# Acoustic ceiling tiles worth the extra $?



## Captain Rex (Aug 31, 2009)

Hey everyone, I would love to hear some input on whether there would be a noticeable difference between putting up USG Cheyenne/Sandrift drop ceiling tiles versus regular old ceiling tiles. If someone has a different ceiling tile to recommend, I'm all hears as well.

In the end, my wife wants to not hear the noise from the theater room. It is in the basement under our kitchen and utilizes regular insulation and 5/8" drywall on the sides. No carpeting yet. Solid I-shaped joists in the ceiling. I was thinking of putting rolled insulation up there (R-19) and maybe even do it double thick.

Again any help would be appreciated. This will tie in with my other thread a little bit as I'llbe asking about color schemes in that one and wonder if I need to purchase a dark ceiling tile and rack or can just paint them myself (will this ruin the acoustic abilities of the tile???)

Thanks!


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

Hi Rex, Welcome. The tiles won't do much, if anything to keep noise in the theater. Sorry to say. No mass, not sealed, etc. The only real solution is drywall. Drywall is sealed and masive.


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## dradius (Sep 10, 2008)

That's interesting Ted. I was reading about this stuff the other day because I'm going with a drop ceiling and was thinking about painting the tiles vs. buying black ones. The guys in the forum were saying drop ceilings are better with sound vs. drywall. Someone also posted a response from one of the tile manufacturers about painting them. Basically, they said you will lose a little of the acoustic properties if you paint them. I'll try to find the link again and post it. This was for normal tiles, nothing fancy.
I'll go ahead and say Ted is correct and the other post I read was wrong. This is unfortunate though because a drop ceiling is really my only choice.
Oh and I did see where some people who painted their tiles black, taped up the metal supports and then painted them. So if they sell the house, they can just peel the tape off the supports and flip the tiles over to easily go back to white.


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## Captain Rex (Aug 31, 2009)

dradius said:


> That's interesting Ted. I was reading about this stuff the other day because I'm going with a drop ceiling and was thinking about painting the tiles vs. buying black ones. The guys in the forum were saying drop ceilings are better with sound vs. drywall. Someone also posted a response from one of the tile manufacturers about painting them. Basically, they said you will lose a little of the acoustic properties if you paint them. I'll try to find the link again and post it. This was for normal tiles, nothing fancy.
> I'll go ahead and say Ted is correct and the other post I read was wrong. This is unfortunate though because a drop ceiling is really my only choice.
> Oh and I did see where some people who painted their tiles black, taped up the metal supports and then painted them. So if they sell the house, they can just peel the tape off the supports and flip the tiles over to easily go back to white.


Thanks for the input guys! I'd love to hear if someone else has opinions on this matter. Taped up the metal....never thought of doing that.


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## dradius (Sep 10, 2008)

Another idea instead of painting the tiles, starting at post #8


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

dradius said:


> The guys in the forum were saying drop ceilings are better with sound vs. drywall.


Likely the discussion was with respect to in-room absorption and echo rather than sound isolation.

Making the dropped ceiling heavy enough would require the suspended ceiling system was able to hold 5 lbs a square foot, and it's simply not rated for that. You would have to beef up the wire suspension system considerably.

And it still wouldn't be sealed. It can't be with all of the wires


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Agreed. Drop ceilings and sound isolation just don't go together.

Bryan


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## dradius (Sep 10, 2008)

That makes perfect sense Ted. Not to hijack the thread, but like I said I'll have to use a drop ceiling in my new theater. From an isolation perspective, do you think it would make sense (worth the money) to put insulation above the tiles? Thanks


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

I wouldn't go beyond R19. Why can't you consider drywall?


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## dradius (Sep 10, 2008)

I would do R-19 or nothing at all. There are tons of water lines, pipes, etc. and I don't want to cover it all up with drywall. I'm probably selling the house in 5 years or so, so it isn't my 'forever' theater. Or else I'd go double drywall, gg, etc.


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## Captain Rex (Aug 31, 2009)

My concern with using drywall is that I won't have access to the wiring going from my receiver to my projector. What happens should I want to change wires when a new technology comes around?


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

Captain Rex said:


> My concern with using drywall is that I won't have access to the wiring going from my receiver to my projector. What happens should I want to change wires when a new technology comes around?


We've all been there. The fact is that the rest of your house has buried pipes and wires also.


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## Captain Rex (Aug 31, 2009)

Ted White said:


> We've all been there. The fact is that the rest of your house has buried pipes and wires also.


OK, this is not meant to be sarcastic at all, but what do you do when you need to replace/change something?


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

Well if there's a leak in the bathroom, you cut a hole in the drywall, fix the problem, and patch the drywall. Same in the basement. 

If there's a valve that you need seasonal access to, you can install a hatch.


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## ScruffyHT (Sep 23, 2008)

Captain Rex said:


> My concern with using drywall is that I won't have access to the wiring going from my receiver to my projector. What happens should I want to change wires when a new technology comes around?


Run a conduit 



dradius said:


> I would do R-19 or nothing at all. There are tons of water lines, pipes, etc. and I don't want to cover it all up with drywall. I'm probably selling the house in 5 years or so, so it isn't my 'forever' theater. Or else I'd go double drywall, gg, etc.


As to getting access to plumbing and such .... I have owned several houses and been in this one for over 5 years and never had a issue with anything in the ceiling of my basement that I had to go fix after the fact ... just plan carefully ... if in doubt run 2" conduit from projector to equiptment room and smurf tube everywhere else ... test all connections before you drywall ... enjoy quiet bliss in the rest of the house even when someone has the theater cranked to reference levels in the basement

dont forget that sound isloation is not only about keeping sound from escaping the theater to the rest of the house but also to keep the sounds of the house ( footfalls on the floor above, water running in pipes, HVAC etc etc ) out of the theater so you can enjoy the movie ... when there is alot of outside noise to contend with the common reaction we have is to raise the volume level ... I had a good example when I came home a couple days ago and my youngest daughter was watching a TV show in the Great Room which is right beside the kitchen, my other 2 daughters were at the eating bar and my wife was cooking dinner ... the TV volume was WAY up there as she compensated for the sounds around her


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## Captain Rex (Aug 31, 2009)

ScruffyHT said:


> Run a conduit
> 
> 
> 
> ...



OK, I may have to go this route. The conduit might look a little funky as it won't be inside the wall though......the walls are already mudded and almost finished. :wits-end: Oh well, I was going to have to figure something out anyways as the wall with the receiver and such was a half wall and I couldn't figure out a good way for the wiring to run from the top half wall under the shelf and then down the lower half wall. Hope that makes sense.


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## Ncrays (Apr 24, 2018)

My suggestion is perforated ceiling panels is one of the best option. It is widely used in churches, offices, office buildings, restaurant, multipurpose room, music rooms, restaurants & night clubs etc.


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## rheowasserman (Mar 14, 2018)

I am using decorative ceiling tiles, these mainly composed of polyester fiber material, which is also a strong sound absorption and noise reduction material. The reason why they absorb sound is mainly because of their own porosity and film resonance principle.


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