quot;quiet&quot; ducts before connecting with the existing sheet metal ducting and no, I do not want to replace all our ductwork.

Or, I could forget about the soundproofing and just get my wife a Bose noise-cancelling headphone!

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[jeffsg4mac]

<font color='#000000'>Rip, I think spray on sound proofing would be about as effective as a spray on condom or spray on body armor, Neither one could stop a hot load

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[Rip Van Woofer]

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jeffsg4mac : <font color='#000000'>Rip, I think spray on sound proofing would be about as effective as a spray on condom or spray on body armor, Neither one could stop a hot load

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<font color='#000000'>Sounds like the voice of experience talking!

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[jeffsg4mac]

<font color='#000000'>Yeah Rip, I used to keep a couple of cans in the glove box, in my younger single days of course.

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[zumbo]

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[EdR]

<font color='#000000'>Hi,

I got Everest's 'Master Handbook of Acoustics'- despite the rather intimadating title, it's very well written, he begins at the beginning with 'what is a sound wave' and builds up from there. &nbsp;He don't assume that you're a math whiz either.

The book is aimed at people who are wanting to create either recording studios or listening rooms. &nbsp;He seems to cover just about every acoustical topic of interest.
&nbsp;Highly reccommended.</font>

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

<font color='#000000'>Thanks, Ed! I had been considering that.

(Hint: if anyone would like to buy me a nice gift...)

So, Jeff, do I understand correctly that people used to shoot at you a lot in your youth, hence the need for aerosol body armor? What did you do to engender such hostility?

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[jeffsg4mac]

<font color='#000000'>LOL

 

 

 

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[gmichael]

I agree with the others. Spray on sound proofing just can't get the whole job done for you. It could be helpful as an addition to "real" sound proofing though. Here is a link I found a while back. Never did try it though. http://www.hytechsales.com/prod150.html

 

[Ted White]

Any surface coating like that might (might) cut down on echo, but will do nothing to keep sound from leaving the room