beltboy1

okay so the ET center built in will be going in this weekend (pictures to come), my wife wants to figure out a way to deaden the sound from the TV, since our bedroom wall is on the other side of the built in. Any ideas??????

ScottyB

Spray foam the wall. Not the cheapest or easiest way but it will definitely help.

eccentrictinkerer

I recently had a client with the same request. I talked a acoustic engineer friend and he recommended double sheet-rocking the walls.

I used 5/8" on both sides of the wall, re-used the old trim,worked great.

Friend says that 'mass' is the best way. Fiberglas insulation does zip, zero,nada.

Rock made both rooms smaller, tho.

Handyman

I killed all the sound around my dishwasher by using the 4x8x 1/2 black tar impregnated board. I used 2 layers in the cabinet and we cant hear it run at all.

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Old Skhool

The easiest way to knock down some of the noise would be to use Quietrock drywall applied directly to the existing drywall. Lowes sells it for about $40 a sheet. Follow manufacture's directions closely. Have not used it myself, but have heard good things. Truely effective systems include separation and isolation, and will take a good deal of effort. Do a search on google for construction techniques.

Cowdog80

The really cheap way to do it would be to hang a decorative quilt/blanket on one side of the wall. Any kind of thick cloth deadens the sound tremendously.

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GeorgeC

When you do this you want to seperate the new and old dry wall as much as you can.

Ideally when the wall was is initially built it would have been seperated. The sheetrock on one side would have beennailed to a set of studs that were physically not attached to the studs that held the sheetrock on the other side.

Vibration is the big culprit in the sound going from one roon to the other. If you cannot physically seperate then mass is the next best thing.

G

frankp

Mass, as eccentrictinkerer mentioned is probably one of the best ways. If you decide on the double drywall, I'd recommend a sandwich of soft-cell foam (like the soft "spongey" packing foam) in between the drywall layers. It makes a great sound barrier, and combined with the drywall will essentially make the sound non-existent on the other side of the wall. This is effectively the same as what GeorgeC mentioned, but adds an extra "active" component other than just the air gap.

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John in Tennessee

or the best way to so it. If you had done this when you were building the room it would have been cheap to do it......Anything you do that doesn't include ripping out the drywall is a patch over the problem.

John in Tennessee

If you had done this when you were building the room it would have been cheap to do it......Anything you do that doesn't include ripping out the drywall is a patch over the problem.

frankp

John, I'm not sure how you think that... double-walling IS the right way to do this. It's the standard method of sound proofing for things like recording studios and the like.

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GeorgeC

I think you are both saying the same thing. I believe that John is saying that the only correct way is to rip out the current wall and install a double wall.

Of course that would be very expensive, so you have to do the next best thing unless you are willing to eat the expense.

G

daxinarian

Does the entertainment center have a solid back? If so you could probably do a similar double wall construction on the back of the entertainment center and not have to mess with the actual wall at all.

Julian the woodnut

I have built a few sound studios for local artists and I use a layer of 1/2" soundboard, then a double layer of 5/8 drywall on the walls and ceiling inside the studio with each layer taped. It's quite impressive when you can't hear a 2000 watt sound system outside the house while it's ear blowing loud inside.

In your case, I would just rock over the existing wall with a layer of 5/8 drywall and that will make a huge difference. 1/2" drywall isn't dense enough to work as a sound barrier. One layer of 5/8 is better than 2 layers of 1/2.

Old Skhool

In theory I agrre with you, but there have been many advancements in soundproofing material. We've all heard of dynomat being used in cars, and they will really quiet a car down, and it's very thin. A single sheet of Quietrock is supposed to be equal to up to 8 sheets of regular drywall acoustically. There is also a product "green glue" that is a special caulk that is used to bond a second sheet of standard drywall (minimal screws used) that forms an isolation barrier so the vibration/sound is not passed through. This is a similar method to what FrankP suggested with the soft cell foam. The OP can still get significant improvement. There is also a method that uses metal tracks that is a suspension system that isolates the sheet so it doesn't touch the floor, ceiling, or wall, and basically floats the panel. I'm not an expert by any stretch, but I have been looking as one day I'd like to build a house to my specs and materials. It is really evolving into a science.

Rob

A customer of mine just had a geothermal system installed and he can hear the pump running. He's decided to go with this stuff. Apparently, it has the same sound deadening qualities of lead. I did a little research on this stuff (Mass loaded vinyl) and it sounds like a great product.
http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/flooring.htm

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John in Tennessee

I assumed (bad move) that it had the drywall mounted. I helped a friend do his room
and we had a air gap and acoustic foam. Some one had told him that a special drywall
was all he needed. Every time I cut a corner I get kicked in the rear..

gregL

You can do as my wife suggests...turn the TV sound down. Very inexpensive.

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John in Tennessee

There are times when I get as big a kick out of the sound as the picture

cabinetman

For years I've used Homasote board for sound barriers. It comes in 4x8 sheets, inexpensive, and can be surface applied.