Dancing on the ceiling? — Reducing footfall noise (drywall and green glue)

Part 17— Designing and building a DIY home recording studio.

The whole story — part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21

Let the layering begin!

My beautiful wife Angela helping me attach the first layer of 5/8" drywall with Green Glue to the subfloor above the studio. There is actually a washer/dryer stack in the walk-in closet directly above us. The double drywall/Green Glue layers will go a long way to help reduce that vibration rumble. I’m also going to put rubber isolation pads under the machine stack upstairs to eliminate as much vibration from even getting to the floor as possible. Stop the problem at the source first whenever possible.

I want to reduce the impact noise of foot steps when someone walks across the floor above the studio. If you’ve ever worked in an office or room where there wasn’t enough isolation, you’ll know why this is an important thing to focus on right now while I have full access to the open ceiling.

Because the original owners of the home didn’t add any additional layers to the top of the subfloor when the home was being built, I will have to focus my efforts on mass loading the bottom side of the subfloor, which is what I’m staring at when I look up into the joists from the studio.

Clean and clear and ready for layers of drywall strips.

This is going to be a very tedious process, but with the majority of obstacles out of my way now, at least it will be a little easier to access the subfloor.

I started by measuring and cutting strips of 5/8" drywall to fit in between the joists with as tight of a fit as reasonable. With the Green Glue ready to go in the Speedload gun (which looks and acts like a big caulking gun), I applied the amount of Green Glue recommended by the manufacturer and started screwing the strips onto the bottom of the subfloor.

Using a Speedload gun and 5 gallon buckets of Green Glue will make this a much faster and less expensive experience than using the small caulk tubes of the stuff.

A tricky stretch even for my long arms!

I had to take several supply ducts down in order to access the subfloor above them. This added hours and hours of unexpected work. But eventually VICTORY! It WILL be worth it…right?!

Just so you know, a Costco paper towel roll just happens to fit and work perfectly as a plug for a 6" duct when you need to plug up the air duct while layering strips of drywall on the subfloor above you.

Calculating the amount of Green Glue I will need, It looks like I’ll need basically a full bucket for the ceiling. Hmmm, that’s going to be a bit pricey. I think for now I’m going to start with at least one layer of 5/8" drywall with Green Glue and think about this as I go.

Some strips went up easier than others. It was nice when there was a long enough continuous area that a strip like this one was an option.

The large majority of the time there will actually be very little active traffic (foot fall issues), happening above me while I’m working in the studio. But I’m actually quite concerned about my loud noise levels leaking into the rooms above and disturbing people. This is why I’m going to go through the sound proofing efforts that I will.

Mass loading the subfloor will definitely reduce foot fall noise, but it will also help reduce my noise from getting upstairs — especially low frequency energy. I have one shot to do this right, so I’m going to have to isolate everything the absolute best possible way I can within the methods I can reasonably afford.

I guess if it’s 2 a.m. and I’m in the middle of composing a score idea that just can’t wait and I’m waking people up, then, worst case, I could use headphones. I’m optimistically hoping though for the best isolation results, but realistically expecting it won’t be as separated as I’m being told by the experts it will be.

it’s going to be a puzzle to get some drywall up in this joist with all the water lines and electrical, but there is a washing machine/dryer stack directly above. I need to isolate the low end rumble that comes through the floor.

looks like it’s going to work

very slow and tedious, but it’s going to work!

It will take almost 10 sheets of 4'x8' dry wall to cover the ceiling subfloor in strips (if every square inch of the ceiling is covered. Multiply that by 2 (per the recommended double layer of strips and that’s 20 sheets for the subfloor. Then I will need 10 sheets for the actual ceiling, times 2, because I’m using double 5/8" drywall with Green Glue on the ceiling as well. That means almost 40 sheets of drywall just for the ceiling.

Where there is a will, (and a ton of extensions) there is a way.

The drywall supplier has bulk pricing for 5/8" sheets at $12.58/sheet vs $13.98 each if I buy more than 50 at a time. This means the double layer subfloor and double layer ceiling drywall will cost $503.20 plus tax. If I only do one layer of drywall strips, I would save $125.80. But, what how will the isolation suffer? Is it worth trying to save $125.80? Either I have isolation from the room above me, or I don’t. I need to decide if I’m really doing this or not.

At about $257 per 5 gallon pail of Green Glue from Ted White at Soundproofingcompany.com cost me $257 per 5 gallon, which is $40 less than what you’ll find on Amazon as of this writing. I would need a full bucket for the strips if I do double layer. That means I would be investing about $760 to follow the ceiling isolation recommendations pictured above. That’s not counting the R-19 insulation, and the hat channel and clips to separate and suspend the ceiling drywall from the joists.

The reason I’m spending time talking about the costs of the ceiling is because the ceiling actually accounts for the lion’s share of the cost of building the studio. This is because of the need to isolate from the room above.

Because the studio is being built in the corner of a basement, a large portion of my exterior walls of the studio are concrete foundation. This means my cost of framing lumber, wall insulation, drywall, screws and paint are quite a bit lower than if I was double wall framing the entire perimeter.

Also, the walls use the less expensive R-13 insulation instead of R-19 needed in the ceiling. So, while the costs to fully build the ceiling system makes my eye twitch and make it a little hard to breathe, as I really consider total costs of the studio, the cost isn’t that bad at all and I’m able to take normal breaths again. Especially as I am saving literally many thousands of dollars by doing the labor on my own.

Having to momentarily remove more supply ducts so I can access the subfloor above them. I would try not to worry about it so much, but a tile bathroom floor is directly above that hanging duct and its the main walkway going from the bedroom, through the bathroom, into the walk-in closet. This will be a mandatory double layer area.

Getting LOTS of help from my family again. This time it’s my son Adam (left), and my father-in-law Mike.

This is going to be tricky to layer the ceiling properly with drywall when I have a bunch of duct work that will need to come down first. Also, the shiny cardboard is actually just a thin cover that is screwed into the joists and sealed and it turns the joist cavity into an air return duct. Smart.

But, it won’t work for my needs. The cardboard does almost nothing to block sound, so I’m going to have to remove the cardboard, double layer the top and sides with drywall/Green Glue and then somehow create a double layer cover to replace the cardboard. Any sound that gets into the air return will bleed into the rooms upstairs. I’ve got to completely soundproof these air return joists. Hmmm.

Definitely more challenging to install drywall on the subfloor than than I thought it would be, but it’s coming along. As it turns out there are a bunch of water lines hidden inside the air returns that I’m going to have to try to work around as I’m layering the drywall around them.

It’s amazing how many hours these subfloor strips require to measure, cut, green glue and install. Sounds like it should just zip along, but, as it turns out, the spacing between the joists isn’t consistent, so a lot of decisions must be made along the way and as I’m trying to get everything to fit as closely and tight as possible, it’s just taking painfully long amounts of time. Slow and steady, slow and steady.

We are finishing the rest of the our basement at the same time and since I can only be in one place at a time, I’m having a hard time keeping the studio build moving along. I have to save money wherever possible right now so my family and I are the labor force. It’s pretty amazing though how many thousands of dollars we are going to save by doing the work on our own. Well, most of it. when it is necessary to hire a professional for legal reasons or simply because it takes a lifetime to become excellent at certain things we will. For instance, moving the refrigerant line and we will definitely be hiring out mud, tape and texturing!

This is the bedroom air return. You are looking up at the backside of the air return register cover. I replaced the perpendicular flimsy cardboard end plug with a very robust double layered/Green Glue section of i-beam joist that was previously being used as fire block above the closet wall in the back. Since that wall won’t be part of the studio, the fireblocking above the wall is extra material, which has become very valuable for soundproofing the air returns.

This is the backside of that same piece of fireblocking. Now I just need to make the double layered lid to close up/seal the air return.

Making progress! SO many potential places where sound can leak and bleed (flank), into the rooms around and above me — which means the sound upstairs will leak down into the studio just as easily. Lots and lots of detail work making sure every tiny little gap or hole in a board or joint is sealed. when the room is watertight it will be soundtight.

The lid is ready to go! Rather than using any sheetrock for this one, I simply used more of the same wood. This thing is a beast and should do the trick to reduce incidental noise trying to get in our out of the air return. By the way, the sharpie notes are simply to help me remember where things are at as I continue to cover up the ceiling.

I want to just really focus on getting the studio built and It’s really hard to have to pause and put the studio on hold here and there to work on the main basement. But one nice advantage of drywalling the rest of the basement first (which is well under way now), is the many usable scraps of 5/8" left over from the basement ceiling that I can use for this studio ceiling subfloor project. This is saving me a bunch of money and reducing waste from the cost of the basement ceiling at the same time. Win/win.

I’m kind of reaching exhaustion now from working on the basement every spare minute 6 days a week for the past many months. I haven’t felt this level of depletion for many years but I’ve got to force myself to keep going if I want to ever get this studio built. Oh, yeah, and the basement too Angela. I promise I’m trying to get that done too. (smile)

I was hoping to get all the subfloor strips finished before starting anything else in the studio, but I have a friend (Wes Peterson), who is an excellent framer who said he is willing to donate his time and expertise and help me with the studio framing! I’m completely going to work around his schedule and I’m so grateful for his willingness to help and his expertise. Especially as we will be framing floating walls. I’m feeling reenergized.

The whole story — part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21