Sound proofing my basement

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Finally starting to build a Home theater compatible room in my basement.

I have no idea on how to insulated the ceiling and walls so that we can listen to movies at a moderate to loud level without having the furniture upstairs bounce all over the place.

The room surface is about 11 by 17 feet long.


Any tips on building this type of room would be greatly appreciated.

My budget is NOT unlimited but should be adequate

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Stereophile Guide to Home Theater magazine has an excellent monthly article in improvements for building such a room. They recently had the complete lists of past articles for approximately 2 years. You may want to check a local library to browse these authored by Russ Herschelmann.

You are quite lucky to have such a project.

[Marc]

Hi digitalnoise.

I finished my basement a few years ago and don't have a dedicated home theatre, but rather a very large family room with big screen, a/v system, fireplace, etc...

One tip is to insulate the ceiling and inside walls with R12 -NO vapour barrier though. It made a huge difference in terms of muffling sound. The only noise travelling upstairs is a little bit through the heat ducts. No much can be done on that front.

There is some fiberglass pink noise blanket available now, but don't waste your money. It's basically std pink insul, but it's thinner which is why it has an R8 value instead of R12. The problem is that because it's listed as "noise blanket", they charge a premium for it. R12 will also get you better noise deadening.

Make sure that if you do the ceiling and have pot lights, that you provide them with proper breathing room (don't insulate near them). They get very hot. I have a few pots, but I bought insulated pots as they are slightly more money, but the cans are insulated, allowing you to mount them into insulated areas or those with tight spots without any fire hazzard.

I've also read that you can buy metal bars which are mounted between the drywall and 2x4s. Apparently they reduce the amount of noise that gets transferred by the drywall and 2x4s. Never used it, but it might be worth invertigating.

Don't forget that if you plan on running speaker wire in the walls, make sure that you buy FT4 rated stuff to ensure that you've got no problem with building codes. Also make sure that you don't run it through the same holes as the electrical. This will ensure that you don't pick up any humming from the electrical. min 14 gauge, 12-10 gauge being better.

Home depot finally has the leviton home theater stuff. I had to buy mine at HD in the US 2 yrs ago. They have keystone jacks which allow you to put up to 8 wires in a single box. The covers come in 2/4/6/8 square plugs and you buy whatever connections you need to populate the plates (ie: co-ax, network, tel, speaker, video/audio, etc...)

My recommendation is to run 2 Cat5e and 2 RG6 cables to every a/v box you plan on putting in. You can use the cat5 stuff for either phone or network connections with 5e being good to gigabit ethernet. This will "future proof" your room. It's much cheaper to throw additional cable in there now then to have to tear down walls later.

Can't think of much else at this point. Sure nice to have a wired room. I'm typing this away on my laptop, lying on the couch while I watch my 55" Tosh HD set!

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Marc (edited 09-30-2001).]

[Dede]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Geneva, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Marc:
One tip is to insulate the ceiling and inside walls with R12 -NO vapour barrier though. It made a huge difference in terms of muffling sound.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>/

Fill wall cavities with insulation. One layer of Sonopan. Resilient channels. Then 2 layers of sheetrock

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Geneva, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
The only noise travelling upstairs is a little bit through the heat ducts. No much can be done on that front.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Replace metal ducts going to the HT room with insulated flexible duct. You need 3 90 degree bends to attenuate sound.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Geneva, Arial">quote:</font><HR>[b]
I've also read that you can buy metal bars which are mounted between the drywall and 2x4s. Apparently they reduce the amount of noise that gets transferred by the drywall and 2x4s. Never used it, but it might be worth invertigating.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> [b]

As stated above, they are called "resilient channels" or "Z" channels. You can use them on the inside wall or the outside wall.

Here's a link on how I did my walls...

My HT walls (http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/ddpregent/HTwalls.html)

[Dede]

Well, this is how I did my ceiling in my HT room...it's very effective and not too expensive. Take a peek! (http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/ddpregent/HTceiling.html)

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Thank you for all your tips and advice.

I feel so ready now. Less computing this winter more hammering.

L.