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Background

I have an existing bedroom with an interior wall that already has 1/2" drywall hung in front of another 1/2" of some kind of insulation panel (not asbestos, just cellulose according to my local lab, so wood/paper based). I'm assuming this was the answer for soundproofing when the house was built in the late 50s.

The Question

I'm trying to decide whether to leave it or rip it all out and install the modern equivalent (probably some combination of resilient channels + a soundproof drywall product like QuietRock).

Would there be a meaningful improvement over the old wall or am I just creating more work for myself for no noticeable difference?

isherwood
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Wilco
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    "meaningful improvement" seems a bit vague; you likely need to gauge how much the sound insulation is working currently to even guess if a new method is better. – UnhandledExcepSean May 12 '23 at 23:35
  • Research Green Glue – Kris May 13 '23 at 01:11
  • Fiber panels aren't as archaic as you seem to think. I recall installing them in the 80s or even 90s. They don't isolate the drywall as well as channel, but they do provide meaningful sound deadening. However, the question isn't really answerable as it varies by situation. Any answers would be guesses. – isherwood May 13 '23 at 14:38

1 Answers1

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You can certainly create a better sound barrier than what you've got.

What kind of sounds are you looking to block?

I typically do roxul insulation inside the stud cavities for walls and I'd remove and outlets or penetration into the walls if I was really serious about sound transmission.

For floor assemblies I've done 2" closed cell spray foam, roxul, hat track ( ridig channel ), sound isolation clips and green glue with two layers of 1/2 drywall with green glue. This was for a floor that already had a 2" concrete layer and a underlay backed laminate flooring.

I bought some geniemat ( same people as genie clips ) but haven't had a chance to install / test it yet.

The details take a lot to get correct though so it really depends what types of sound and what budget you want to put toward the project and how much space you are willing to loose.

There are two rating systems STC and IIC that are used to help rate an assembly and how well it blocks sound. You can look at the various floor / wall assemblies to help decide.

Fresh Codemonger
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