blown in insulation in lower level ceiling??

[minnesotahusker]

With finishing our basement, we will be blowing in the ceiling for sound deadening purposes. My question is, what depth does it become non-beneficial to sound deadening and just wasting money? I'm planning on using cellulose insulation and was thinking for around an R-19, which puts me at roughly 6" deep. Is anything deeper just a waste of money or is it worth the price since I don't intend on opening up the ceiling ever again.

[Hoey]

I have about 18" inter-floor trusses. I blew in fiberglass insulation and it did help a little with upper floor noise carrying into the level below.

Maybe cellulose is better, but I know it is much messier than fiberglass and a little less costly too. I also had a pipe freeze up after insulating that was near an outer wall. I suspect it froze up since the insulation keep the heat away.

[CAMAN]

Why blow-in? Cheap r19 fiberglass batts will do the same and probably be more consistent.

Adding insulation to the ceiling will help but you need to remove the contact from the basement ceiling and the floor joists. By adding furing strips across the entire ceiling perpendicular to the joists and attaching the drywall to them it dramatically reduces the contact points and cuts the sound transfer considerably. There is also a product called resilient channel that does the same thing and may be better but it comes at a higher cost.

[Down Deep]

There are dozens of products designed for sound proofing. Seems to me that these would work better than insulation.

[Tom7227]

If there is even a remote chance of needing to get into the area that cellulose would be a messy nightmare. Plus I don't see how you could get it in the entire area. You would have to put up some of the rock, blow in the stuff, put up more rock etc. Keeping the insulation blower that long could get costly. Then what do you do for the last area where you have to put up the rock - no way to blow stuff in from there.

[crothmeier]

Put 1/2" Sound board on first and then sheetrock over that. Much easier if you ever need to get back into that space, and 100% less messy.

Cellulose will fill your entire house with a fine layer of dust that you will be cleaning for months.

[amateurfishing]

I researched this a ton b4 finishing our basement, everything from resilient channels to vinyl barrier, acoustical tiles, rubber feet on channels, etc......

we ended up going with single faced fiberglass (don't remember kind) inbetween joists with 5/8 sheetrock. I would honestly say this is probably best bang for your buck and has reduced our basement noise 80-85% and we still need window treatments and carpet finished. If you wanna go beyond this, cost incrementally speaking you with pay a lot for minimal results. I did talk to some pros regarding this and we did the best bang for buck possible and if we decide to improve more down the road, it will be sound absorbing boards on the basement walls (for deadening basement noise) and/or softer flooring upstairs (cork,etc better & thicker padding/underlayment). Anything above this you are talking theater like quality AND cost.

Im not sure anything good would come out of blown in in any living quarters area.

if not in a hurry, you can also wait for rebates/sales, we happened to get lucky and received quite a bit back in rebates when we did it.

[nofishfisherman]

we ended up going with single faced fiberglass (don't remember kind) inbetween joists with 5/8 sheetrock.

That's pretty much what I did in my basement as well. We have hardwood floors on the main level and during construction without anything on the ceiling dropping a pencil on the first floor sounded like someone dropped a baseball bat. Listening to the dog run around on the floor above was just about enough to drive you crazy.

With just the fiberglass and sheetrock it was a HUGE difference and has essentially taken care of any noise issues. Like was said getting small additional gains above fiberglass and sheetrock could be costly and may not be worth the minimal extra gain.

[minnesotahusker]

Thanks for the input guys. Our budget is pretty tight for this but the timeline isn't set in stone. I've been researching a ton of ideas on which way to go as well but for some reason, 5/8" sheetrock slipped my mind. I was only planning on going with 1/2" sheetrock. There is a little rebate from the big M store on insulation but with spring coming up, I'm sure all the big builder stores will have insulation sales. Putting in roll or batt insulation is actually cheaper than doing the blow in stuff. I'm more worried about noise coming up from the basement through the floor but if you can't hear it while downstairs, it should work the opposite way also. I am starting to lean towards rolls of insulation and just sheetrock as that seems to be the cleanest way to go.

[Tom7227]

I don't know exactly what the terms are but I think there are two kinds of noise being talked about. One is the noise from the basement coming up into the rest of the house - say the kids TV. The other is the noise from upstairs going down, say someone walking across a wooden floor.

I suspect that putting some sort of material between the joists is going to decrease the 'amount' of sound that comes through, either up or down. But I think it would have less impact on the upstairs shoe noise because that noise is going to carry through the joists and into the sheetrock if they are all solidly hooked together. To cause that sound to be minimized you would need to break the solid contacts somehow, or at least cut them down. That may be why someone suggested putting up some fiberboard or something and then putting up the sheetrock.

It seems clear to me that the blown insulation is not the way to go for all the reasons stated.

I know I am using all the wrong terms and maybe someone can explain it better than me. At some point though you have to decide whether the cost is justified or whether it would be more effective to just tell the kids to turn the darn TV down.

[delcecchi]

Found this site. Might be of interest

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/soundproofing101/furring-channel-with-resilient-sound-clips/

Looks like there are a bunch of different outfits if you search for "resilient channel"

[amateurfishing]

yes and some of the big box stores do carry them nowadays...

trust me, we are extremely picky, we wanted theatre like quiet, but we are totally amazed at how much the 5/8 sheetrock & single faced fiberglass deadened almost everything 80-85%.

we have 3 kids under 10, only way we can hear them (and it is their screaming we hear, not the tv) is if they are standing close to downstairs door with it open only or in a room where noise comes up through vent, otherwise we forget they are down there! and also vice versa, only time we r in basement n hear kids upstairs is when someone is screaming at top of their lungs, everyday play and laughing is not heard.

u can do the channels but it is additional cost & labor with minimal gain. everytime you add another sound proofing feature depending on product you are reducing 3-5 decibels, but those soundproofing items will increase in cost (bout 5x) per item for reducing another 3 decibels. So if the channels are $10 ea and reduce sound by 3 decibels, next upgraded product will cost $50 ea to only reduce another 3 decibels. I researched this stuff for 6 months & even called a company in chaska that installs this stuff professionally for theatres, auditoriums, etc. we did black vinyl and double layered sheetrock (with sound proofing adhesive gell inbetween) in our home office for noise reduction in case anyone works from home someday and needs the quiet for phone calls. I think it was an extra $1500 or so for a 120 sq ft room (and we just did inside walls, not 2 outside ones). you can incrementally buy products to make it awesome quiet but you will also pay a lot for it.

Good luck

[minnesotahusker]

In our basement, it is open to the upstairs, so the sound deadening is mainly for the bedrooms that are in the back part of the house and to keep the noise from the tv from going straight through the tv, also the small talk people have downstairs. From what I've researched and info others have found, we are probably going to go with roll insulation and thicker sheetrock. With the 18" trusses in the floor, I don't want the sound to basically become like a drum beating, just something that will kill a bunch of it and help improve the atmosphere on both levels. We do have 3 kids, 5 and under, so my fun is only beginning with the noise.

[minnesotahusker]

amateurfishing,

Why did you decide to go with faced insulation? Weren't you worried about moisture getting stuck or is that what a professional you talked to recommend?

[amateurfishing]

ease of installation & not sure why I would have to worry bout any moisture getting stuck

[minnesotahusker]

understandable, was just curious. thanks for the info.

[amateurfishing]

both pros and non pros told me fiberglass insulation was the most common avenue for said project and should do just fine, I just bought the version I got cause it was on sale when we were starting to do the job, other than that no other reasoning for the single faced or r value specifically.