Thread: Sound Proofing and insulating a workshop

Bubble foil is a good heat insulator but it does little for sound

The general principles of sound insulation is a dense external sealed shell to reduce sound transmission and useful but less necessary (see below) some soft lining on the inside to absorb sound. The more weight you can add to that external skin the better

The fact that you have a brick outer skin is a good start. One important thing to look at is to seal any eave gaps with maybe some hardwood. Lining the shed (and putting thermal insulation in between the bricks and lining) adds more weight which helps reduce sound transmission.

Using a soft internal lining, such as carpet, is only really necessary if you want the lowest levels of noise inside the shed. Generally there is so much junks and things sticking up-out-down to absorb the sound. For example one half of my new shed is corrugated in miniorb (ie steel because its more fireproof) but the corrugations break up the sound so much one can barely tell the difference between that end and the non-lined end of the shed.

My approach is also to remove as many machines as possible that make noise and put them in sound proofed enclosures outside the shed eg this air compressor enclosure.

Finally, what sort of door do you have? Tilt and rolla doors are very difficult to sound proof.

Check out these products.

www.tontineinsulation.com.au/products/acoustic

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In addition to the internal wall liners, there are some plaster products designed to also reduce noise. Gyprock Soundchek & Gyprock™ Perforated Plasterboard.
Gyprock : Gyprock Plasterboard

Hi
I may be repeating some things that have already been written. But here's my opinion. Concrete and brick is good for blocking out sound that is air born. But when it comes to hammer strokes and such the sound travel through the concrete and brick very easily.

There's 2 ways for sound to travel, trough air and trough solid matter. The way to block the airborne sound is to make the room airtight. When this is done the vibrations in the air will have to go through the building materials. If you have ventilation systems make sure you don’t put the air in and out on a side of the shed that will bother someone (towards you bedroom, or neighbors...)

Next step is how to get the shed insulated to absorb the sound trough the building materials. The key to doing this is getting a lot of dense building plates (gypsum) that will vibrate with the sound. The reason concrete transfers sound so well is because it’s very sturdy. If you’re going to make a stud wall on the inside of your shed make sure you don’t fasten it to the brick wall, make it free standing. Make a 1-2cm gap between the studs and the brick wall; this will help to absorb the sound. Then fill the studs with insulation and fasten gypsum plates to the wall, 2 layers if you can afford. Then make it air tight by filling the gaps at the bottom top and sides of the wall with sikaflex, or a similar product.

If you’re going to insulate the roof do it in the same manner, either make a free standing roof that doesn’t touch the existing roof or use a special product to fasten the roofs together. (Pic)

If you have windows or doors in your shed witch i suspect you have you need to make these air tight, even the keyhole with some sliding metal plate or fill it with something if you don’t need to lock it. The side of the door you can get air tight by using a rubber with glue product (pic) I’m not sure if you use these on you outer door in aus but if you do you know what I mean. The bottom you might have to get creative on if the gap is big, some foam glued on the sliding part of the door to make a seal will do. When you can feel the air resisting when you close the door it's good.

I'm a carpenter from Norway so this is what i would do here; a bit colder climate perhaps, so cold/heat insulation also takes care of sound insulating to some degree. In any case key words are:
1: air tight
2: dense building materials
3: separate constructions (outer shell inner shell)

Good luck!

Edit: Forgot that the room was a garage (thought it was a room inside the house) In any case i would still make walls that's facing house in the same principal as explained, but probably a little buffed down if sound isn’t a big problem.

Hi Woodsy11
This is not a very technical explanation.
A few years ago I set up a print shop under my house and wanted to block the sound coming up through the floor boards. I was put onto an insulation bat called Black Rock. It was very effective at blocking the sound waves from the machines moving through the floor. You can clearly hear people walking around up stairs becaues people are walking on the floor. However it really did a good job of blocking out the sound trying to move through the floor.

TT

Was in tassie a few years back and called on a chap working in his shed. He was running Huon pine thru a planer. I was surprised at the lack of noise as I approached. On entering I found the walls insulated with R3 foil backed for warmth, over wich he had fastened commercial size egg carton. From experience I know that normal household insulation doesnt give that much for sound, so the egg cartons must have been the main sound dampener.

Good Morning Woodsie

For thermal insulation I would suggest that you look at the following:

* Sisaltion radiant heat/ draft stopper immediately under the roofing iron. Possibly stapled under the battens but its usually easier to lift the iron & put it ontop of the battens.

* R3 or R4 batts ontop of the ceiling or between the rafters, if there is no ceiling.

* If batts between rafters a second layer of sisalation stapled to the rafters is a better way of holding them in place than tapes, fishing line, etc.

* Use the sisalation with small holes in it to let moisture through.

* Rock wool batts have marginally better accoustic rating than other thermal batts.

Hard to suggest a cost effective way to thermally insulate the walls unless you can totally line them with batts.

It is probably true to say that most attempts at accoustic insulation have failed, or been disappointing.

Lining the interior surfaces (floor, walls & roof/ceiling with soft, sound absorbent materials will dampen internal sounds a little but probably not stop a lot from escaping.

Best accoustic insulation material that I have seen has been on engine rooms on boats - sheets of laminated lead and foam - quite effective, but cost over $100 per m2. And all gaps and joins must be insulated. Quite small joins will let the sound through.

Good luck with your research

Fair Winds

Graeme

For some acoustic research and for some sorts of hearing tests, you find yourself in what's apparently called a "dead" room. Lots of pix on the internet. The 3D texture of the walls is quite "artistic." When I speak, it's like my words just fall on the floor, don't go anywhere. Most disconcerting.

Thus, the sheets of egg carton make good sense to break up the broad, major waves of sound. Cleaning/dusting those walls in a wood shop is a job for someone else.

gap and windows are prime source of noise escape. How best to reduce noise depends upon what type of noise you are making. Hammering (low frequency thud) probably best to go for high density padding. High frequency (ie mitre saw screeches) foams or similar.

Sound waves behave similar to light or water waves. So anything you put between your noise source and say someone who might hear it and get will help, though barriers are most effective if the you are in the sound "shadow".

Shrubs and trees planted around outside help, as does internal shelving or wood stacked around perimeter of where you are working.

Large unsupported panels like roller doors when down will just act like large diaphragm transmitting internal noise straight outside. Your tin roof will do just that but at least the sound will be directed somewhat upwards.

try any recyclers or upholstery shops, carpet shops for cheap discards and underlays.

Interesting about cleaning dust off eggcartons. His shed would have to have been one of the cleanest I've ever been in. His dust extraction system was top notch. I guess a run over with a vac or a bit of compressed air would have done the trick.

My old work shop is inside an old house. Both neighbors have their house sharing the same walls, they have never complained. Both walls are very large, 27 inch each, they're made of two stone walls of 9 inch each and a 9 inch gap filled with soil. So mass stops sound and soil stops vibration. Recently I bought a new house with basement, I am planning to add an extra a 9 inch wall on both sides with 9 inch gap filled with sand. What do you think?

Originally Posted by magroc

My old work shop is inside an old house. Both neighbors have their house sharing the same walls, they have never complained. Both walls are very large, 27 inch each, they're made of two stone walls of 9 inch each and a 9 inch gap filled with soil. So mass stops sound and soil stops vibration. Recently I bought a new house with basement, I am planning to add an extra a 9 inch wall on both sides with 9 inch gap filled with sand. What do you think?

I would be more concerned about sealing the doorway to the basement than adding more walls to the basement.

on the back of my basement I've got a room inside which i'll be using as my workshop and there is another room between my workshop and the garage door. To make sure that sound does not leave my workshop I will make 2 doors filled with rockwool facing each other with a 5 inch air gap between them, on the bottom I will add a rubber loop, you can see an image on this link SSP Transom Sound Seal Door Sweep-Super Soundproofing, Co. so it will be more difficult for my neighbors to hear my tablesaw from the garage door. On the back of my workshop It will be difficult to annoy my neighbors because there is a garden and i have no windows. The only thing I am worried are the side walls because last week i could hear easily my neighbor singing and playing the piano, and when i was close to the wall i could confirm that all the noise was passing from the wall. This is the reason why I decided to encrease the size of both walls.

Woodsy11,

I too am on a wife enriched budget, at the moment I am insulating in stages an old shed, I am trying earthwool batts from bunnies. Cost is around the $75 a pack for the 2.0 with 32 batts a pack. You can drop down to the 1.5 with 40 so batts around same cost, or go for their soundproofing batts at 2.0, 20 batts per pack around the $80-$90 mark. Estimated at this point 4 packs will do my shed, so $300 all up over a couple months isn't too bad.

Possible worth a look.

Their website,
EarthWool

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

h2k3

** Admin, i'm not affiliated with the product, only giving link to assist in assessment of the product. **