Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sound Barriers [was Enclosed "street" between homes

[Stuart Joseph (stuart]

Sharon,
Have you talked to a foam installation contractor?

I was watching "This Old House" on DIYnetwork. The episodes were the 
"East Boston Project." They used foam insulation within the existing 
lath and plaster walls so they wouldn't have to destroy the walls. The 
contractors drilled holes between the joists on the interior (so they 
could avoid holes in the stucco exterior) and the foam was blown in 
through the holes.

I have also seen foam being blown into existing attic spaces between the 
floor joists and also the roof rafters.

You might check out the sites for This Old House (I don't know the URL) 
and diynetwork.com (I know that Url), sometimes, you can watch the 
episodes online and you might at least get the info you need.

Depending upon your ceiling height on both floors, you might be able to 
put in a dropped ceiling of acoustical time or sound insulation 
material. A false floor in the upstairs might also work with sound 
baffling underneath. If you go that route,  it might be possible to seal 
off the foam.

When folks are building home theatres or recording studios, they have to 
isolate the floor and it is not such a big deal as it seems.

DIYnetwork did a series on a home theatre and I believe a home recording 
studio, here is the link to home theatre: 
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/home_improvement/article/0,2037,DIY_13954_4131361,00.html

Here is a great site on all aspects of home theatres:
http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/index.html

When I suggested an acoustical tile suspended ceiling, I don't mean 
those ugly panels with plastic fronts facing a layer of fiberglass. The 
new ceilings are really elegant. I saw one being installed in a fancy 
B&B (read mansion!) in MA for a media room and it looked like a paneled 
wooden ceiling. You can watch the episode on BobVilla.com. It was one of 
the later Modular Mountain retreat Episodes of "Home Again." The person 
that was having the project built (the modular mountain retreat) ran out 
of money before the series of episodes finished. The Home Again team had 
to fill in the remaining episodes, which is why they ended up at the B&B.

Good Luck.

Sharon Villines wrote:
> On Mar 18, 2008, at 10:36 AM, Matthew Whiting wrote:
>
>   
> > Assuming you don't mind lossing some head room, you can add on sound  
> > buffering material to the ceilings.
> >     
>
> That stops sound from going up and thick carpets with rubber mats will  
> stop it from coming down. We have households with allergies who can't/ 
> don't have carpeting.
>
> I think what we need is a solution that can be put _inside_ the  
> ceiling but everyone I've talked to about foams, for example, that you  
> use pre-construction to fill walls, says they are untested on existing  
> construction.
>
> Is there anything else or has anyone done more testing?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
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