# dedicated apartment ht- floor and ceiling questions.



## panduro (Oct 3, 2009)

hey Fellow shacksters 

im in the happy situation that im gonna build a ht in my apartment.

i would like to sound proof the room as much as possible as i like it loud. 

I am gonna add cld walls to my existing walls, both to help sound isolation and acoustics.

Transmission loss thought the floor and ceilling is low, so i need to do something to better the situation.

Ceiling:
i can lower the ceilling 30cm/12" tops.
Planning on also doing cld in the ceiling also, like wood frame with insulation, resilient channel -fiber gypsumboard- green glue- fiber gypsumboard.

Is the a better way to do a ceilling that is not rediculesly expensive? 


floor:
the existing floor is a wooden floor, sounds pretty hollow in knuckle test, downstairs neightbour is a hairdresser shop which is open from 8am to 8pm.
I can raise the floor 10cm/4inch tops.

what are my options? 


best regards

Panduro


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

Have you been to the soundproofingcompany's website yet? This article was the most informative piece on soundproofing I found, and I went back to it multiple times for reference. It's specifically for ceilings, but it explains the principles of soundproofing in detail. "SPC Ceiling Solution 5" is what I'd recommend for your ceiling, and it's what I'm using on my basement.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The floor is going to be the tough one and the expensive one if there's a business down there. 

Bryan


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## panduro (Oct 3, 2009)

HI Bryan and Mr.angles, thanks for your replies,

Yes been there several times, alot of very good info.

im not worried of sound getting from the upstairs appartment down to mine, only the other way around...


i cannot do nr.5 because i would like to keep my original ceiling as it has the original coving and rosettes from 1934. can only add "stuff" under the original ceiling... 

maybe i could drill some holes in the cieling and get the cavaty filled with spray insulation of some kind? will that help me signifficantly? 

or i can ad more layers of gypsum bord/fibergypsum board, mass loaded vinyl(never seen prices for the vinyl) to the added cld wall in the ceilling? 

Yes the floor is going to be a severe problem, again, dont care about in going noise, only how much of my sound gets out.

and again i would like to keep my original floor and only build on top of it.

A consultant in pro construction material business(no speciality in soundproofing) gave me this advice.

rockwool floor batt made for floating floors.
2 layers of floor gypsum board(12,5mm thickness, 14kg/m2)
2mm high density pe foam subfloor matt
12,5mm click wood floor


sorry for the danish links, ill try to translate if you have questions.


*floor batt*
http://www.rockwool.dk/produkter/u/1262/bygningsisolering/gulvrenoveringspladeFloor gypsumboard:

Gyproc GG 13 floor gips, 12,5mm, 14kg/m2 
http://www.gyproc.dk/files/PDF/Denmark/Gyproc Datablade/DK_GGDataBlad.pdf

what would you change/do?


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

Spray foam really doesn't help with sound isolation because it's too dense to be absorption, and not dense enough to count as mass.

The first thing I would do different for you floor is use a carpet. It makes a pretty significant difference in sound absorption. I'm not familiar with the rockwool floor product or the subfloor matt but this is the soundproofing company's product, it may be similar to the subfloor matt you're looking at. Also I didn't see you mention it but you should definitely put green glue between the layers of gypsum board.


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## panduro (Oct 3, 2009)

Hi again,

okay thanks you, no spray isolation then.

No I didnt mention green glue with the floor, just stated what that guy adviced me to do. alot of you guys have more knowledge about the subject than him, so im hoping you will push me in the right direction. am open thou completely different solutions 

ok will add gg between the layers of floor gypsum.


that matt i dont have any data on, but its only 2mm thick. will that do much i would i need somethink thicker?

sorry forgot the carpet, that is part of the plan. as i dont really need the new wood floor, is there another floormaterial that is better?

best regards

panduro


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

I would just put down standard OSB subflooring to provide a good solid surface to carpet over. Your best bet is probably to skip the gypsum entirely and use two or three layers of 5/8" or 3/4" OSB with the seams staggered and screwed together with Green Glue in between. This will give you a massive floor that is solid without having to be secured through whatever underlayment you use beneath it, which is a must. As far as the matt thickness, I really don't know how much is required.


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## panduro (Oct 3, 2009)

thanks for your answer,

I need to clarify what you mean:

underlayment= rockwool floorplate or the pe foam subfloor matt?
3 layers of osg with green glue in between 
thick carpet.

One perhaps stupid question: osg screwed together? i thought it would degrade the gg performance?

best regards

panduro


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

panduro said:


> thanks for your answer,
> 
> I need to clarify what you mean:
> 
> ...


Yes underlayment would be the rockwool or foam or both, I'm not too familiar with those in this application, but my guess would be that rockwool won't do much if anything for you, since it will be compressed and not absorbing anything due to the weight of the floor above. I'd use just a rubber mat of some kind, perhaps the one you linked to, or the one I linked to at the soundproofing company, I have no idea how they compare to each other.

OSB is a good subfloor and a good source of mass. Put Green Glue in between layers of it and you have damping. You want the layers to be tight together to squeeze the Green Glue into a thin film.


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## panduro (Oct 3, 2009)

thanks for the clarification.

But im slow and dont want to do it wrong 

so i should lay the rubber matt on my pre existing floor, then first layer off osg, then gg, second layer of osg, then gg, then the last layer of osg- screwe the three layers of osg tightly together, let the green glue dry and settle, then remove the screwes and put on the carpeting?

thanks for spending the time to answer the same thing over and over again


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

panduro said:


> thanks for the clarification.
> 
> But im slow and dont want to do it wrong
> 
> ...


That's pretty much what I was thinking, except leave the screws in.


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## panduro (Oct 3, 2009)

thanks very much for your patience.

best regards

panduro


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## MasonUK (Feb 18, 2014)

The best type of floating floors are the jack up acoustic ones


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