# New apartment, one wall needs to be soundproofed for music room + home theater



## soulgolem (Nov 23, 2010)

Hello all ! I'm very new here, and new to the world of soundproofing, I spent a lot of days on forum research before posting here and now I just need to cover specifics.

Here is a drawing of what the apartment I just moved in looks like, I chose this one in particular because of many reasons, but the most important one being that I intend to make music (jams, record music, mixing projects) and the room that will serve this purpose in not adjacent to any neighbors, downstairs being a business closed on evenings and the outside world + other apartment rooms on other sides.

The living room and kitchen are one big room only separated by a little corner.










I also intend to throw the occasional party in the living room and enjoy a home theater with considerate volume and don't want to disturb the neighbors at night so I will be covering the music room and living room with acoustic panels to attenuate echos and unwanted reverberation, I'm hoping this will help reduce volume in the apartment. 

After reading a lot about soundproofing, I realize this will not be enough so I'm considering soundproofing the living room wall (Wall (A)) that is adjacent to the neighbor's master bedroom. The windows in the living room extend all the way from one wall to the other, so I only have about 3/4 of an inch that I can use to add mass to the wall before getting onto the windows' frames. I also cannot open the wall and place mineral wool or fiberglass in between the wall studs so I'm hoping there's already something there to help with that.

Considering all this, here is what I thought of doing to help with the situation :

1 - Get green glue and add another layer of drywall on top of the existing one
2 - Since I won't have space left to add any other layer of mass because of the window frames, I thought of covering the entire wall surface with 2" Roxul Rockboard 40 mineral wool and just covering the whole thing with a big blanket, would that help at all ? if so how much worth ? 

Since I'm mostly concerned with low frequencies, I know rockboard 60 or 80 would be more appropriate, but it is much more expensive, I could go for it if it'd really make the difference but I'm just not sure with the whole concept of a wall of mineral wool, it's the only extra thing I can think of anyway because of the window frames limitation.

3 - maybe a layer of exposed thin mass loaded vinyl in between the roxul and the new drywall ? (it's getting really costly now).

In summary it'd go like this : sound -> layer of rockboard -> new drywall -> green glue -> old drywall -> whatever's inside with the studs -> neighbor's drywall -> neighbor's bedroom.


I understand complete soundproofing is not achievable, but how much can I expect from this ? Bass doesn't have to be too loud anyway.

I would really appreciate any knowledge and opinions on my project, so please let me know all your thoughts.
Thank you so much.
Francis.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The mineral wool on your side of the drywall isn't going to do much of anything to stop sound transmission regardless of the density. 

The drywall and green glue is going to be about the best you can do.

Bryan


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

Total soundproofing would require some reconstruction which could get expensive. What kind of budget are you working with? The sound can be passed through the ceiling & floor as well as the walls. Why is reconstructing the wall between your living room & you neighbor not possible?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

In an apartment type of setup, there should already have been some steps done during construction for this type of shared wall. Not saying it's there but it's supposed to be. 

With only 3/4", not sure what additional could be done anyway if the wall is already insulated other than potentially adding mass on the inner surface of the neighbor's wall.

Bryan


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

I was thinking if he could pull down the sheet rock & maybe do some offset studding to decouple the wall. With some insulation it might help...just don't know how much he can spend...and with the other walls also transmitting, I agree the total benefit would be small.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

The news is both good and bad. The good news is that you probably already have at least some soundproofing in place. There’s a good chance the wall between the apartments was build with a staggered-stud configuration. (If you’ve researched you probably already know what that is.) 

It wouldn’t be hard to determine for sure. Just remove the cover from a wall switch or electrical outlet and slide a hack saw blade between the box and the sheetrock. If it goes in nearly 6 inches before bottoming out, you have a staggered stud wall. If it only goes in about 4 inches, you only have a standard wall (like between the rooms in your own apartment).

The bad news is that effective soundproofing is not cheap. It requires mass. Stuff like acoustic panels only make the room they are in more “dead.” They do not stop the transfer of sound through walls. I’d use Quietrock instead of sheetrock, and double-layer it. You should do the whole wall including the kitchen, not just the living room. 

I wouldn’t be too concerned about encroaching on the window. A piece of wood trim can take care of that. Actually, taking out the existing sheetrock would allow you to double-Quietrock without encroaching on the window.

It would be even more effective if you could double-Quietrock your neighbor’s side of the wall as well. You’d really be getting somewhere then. No, it won’t be cheap, but it will be cheaper to do it right than to do it over later when you’re unsatisfied with the results of cutting corners.

Alternately, you could make friends with your neighbor and invite him over for movies or to your parties. You could reach an agreement for a time when the noise should be cut off. If you’re on good terms with him I see no reason why he’d object to your having a party 2-3 times a year.

Regards,
Wayne


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## soulgolem (Nov 23, 2010)

bpape said:


> The mineral wool on your side of the drywall isn't going to do much of anything to stop sound transmission regardless of the density.
> 
> The drywall and green glue is going to be about the best you can do.
> 
> Bryan





Tonto said:


> Total soundproofing would require some reconstruction which could get expensive. What kind of budget are you working with? The sound can be passed through the ceiling & floor as well as the walls. Why is reconstructing the wall between your living room & you neighbor not possible?





bpape said:


> In an apartment type of setup, there should already have been some steps done during construction for this type of shared wall. Not saying it's there but it's supposed to be.
> 
> With only 3/4", not sure what additional could be done anyway if the wall is already insulated other than potentially adding mass on the inner surface of the neighbor's wall.
> 
> Bryan


Thanks for all the answers.

So maybe the mineral wool isn't necessary on the outisde, but I will still put some to avoid the need to be louder to be heard in any situation.

Can't reconstruct the wall because it's not my property, but adding a drywall, I think the landlord wouldn't even notice, also sound much easier for an inexperienced person like me to just add a layer of drywall with glue in between. 

My budget would be in the 200-400$ range so something like quietrock is out of the question.


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## soulgolem (Nov 23, 2010)

Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:


> The news is both good and bad. The good news is that you probably already have at least some soundproofing in place. There’s a good chance the wall between the apartments was build with a staggered-stud configuration. (If you’ve researched you probably already know what that is.)
> 
> It wouldn’t be hard to determine for sure. Just remove the cover from a wall switch or electrical outlet and slide a hack saw blade between the box and the sheetrock. If it goes in nearly 6 inches before bottoming out, you have a staggered stud wall. If it only goes in about 4 inches, you only have a standard wall (like between the rooms in your own apartment).
> 
> ...


If i owned the place, I'd totally go for quietrock, sounds like a great product, I'll try your method to find out if it's staggered, thanks !!


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

If you reviewed the independent data available, you'd find that better results are obtained using standard 5/8" drywall and a field application of a quality damping compound. Better damped, more massive and much less expensive.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Especially given the budget and the non-option of removing existing drywall. 

Bryan


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

Yes exactly


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:


> Alternately, you could make friends with your neighbor and invite him over for movies or to your parties. You could reach an agreement for a time when the noise should be cut off. If you’re on good terms with him I see no reason why he’d object to your having a party 2-3 times a year.


Given the impracticality of total soundproofing, and the fact that the other side of the wall is the neighbor's _bedroom_, I like Wayne's advice regardless of how you treat the room. Plus, if the neighbor sees how much effort/expense you are putting in to mitigate any issues, he/she is much less likely to get upset. Much easier to build a rapport with the neighbor now than after he's already steamed at you for keeping him up the night before an important early meeting. And an open invitation to join the fun will go far.

Plus, you might make a new friend along the way!

Regards,
sga2


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## Theresa (Aug 23, 2010)

I have a problem with one neighbor who lives above me. S/he STOMPS around all day and into the night and I go to bed very early since I habitually wake up at 3am. S/he then pounds on the floor during the day if I have music and tv at any volume at all. Since s/he stomps around anyway I ignore her during the day. My condo is in a very old building and is not sound proof at all but I can't afford to sound proof it at all.


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

No one has asked yet...

What sort of dwelling is this. A high rise apartment, a low rise (ie: a 3 storey walk-up), a one level multi-plex, etc?

How old is the building?

What are the ceiling, walls and floor made of?

If it's a modern building there should be double walls in place with 5/8 drywall between units for fire and noise protection. It should also have similar for floors. If it is a high rise then it's most likely reinforced concrete and possibly drywall for a better feel. Adding another layer of drywall to that is not going to have a huge effect.


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