Soundproofing

**woodsy11** · 4th November 2011, 02:24 PM

G'Day Folks

I'm in the process of trying to establish a workshop, i am converting a 2 car garage space. It has brick walls tin roof and bifold floor to ceiling metal door, which spans the double car width.
I have done some research and sort some opinions on this and other forums,
about stopping the noise the machinery will generate escaping.
The consensus of opinion so far, has been that due to the brick walls and the fact they are "cut into" a hill, and therefore surrounded on 2 sides by fill ( upto half there height off the floor) that most of the noise will be generated through the metal front door and and metal roof.
For this reason i will be building a wooden frame, floor to ceiling doors (soundproofed) internal to the existing doors. The door problem should be eliminated.
However the roof is a bit more tricky, i can apply (double) thickness gyprock sheeting with insulation (thermal and acoustic) between the roof joists. But the other problem the roof presents is that it makes the shop very dark. I was hoping to overcome that problem with skylights, 2 to be exact.
Of course they then recreate the original soundproofing problem. ( back to square one).
So finally, the question........Can the skylights be fitted with internal shutters, that is internal to the roofline , that might be powered and remotely operated. That will allow natural light and also have some dampening effect on machinery noise???
Sorry for being so long winded, i needed to paint as complete a picture as possible. Any opinions, ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks 'The Woodsman'

**BobL** · 4th November 2011, 03:04 PM

Have you thought about using glass bricks for the skylight?

**robgran** · 6th November 2011, 05:07 PM

Woodsy,

Have you established what is the best thermal/acoustic insulation material for the metal roof? At present I only have polystyrene, but I doubt it's acoustic value.

My plan for soundproofing my workshop skylights is to use 2 or 3 solartubes, and below each one put a small double-glazed panel, fitted tightly into the surrounding insulated ceiling.
As far as I remember, double glazing with about 6cm(?) between the glass panes, gives good noise reduction. Laminated glass is also very effective.

It might be possible to laminate two sheets of glass, using Selleys All-clear. The silicon would need to be warm to help spread it. A few air bubbles probably wouldn't matter. Pressing the sandwich between 2 sheets of mdf would help consolidate it without cracking the glass. I have laminated sheets of clear PVC this way, and the result is surprisingly transparent. There doesn't seem to be much reduction in light transmission. This was done for toughness; I'm not sure whether noise reduction would be as good with PVC or acrylic as it is with glass.

One advantage of solar tubes is that they are not a security concern, while a larger skylight could be a break-in opportunity.

Rob

**Oddjob1** · 6th November 2011, 05:21 PM

G'day all,

laser light you can cut with an angle grinder down to very narrow sky lights, maybe only a third of a sheet, Bradford have just put out a rock fiber acoustic insulation, check them out. Making a bit of noise in business hours is cool, just keep it down after hours, no worries.

Cheers Oddjob1

**robgran** · 7th November 2011, 06:24 PM

Thanks for your suggestions, ODDJOB1, laserlite would probably be less costly than solartubes, and easier to install.

Rob

**Oddjob1** · 7th November 2011, 07:07 PM

My shed has many nail holes in the roof, you can watch the clouds go by in the spots on the floor, much light from just a small hole, you don't need big wide sky lights just a narrow strip is plenty, no worries mate!

Oddjob1

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