Sound Insulation seems to be missing from the wiki? I did a search for 'Sound' and another for 'Insulation' want some references for advising a friend to use concrete blocks not polystyrene...
Rockwool board and dense acoustic foam are pretty good options. eg
Concrete is heavy and will transmit sound rather better than you might hope - a good quality concrete flagstone will ring when struck.
Just tell him the only thing that works is mass. Thicker glass is better than thin, etc. And sound will get through anywhere air can.
Steer him away from pictures of egg boxes on walls.
Not sure whether this article used to be more prominent?
NT
Concrete is quite good for bass frequencies.
Depends very much whether the sound issue is structure borne or air borne. Brian
Its all about decoupling the inside from the outside. I remember going into an anechoic chamber once and was surprised to note that the whole room was in fact suspended on some kind of stretchy stuff, and you could feel it move. I suspect this was because it was in a town. Brian
I have been in the one at Salford a long time ago.
They use every trick in the book to acoustically isolate the chamber and sharp pyramids of foam as internal sound absorbers. You stand inside on a platform made of webbing. Its an odd sensation of total silence and the brain allows you to hear your own heartbeat after a while.
I suspect the OP needs to explain if the object is to keep loud sounds inside a room (eg for band practice) or intrusive aircraft noise out.
Some of the original studios at Broadcasting House - built in the '30s - are/were suspended by rubber.
But I'd guess there are other ways these days.
The method is the same.
I asked a similar question a few years back.
IIRC the consensus was that a void behind a false wall (plasterboard) was as good as any.
The caveat was that if you are in a semi (we are) then you can't do much about sound transmitted via the joist party wall joist interface.
We installed stud walls a bit away from the brick walls and it does seem to have made a noticeable difference.
HTH
Dave R
The internal stud walls I am reskinning were all filled with glasswool. I have taken the hint only using Rockwool which is marginally better for sound.
Joists normally run front to back on a semi - for fire reasons.
It would do. The thicker the plasterboard, the better.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.