Thread: Who's soundproofed their workshop?

My son and I have just completed a rehearsal and recording studio - (4 rooms) that are close to a residential area. We used an Acoustic engineer who designed the rooms - 300mm gaps between walls, 75mm insulation sound batts, and 2 13mm layers of firecheck plaster on both walls and ceilings, double solid core doors. The studio was also mounted on sound absorbing pads. You can just hear the bands outside the building and it is quite close to the neighbours.
We also looked at the Green Glue - it sounded promising but the amount you needed made it quite expensive. The firecheck plaster had the same sound rating as the soundcheck plaster.
Because the rooms had to be sealed we also needed an air exchange system which was pricey.
If you want anymore information PM me.
Regards,

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. I am currently highly involved in the topic at hand. Soundproofing a workshop is easy and inexpensive, having a workshop that is soundproof and well ventilated is a little harder, but not that much.

You need an isolated structure - so if it is a shed you've got an isolated structure from where you are trying to stop the sound going i.e. everywhere (your place, neighbours etc), If you don’t have a shed and it connected to a house you need to isolate the walls and ceiling and perhaps floor from the rest of the structure. This can be done by putting in separate stud walls that don’t touch the other walls, or using hat channel and isolation clips as someone else mentioned.

Got an isolated structure? Next it needs to be sealed and sealed well. Every single little hole including power points etc need to be sealed – a fire rated sealant is what you want. The other stuff hardens over time and doesn’t work.

Damping the structure? This is what green glue does and is only really for low frequencies – not really what you get in a workshop.

Edit: the special gyprock boards are a waste of money - get 2 layers of BGC's 16mm fire rated board
Insulation – you don’t need rock wool, you just need to loosely fill cavities with something to stop is resonating i.e. being like an empty drum.

So that’s its – with ventilation you want in line vents that have a serpentine box. This means a box with multiple U lines of ducting to stop sound waves from bouncing through it.

If you want it to be more pleasant to work in cover any surface you can in 48kg^m3 insulation (polyester is preferable). This will absorb much of the noise and make working with loud machines a little bit more pleasant (doesn’t remove the need for protection) nor does this aid in soundproofing.

Oh and Doors – need to be sealed with acoustic grade sealers (see Door Seals of Australia)

Finally, refer to Soundproofing walls, ceilings and floors. Noise control products and solutions | Soundproofing Company for more specifics.

Originally Posted by Elill

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. I am currently highly involved in the topic at hand. Soundproofing a workshop is easy and inexpensive, having a workshop that is soundproof and well ventilated is a little harder, but not that much.

You need an isolated structure - so if it is a shed you've got an isolated structure from where you are trying to stop the sound going i.e. everywhere (your place, neighbours etc), If you don’t have a shed and it connected to a house you need to isolate the walls and ceiling and perhaps floor from the rest of the structure. This can be done by putting in separate stud walls that don’t touch the other walls, or using hat channel and isolation clips as someone else mentioned.

Got an isolated structure? Next it needs to be sealed and sealed well. Every single little hole including power points etc need to be sealed – a fire rated sealant is what you want. The other stuff hardens over time and doesn’t work.

Damping the structure? This is what green glue does and is only really for low frequencies – not really what you get in a workshop.

Edit: the special gyprock boards are a waste of money - get 2 layers of BGC's 16mm fire rated board
Insulation – you don’t need rock wool, you just need to loosely fill cavities with something to stop is resonating i.e. being like an empty drum.

So that’s its – with ventilation you want in line vents that have a serpentine box. This means a box with multiple U lines of ducting to stop sound waves from bouncing through it.

If you want it to be more pleasant to work in cover any surface you can in 48kg^m3 insulation (polyester is preferable). This will absorb much of the noise and make working with loud machines a little bit more pleasant (doesn’t remove the need for protection) nor does this aid in soundproofing.

Oh and Doors – need to be sealed with acoustic grade sealers (see Door Seals of Australia)

Finally, refer to Soundproofing walls, ceilings and floors. Noise control products and solutions | Soundproofing Company for more specifics.

Thanks Elill!