Added a 2nd floor bathroom and the waste pipe runs down through the first floor in a corner of a closet down to the basement. Then the area where the pipe is was boxed in with hardwood (I know, a sound conductor itself).
When the upstairs facility is flushed it sounds like Niagra Falls goes right through the closet.
I'm searching for ideas/suggestions as to how to help reduce the sound level seeing how I cannot relocate the waste pipe. What comes to mind are things like sound deadening material like what they use in cars, or 1" thich acoustic foam, et.al. and perhaps reboxing the pipe with dry wall.
On Saturday 23 February 2013 14:13 BobMCT wrote in alt.home.repair:
Pack the pipe box with glass wool would be one option - fairly densly - you need mass.
Also isolate the pipe from immediate contact with the ceiling and floor - ie make the cutouts just clear of the pipe and stuff some wool in.
I was going to say "use old rags" but these might be prone to holding damp, attracting bugs and mice. Might be a problem with potential for fire transmission betwen the floors - building regs/code may have something to say, whereas it should be very happy with glass wool.
You could also tie wrap some flat rubber sheet around the pipe - eg old car floormats from the breakers. This *might* damp down the pipe walls before they get get a chance to emit sound.
I've seen this in older homes but in his case, I wonder if he could use pipe insulation like they use for outdoors?? I just don't know if they have his size?
Why not use foam in a can all around the pipe, that requires minimum holes in the wall, and, isolate the pipe from touching the floor and ceilings as it goes thru them like an earlier poster suggested.
As per another reply... cast iron a great for sound deadening.
Probably not possible at this point but running plastic pipe at an angle rather than 100% vertical prevents the flow from separating from the pipe & "falling".
Assuming you have some working room around the pipe, and assuming the pipe is 4" diameter and the section in question is 8 feet long...
Take a 6" diameter sono tube (used to form concrete piers) and cut a slit so it can be placed around the pipe, and use duct tape or something to close up the tube and seal it.
Run the sono tube up as high as you can in the closet with enough room at the top to pour in some mortar mix.
This would create a 1" ring of mortar (essentially the same density as concrete) around the pipe, which would give excellent sound-deadening properties.
The amount of mix you would need is about 0.9 cubic feet - about 125 lbs (given the assumptions about the diameter and length of the pipe).
I am also interested in this topic and I have read the suggestions that have been posted so far and found them helpful.
In my case, I have a basement level apartment that is being completely rebuilt and all of the wall framing is still open. There are two 3-inch vertical PVC drain pipes along an exterior wall that is already framed out. Before closing the walls, I would like to do what I can to reduce the sound in those PVC pipes without going to extremes or spending a mint. I definitely do not want to convert the pipes to cast iron, so sound deadening the existing PVC pipes is all that I am looking to do.
I did this Google search on the topic and found these results which were helpful:
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"You can also reduce noise transmission by insulating around the pipe with sheets of sound- absorbing foams
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or with open-cell spray foam insulation
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Batts of fiberglass insulation aren't dense enough to be good at soundproofing."
One problem I found is that most of the sound deadening products are very expensive -- more than I think it would be worth spending for whatever limited results they produce.
On one or two sites it talks about using "mass loaded vinyl mat" to wrap the pipes. That had me wondering if one inexpensive approach may be to wrap the pipes with left over flexible vinyl flooring -- or just buy some flexible vinyl flooring to wrap the pipes. The amount needed wouldn't be much because there are only two vertical 8-foot PVC pipes that would need to be wrapped.
Or, maybe do a combination of that plus some open cell spray foam in the wall cavity where the PVC pipes are located. But, I'm not sure about the spray foaming part and if that would turn out to be more complicated and more of a mess than it would be worth. I really don't know how far cans of that spray foam stuff would go, and having someone come in to spray foam just those two cavities couldn't possibly be cost effective.
Spray foam is not a good idea, and pipe and foam should not touch drywall. Fiberglass will cut down on reverberation and damp drywall vibration. The denser mineral product for fire and sound is what I'll be using. Sound control stick sheeting can be used to wrap pipes. Dynamat or equivalent. Made for cars and stuff. My coustasheet distributor I can't locate. Heavy vinyl which I have is hard to find. I also have real heavy xray vinyl. Soft open cell foam will be better than fiberglass, kind for cushions, in fabric store.
floor in a corner of a closet down to the basement. Then the area where th e pipe is was boxed in with hardwood (I know, a sound conductor itself). Wh en the upstairs facility is flushed it sounds like Niagra Falls goes right through the closet. I'm searching for ideas/suggestions as to how to help r educe the sound level seeing how I cannot relocate the waste pipe. What com es to mind are things like sound deadening material like what they use in c ars, or 1" thich acoustic foam, et.al. and perhaps reboxing the pipe with d ry wall. Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks
Most economical will be frame and finish with drywall and fill with fibergl ass insulation. As others have pointed out, try to prevent the pipe from c ontacting the wood anywhere. You might want to consider a solid door for t he closet and if you can insulate inside the closet walls as well. There a re other ways but the price is just going to go up so unless you have a com mercial bathroom upstairs it's probably not worth it.
Interesting, I never tested cellulose. It's not going to be as effective at lower freqs, as with most types.
Number one, so happens I'm replacing an iron pipe with plastic !!!!!!
Cellulose seems great for in-between drywall, as long as you get it around the pipe. Larger stagger studding would give more room.
I will be using a lot of roxul product in basement ceilings. Safe n sound, mineral batting, not designed for thermal insulation. It's also much better than fiberglass batting for sound. One hour fire rating. Be back with link.
If the drain pipe is exposed, I have used spray adhesive to the surrounding wall cavity to hold small cell bubble wrap with a heavy mil plastic sheet as a sheath providing maximum fill without directly contacting the wall boa rd, then filling the void around the ABS with mortar. I would temporarily dam up the exposed side and fill in 24"increments using OSB or Plywood to c ontrol and check material as the column was filled. The bubble wrap kept the mortar separated from the wall board and 24"sections reduced compressio n weight. Once set, I unscrewed the dam sections and replaced with final wall material. Took a little longer but very inexpensive. For horizontal runs I used salvaged heating duct or metal flashing to create a trough unde r the pipe that was then filled with mortar. The ease and economy of plasti c with the performance of metal. Seemed like a good idea at the time but on ly time will tell.
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