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Showing posts from 2017

Restaurant noise: how much is too much?

I went out for dinner this weekend at a tapas restaurant. The food was great, and the ambiance could have been great, too, if the restaurant had taken some steps to reduce noise. After all, going out for Spanish tapas should evoke feelings of pleasure, relaxation, great flavors, and a general "chilled out" environment. However, like many trendy eateries, the floors and walls were made of hard surfaces, and the sound just bounced and amplified. Every table was full of patrons -- which was great, of course. But when we walked in, we were greeted to a blast of noise. We had to yell at our table to hear each other. So I pulled out my mobile phone and checked one of my decibel-reader apps. It was 88.8 decibels. This article from Restaurant Engine states that normal conversation ranges from 55 to 65 dB, conversation gets difficult at 75 dB, and noise becomes "damaging" at 85 dB. Yet our table was clocking in at over 88 dB when we were just sitting across from each ot

Example from Roxul: insulating a home theatre room

I liked this video from Roxul because the presenter clearly explains the difference between the two types of noise: airborne and low-frequency noise, which I will add to here. The lower frequencies travel through the wood studs. A low frequency travels from your wall surfaces, floors, and ceilings if they sit directly on those studs. Lower frequencies include bass from your stereo, impact sounds from walking or pounding, trucks driving outside, and maybe the spin cycle on a washer. Roxul  insulation mitigates the other kind of noise -- airborne noise -- which can include talking and TV (without bass). This insulation product is dense and does a really great job of blocking airborne noise. However, if it's used alone, it doesn't stop low-frequency noise. The presenter shows how to insert Roxul batts between the studs, which you've seen before. Then he installs a resilient channel to keep the drywall from touching the wood studs. The resilient channel's job is to r

Example: Condo soundproofing

This short video from builder  Matt Risinger covers a lot of the issues we've discussed in this soundproofing blog. Matt has a show on YouTube that gives examples of successful construction projects. In this example, he shows a soundproofing project in a two-unit condo with a shared wall between them. They did everything right. The used staggered wall studs (with an 8-inch separation between the two units), Roxul batting, QuietRock on the walls, putty pads on the outlets, and Green Glue . As a test, Matt turns on a boom box in one of the rooms and measures the decibel output. Then he goes to the room on the other side of the wall to show how much of that noise leaks through and uses a decibel meter again. It's almost silent. This is what you hope to achieve, especially with new construction. But it won't happen unless you use the type of materials and processes shown here. Here's the video. Great job!