soundproofing for urban people

This Matt Risinger video shows the results -- six months later -- of an interior remodeling job. Matt applied soundproofing to a master bedroom that's back-to-back with a bathroom. Result: You can't hear the radio playing in the bathroom, even though it's close to the headboard of the bed on the other side of the wall. NOTE: I think the wall also has insulation and Homasote in it.

If you're interested in learning how to install Genie clips for a decoupled ceiling or a wall with resilient channels, this video shows how to plan for -- and properly install -- the clips. The original video that I embedded in this post must have been taken down, but I found a British video that's equally informative. <

This Green Glue Company video shows how to apply a layer of Green Glue to gypsum board in this video.

Good vibrations? Many of you have probably seen this video already, but I can confirm that even using the Kellett Shake Away pads make a huge difference in reducing the noise from your laundry machine when it goes into the spin cycle. This 2010 video makes the case that the Good Vibrations pads are even more effective than the Kellett pads (which you can easily buy at large retailers like Best Buy). But you should have one or the other under the feet of your laundry machine! It seems crazy that these products aren't better known, or sold automatically as an up-sell with every new machine. Note from 2018: there are newer products on the market that prevent "walking," such as these laundry-machine "pucks" from Green World , which you can find on Amazon.

Resilient channels Some of you might be thinking of installing a suspended (or "floating") ceiling with resilient channels to reduce sound transmission between upstairs and downstairs floors. If you go this route and go to the expense and trouble of demolition and remodeling -- or you're building new construction -- make sure that you affix the channels properly to the wood framing. Improper installation can create a "fail" that continues to allow noise transmission between floors. These illustrations on the UK website "Sound Service" shows a close up of how the resilient channel should be attached to wood floor joists. Attaching them so that they flex away from the wood framing reduces vibration that typically transfers from floor to floor, and this is what's meant by the term "floating." This PDF from Buildsite offers a spec sheet of how to install a resilient channel, but with no illustrations. Added in 2023 : This YouTube video from

You can add mass to your existing walls. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I successfully muted some neighbor noise in my apartment building when I added a second layer of drywall on top of the original 1/2" drywall, with a coating of Green Glue in-between. This produced better results than simply replacing the original wall with QuietRock 525. I made the double-drywall solution even more successful by using QuietRock 510 as the second layer of drywall, with Green Glue in-between the two. Here's a diagram from Trademark Soundproofing  that demonstrates the STC results between different wall assemblies, including those with Green Glue.  Why do I think the Green Glue + layer of QuietRock was better than just replacing the original wall with QuietRock, right on the studs? My theory is that when you add QuietRock directly onto the wood framing, you're still not decoupling it from the structure. And therefore, impact noise and lower frequencies might still come throu

I took a photo recently that shows the cross-section comparison of QuietRock 525 next to QuietRock 510. QuietRock 525 (on the left) is the 5/8" sound-dampening drywall from Quiet Solution, which seems to be partially comprised of concrete. QuietRock 510 (on the right) is the 1/2" sound-dampening drywall from Quiet Solution, and seems to be comprised of two pieces of 1/4" gypsum, fused together with a membrane of other materials in between them. As I stated in my previous post, I think the most effective use of QuietRock products is to glue them with Green Glue on top of another layer of gypsum that's already affixed to the wall studs. Better still, insert insulation between the studs before you put another layer of sheetrock over the existing wall. After a month of curing, I can say that the combination of QuietRock 510 and Green Glue was the most effective of anything I've tried to date.