We're finishing our basement and once it's finished one of the functions will be a home gym. The boss (wife) says I listen to my music too loud when working out. I was considering using Rockwool that come sin the bags at Lowe's for insulation. Just stick it in the joists. Anyone used it before? Any thoughts on using it for sound insulation?
Used it when I built my shop to insulate between an apartment and shop area, worked good! But might be something better?
I put it between some walls in an apartment building, they stop complaining. There is sound deadening type insulation but the price was Triple.
A double layer of drywall is very good and very cheap sound deadening. Not sure if you are putting it on the ceiling, but if you are, I would double it up.
I seem to think there was sound deadening or something with the R value that there were different options, but trying to remember is making my head hurt, if I remember I'll post it up
I am actually putting it on the ceiling in the basement and was going to do a drop ceiling instead of a drywall ceiling so we'd have access to pipes, refrigerator water hose etc etc There were a ton of reviews on Lowes website that said the Rockwool works well for sound insulation but just wanted to see what you guys though about it. Thanks.
You might want to look into a underlayment they use for floors, cork for example does a good job of sound deadening. Maybe combine with the rockwool or it might give you an idea to use another item with it at less cost.
the most important thing for sound deadening is to have an air gap between materials. Hmmm how to explain. if you have floor joists with wood on top (floor) and drywall on bottom it acts like a drum, sound transfers thru the joist, vibration.. the drop ceiling would create the air gap between materials. if you can find (google) sound "proof" wall there will be 2 2x4 walls with the studs staggered so there is no contact between the walls creating that air gap so the vibration, sound, can not pass thru.
Rockwool/Roxul is great for this. They even make a version specifically for sound deadening. Our Lowes used to carry it. In general low frequencies go through things while higher frequency sounds go around things. Isolate and dampen for the former and air seal for the latter.
Staggered joists are a good idea, in fact there should be no straight line from the floor above to the ceiling below. Almost like building a floor and then installing a ceiling with its own suspension system. It also needs to be virtually airtight so there is no pass through between floor and ceiling. What about a really good pair of blue tooth headphones?
