Thread: Sound Proofing

Insulation bats with a sound reduction propertly are available.

How about making an insulation sandwich with the first layer being the colourbond, the second being the bats and the third being particle board, or similar? This would also make it easier to construct shelfs, hand tools, etc.

I have the same setup and asked the question a while back. There are some very experienced people on this forum that know about the various sound frequencies machines and power tools make. If you search for a thread about "neighbours" and I think it went something like "I hate neighbours" that was started by DarrylF I think you will start to get a feel for the topic. My conclusion was that you could only effectively get rid of the high pitch frequencies and given the cost even that was not worth it unless you could get your materials on the cheap. I am not saying that soundproofing is not worth it but just that in my situation 108 sqm with the roof was a bit costly. There would also be no protection on the roller door and windows.
My solution is to work noisy machines late morning and afternoon and use the periods outside these times for assembly, finishing and clean up. It also helps to get on with your neighbours.

Rockwool Batts are better for sound insulation rather than fibreglass and usually available from Bradford Insulation.

They are much denser than fibreglass although they are much more expensive.

Do it the way DPB describes but add foil to the inside of the insulation as a vapour barrier otherwise the insulation takes up the condensation from within the shed especially in the winter and impairs the performance of the insulation.

At the moment I've got a large sheet of MDF leaning against the wall behind my drop saw. I was thinking of mounting it to the wall, but with some form of isolation (i.e. rubber stips on the wall studs, thick rubber washers) so that any noise is not transmitted to the outside wall through hard fixing.

I'll also be boxing up my smallish compressor soon. Currently it sits on foam and rubber to prevent vibrations from reaching the floor.

Induction motors are a good way to reduce the noise at its source, but of course there aren't too many induction planers!

Forgot to mention that Boral have a home cinema room sound insulation datasheet available. I'm not sure if it's online, or you have to get it sent to you (I got mine in the post).

I presume you wouldn't have a cinema set up in your shed (the dust would get in the way of the projected image after all!) but I'm sure you could get some ideas from it.

wolfs,

Have you checked with your neighbours to see if they object? You may be about to spend money when you dont need to.

Himzo

Something that I did, mainly for the heat, was to line the ceiling and walls with coldroom walls. I went around to places where coldrooms are demolished and picked up the metal clad polystyrene , 100 mm thick, for free. It surely made my shed a lot cooler. The 100 mm sheets are metal clad on both sides and with the aluminium joiners that they do the cold rooms, do a very neat job. The shed roof has C beams. I cut the sheets to fit between the beams , resting on the C lip on one side and on some angle tekscrewed to the other face.
It is very neat and the best is the price! Picked up all the bits for free, just by going there with my trailer. The contractors were just too glad to be rid of the stuff as it would have cost them to dispose of it.
I don't know what it does for noise, as my neighbours are pretty far away and I generally only use my table saw and planer during the day.
Cya
Joe

sound control is a big issue & no single measure will solve your problems. however.

When building a shed putting roofing blanket under the roof sheets is solid gold.
It will keep your shed cool and provide some nois control.

I have an ongoing noise & heat control program in my workshop & unless you have a good wad of cash thats the way to do it.

Fibreglass (or rockwool) (check the price diference) sandwedged between the wall sheeting & some sort of interior panel will help heaps.
The easy way to do it is to spray glue the bats to the metal sheeting then sheet over with ply, mdf, watever.

Most of the acoustic consultants concentrate on transmission issues which is less half the equasion.

I have an absorbent panel 1200 x3000 behind my drop saw and it makes a big diference.
its 6mm mdf with fibre underlay with fabric over.

You could easily write a book on the matter but some points are.

1 reduce noise at source (buy quieter machines, work quieter)
1a isolate machines from sounding surfaces like bench tops & the floor
2 absorb noise where posible as close to source as possible.
3 insulate as you can afford.
4 locate noisy stuff away from walls, doors & windows.
5 close the doors (and aircondition)

cheers

When I built my new shed (colourbond) I too was concerend about the noise. So I talked SWMBO into letting me spend a bit more than I had original budgeted for to fully insulate and line it.

For the roof I used "permastop" blanket which is R1.5 insulation sandwiched between 2 layers of sisalation. This sits on 1.5mm weldmesh over the roof trusses and the roof sheets hold it down in place.

For the walls I used R3.5 bats between the colourbond and construction grade exterior ply (very rough with lots of flaws but a nice price) and also the marine ply from the crates that cars and machinery etc gets shipped in from overseas. Sourcing that took a lot of phone calls to various shipping companies and then I had to drive to Sydney to 3 different places to pick it up (thanks to a mate with a 5 ton truck). Takes a bit of work to make it look presentable but given the price it was worth it.

The neighbours tell me that the only time they can hear me is when I am running the jointer or the thicknesser and then only if they are outside.

Oh yes I also lined the doors the same way. Windows now are the biggest source of noise leakage.

Overall for my little 6m by 3.5m it set me back about $800 but well worth it from the noise factor and also on very hot days (>35) I can stay reasonably comfortable till about 2 in the arvo then it cools down enough by about 7 or so that I can get back in there.

I sort of compromised, my "shed" is actually attached to the house via an 1800 wide opening, which will shortly have an 8mm thick glass sliding door in it.

Exterior walls are colorbond with R2.5 (I think) insulation, sisalation and 13mm Fire check lining.

Ceilings are insulation and sisalation to the underside of the colorbond roof sheeting.

End opposite the door above is open to the garage, which has 200mm filled block walls with a WRC timber door.

Weakest link are the windows, which are WRC louvres, so no value at all when open!

Basically the whole setup was designed to convert to a Theatre/media room if ever we were to sell the place, and was insulated accordingly.

It all works quite happily, with the Television clearly audible in the next room when thicknesser is running. (Much to our relief).

Dunno how much all that cost, because

a) I did it as part of a major rebuild at the Home of the Biting Midge.

b) If I thought about it I probably couldn't afford it!

Theatre treatment is a good start even though in theory the troublesome noise frequencies being dealt with seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum to those created by our machinery.

Cheers,

P

Thanks for all the advice. Soundman, Can you tell me a bit more about your panels. What exactly was the absorbant material and what was the underlay and fabric cover. And Ruffy what is a permastop blanket? Regards Wolfs.

Hi Wolfs,

Permastop was the stuff recommended to me by the people that supplied my shed kit.

The best way to describe it is to point you to a web site rather than me waffle on.

The URL for the data sheet is http://www.insulationsolutions.com.a.../Permastop.pdf

And a brief description can be found at http://www.insulationsolutions.com.au/home/ceilings.php

Hope that helps

The panels behind my drop saw are 6mm mdf with the wadding sprayglued then "Frontrunner" stretched over the top glued & stapled at the back.
the wadding is heavy automotive carpet underlay a mixture of fabric waste & hempy type fibres. about 12mm thick. has a thin nonwoven fabric backing.

my good mate bruce (acoustics dude) recons 25mm foam is just as absorbent. He has done the tests.
go thicker if you like.
I like the underlay beacuse I dont think it will perish

front runner is an upholstery fabric manufactured by melded fabrics.

Originally Posted by Wolfs

My workshop is a metal colourbond garage in a residential neighbourhood so keeping the noise of machines to a minimum is important. Any suggestions for materials or designs for sound proofing the "garage".

just thinking they might be helpful to you - http://www.cwggroup.com.au/, cheers.