Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: How to soundproof shared walls and floors/ceilings

[Laura Fitch (lfitch]

Use dense-pack cellulose insulation in the party wall.  It is much more
effective at sound dampening than regular acoustic insulation.

Laura Fitch, AIA, LEED
Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc
110 Pulpit Hill Rd.
Amherst, MA  01002
413-549-5799
lfitch [at] krausfitch.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Morrison [mailto:RHmorrison [at] aol.com]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 9:28 AM
To: cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_ How to soundproof shared walls and floors/ceilings



    On Jan. 27, Sharon Villines wrote:

  I would like to hear from the construction wise among us who know how to
create shared walls, floors, and ceilings so sound does not penetrate. [end
quote]

  I am not an expert on construction, but:

  The best way to prevent noise from carrying thru shared walls is to put
lots of insulation in the walls and use offset studs. That is, put a set of
studs in the half of the wall that is facing one unit and put in another set
of studs, offset from the first set, in the other half of the wall.

  In a building that has four or more units per floor, I recommend having
concrete floors. However, there is a problem: You must put a "chase" thru
the floor to run water, sewer, and (if applicable) gas and FHW heat pipes to
the units. This isn't a problem in a large building because you can spread
the cost of the chase over many units. If you have fewer than four units per
floor, the cost per unit of the chase may be prohibitive, and that may make
concrete floors impractical.

  Whether you have wood or concrete floors, I recommend you have a rule that
all units that have another unit underneath must have (and keep in place)
wall-to-wall carpet on all floors except in the kitchen and bath. You get a
lot more noise in the units below if the floors are hard-surfaced.

  I know there is more you can do to soundproof floors, but I don't know
what.

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