# Dedicated Home Theater Ceiling



## Ozzmosis86 (Jul 27, 2008)

I am in the long planning stage of a dedicated home theater room in my basement. The area is currently unfinished with concrete walls. I have a generous ceiling height of 106.5". I am looking to make the space into a nice entertaining area including a home theater, possibly a wet bar and foosball table.

I have a baby daughter and I would like to keep the sound isolated to this room as best as possible. All but 1 wall which will be about 15' are external walls, for the 1 15' wall I plan on doing a staggered stud construction with 5/8" drywall.

My main question is around the ceiling. It is a large room and will have a significant span, but I would like to isolate it from the floor of the main level. I have read that suspended ceilings can offer better sound isolation than a drywall ceiling. Any opinions on this? From an asthetic point of view I would prefer drywall, but I am not sure how to construct the framing.

Thanks,

Andy


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Drywall is better for looks and can work very well. The main thing is you need to isolate the drywall from the floor studs above. Safe N Sound insulation should be placed between the floor studs and then the drywall can be mounted using special brackets that isolate it from the studs. Both can be found at your local Home Depot.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

If you want isolation, you'll want to build walls all around and drywall them along with the ceiling. Insulate the cavities fully.

Pay close attention to ANY holes in the structure (outlets, switches, lights, HVAC, etc.) which all will act as 'leaks' no matter where they are in the room. A drywall and stud room will also perform better than a mostly concrete one as it has a little give to it which can help with bass control to a small extent.

When you build the walls, consider using DC-04 clips to isolate the walls from the joists above. Also, consider RSIC-1 clips and hat channel (NOT RC-1 channel) to further isolate the ceiling from the joists above.

Bryan


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## Ozzmosis86 (Jul 27, 2008)

bpape said:


> If you want isolation, you'll want to build walls all around and drywall them along with the ceiling. Insulate the cavities fully.
> 
> Pay close attention to ANY holes in the structure (outlets, switches, lights, HVAC, etc.) which all will act as 'leaks' no matter where they are in the room. A drywall and stud room will also perform better than a mostly concrete one as it has a little give to it which can help with bass control to a small extent.
> 
> ...


I have looked at those clips in the past and find them to be way too expensive for what they are. I may try to fab some of my own up. Paying over $6 for a clip that has less than $1 in material cost is ridiculous. As with most sound isolation materials they are over priced.

Andy


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

That's certainly your perogative. I just know what they do and how well they work. Pretty much any product you buy for anything, not just isolation, will cost many multiples of the actual materials.

You can do a poor mans isolation solution on the ceiling by using firring strips perpendicular to the joists and then attach the drywall to that. It's about 60% as effective as RSIC-1 and hat channel but it will help. 

Around the perimeter, if you can find something that will provide the structural rigidity and still provide the isolation of the structure, I'd love to hear about it. Realistically, in the grand scheme of things, a couple hundred $ for the DC-04's is a bargain for what they do. They also negate the need to use any isolation of any sort structurally on all of the walls which will save you way more than the cost of the DC-04 in the long run.

Bryan


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## Space (Jul 18, 2007)

Ozzmosis86 said:


> I have a baby daughter and I would like to keep the sound isolated to this room as best as possible. All but 1 wall which will be about 15' are external walls, for the 1 15' wall I plan on doing a staggered stud construction with 5/8" drywall.
> 
> My main question is around the ceiling. It is a large room and will have a significant span, but I would like to isolate it from the floor of the main level. I have read that suspended ceilings can offer better sound isolation than a drywall ceiling.


Hi Andy. A few questions if I may. I'm not inside this room yet, what were the dimensions? Assumed concrete basement, will you be framing walls to build the highly celebrated room-in-a-room design? This is the best(not highest) isolation you can achieve in respect to your walls. If this is part of what you are interested in, this can solve your ceiling concern...depending on actual dimensions of the room and access to it. 

You would build walls around the interior perimeter and then frame a ceiling that rests on top of these framed/rocked walls. 

Suspended ceilings, on the other hand, do nothing much for the containment of sound so it would be money poorly spent.

I would also frame two independent walls rather than a staggered stud wall. This type of wall is breached at the top and bottom plates or short-circuited as it is often referred to as.


Good luck and Happy New Year,

Brien


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## Ozzmosis86 (Jul 27, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> Drywall is better for looks and can work very well. The main thing is you need to isolate the drywall from the floor studs above. Safe N Sound insulation should be placed between the floor studs and then the drywall can be mounted using special brackets that isolate it from the studs. Both can be found at your local Home Depot.


It appears that safe'n'sound is available at Home Depots in Canada, but not in the US. I found a distributor about an hour from me and requested a quote from them for it.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

For in wall and in floor/ceiling usage, you can just use standard fluffy wall insulation. The idea is to fill the cavity. The extra density really isn't going to do much. Spend the extra money on more mass on the covering surfaces and potentially isolating them - it's money better spent.

Bryan


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## Ozzmosis86 (Jul 27, 2008)

bpape said:


> For in wall and in floor/ceiling usage, you can just use standard fluffy wall insulation. The idea is to fill the cavity. The extra density really isn't going to do much. Spend the extra money on more mass on the covering surfaces and potentially isolating them - it's money better spent.
> 
> Bryan


Thanks for the advice! When building a riser for seating, what do you recommend filling it with? Insulation or sand?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Seating riser - insulation is fine. Here, you're going to damp the cavity and provide a little feel.

On the stage, sand is a better choice as you're also trying to stop it from ringing like a drum due to the speakers being on it and exciting it directly.

Don't get me wrong, the better insulation will help some. It's not that it's not good stuff. It's just that for the price you pay, there are other things that will give better isolation for the money spent.

Bryan


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