Quieting a Basement Shop

[Ashwini Kaul]

HI folks,

I have a reasonably equipped basement shop and I have been more active than usual last few months even though its only been a few hours a week/weekend.

Since my wife has hit the 3rd trimester of pregnency, she has become much more sensitive to the noise emanating from the powertools. This noise is most bothersome in the floor right above.

The biggest culprits are the lunchbox planer, tablesaw and the router.

The shop is a nook of the basement 15x30. The ceilings are 8', unfinished. 2 adjacent walls are finished with insulation, OSB and drywall. The other 2 are poured concrete covered with insulation.

Any ideas,tips mods to isolate this shop wrt to noise.

Using handtools for as many operations as possible but ripping and planing is still happening 95% of the time on power tools.

Thanks!

[Jason Roehl]

1. Seal air leaks. Transmission of air = transmission of noise. Caulk any gaps around the room and install weather stripping on the doors.
2. Finish that ceiling. Insulate it, install z-channel perpendicular to the joists, then install and finish drywall, attaching the drywall only to the z-channel.

Those are the simplest/cheapest solutions. To go further in noise reduction, you'd be into major remodeling.

[Jim Andrew]

I'd prefer accoustic tile to drywall, for noise suppression. The tiles in suspended ceilings are accoustic tile. Not hard to hang a suspended ceiling, even without experience. It is like an erector set. You could google " installing suspended ceiling".

[Rod Sheridan]

You're not going to like my noise solutions, however here's how I reduced shop noise

- use a stationary planer

- use a shaper instead of a router for most tasks.

Also, as indicated above, finish the ceiling, even if it's a simple suspended ceiling it will reduce the noise.

[Carl Beckett]

And one more thing to consider.

No amount of sound proofing in the world is going to make a pregnant wife comfortable, especially late in pregnancy.

3 months isnt long - you might suspend your activities to times when she isnt upstairs.

And what about after the baby is born?

(btw - if you look up some of the Home Theater websites there is a lot of great info on soundproofing. One product in particular that works well is a hanging heavy mat - not attached to the joists - you want it to be able to absorb and dissipate the vibrations without the ability of transmitting to the studs/joists. Some of these rooms use a secondary wall even, for this purpose - so insulate the ceiling (drywalling I am not so sure about... for low frequencies it will resonate but the high frequency stuff might be your main culprit right now - then another layer of 'matting' not attached to anything just suspended, then a suspended ceiling. This would give three layers of transmission absorption....)

[Ole Anderson]

Use a mineral wool insulation such as "Safe and Sound" between your joists, much better sound attenuation than fiberglass. And drywall by itself is a good sound barrier. I have seen plans for movie theathers that just use multiple layers of sheetrock as a sound barrier between rooms. But as noted above, you should not screw it directly to the joists. As far as the acoustic tile, it primarily absorbs reflected sound and may or may not be real effective in transmitted sounds. I have seen 2' x 4' drywall panels dropped into the ceiling grid. 5/8" thick will work better than 3/8" or 1/2".

[Tim Janssen]

1. Seal air leaks. Transmission of air = transmission of noise. Caulk any gaps around the room and install weather stripping on the doors.
2. Finish that ceiling. Insulate it, install z-channel perpendicular to the joists, then install and finish drywall, attaching the drywall only to the z-channel.

Those are the simplest/cheapest solutions. To go further in noise reduction, you'd be into major remodeling.

The above is excellent advice. Better than acoustic tile on the ceiling. Acoustic tiles do more for the room itself by reducing reverberation within the shop. Same with suspended ceiling. To stop or reduce sound transfer you need a dense barrier, drywall is considerable more dense than acoustic tile. In my younger years I worked in recording studios and helped with the design. Some techniques have changed but the basics remain the same. Lead sheet makes one of the best sound barriers because it is dense and limp. We used leadlined drywall in the construction of our studios. Not too practical in this application though, expensive too.
Good luck with your efforts.

Tim

[Charles Lent]

I tried most of these for my basement shop and it helped, but still did not make her happy. Then we moved and I built a separate shop building. This also solved the other big problem - sawdust in the house. My shop is now about 100' from my house, it's insulated, heated, and cooled. There is a phone out there so she can call me if she wants anything. No more noise or sawdust in the house and no more dangerous interruptions while I'm routing or using the table saw. I've also added a small fridge and running water so my trips to the house are minimized. I should have put in a bathroom, but built the shop too small for that. The next shop will be bigger and also have a bathroom.

Charley

[james glenn]

First, let me say congratulations.

We just had our first born back in June, and I too have a basement shop. Let me start by saying that once the baby comes, you won't get much shop time anyway. I thought I would, but forget it.
The suggestions above are good, and will help; but even with the baby's room on the second floor and me in the basement, it doesn't work.

Once the baby sleeps, you'll need to sleep because ours likes to be up all the time!!! ha ha.

This is the reason I still have not finished that bookshelf designed as a tree.

[Ben Hatcher]

I went the suspended ceiling route only because I had the materials on hand. The noise was reduced ~15 db but not completely eliminated. I'd suggest you follow Jason's advice but would further suggest that you use quietrock or similar sound deadening drywall plus roxul insulation. My Lowes carries it. There's also a sound deadening "caulk" that you can apply between two layers of regular drywall which might be a cheaper option. To get enough soundproofing that you won't disturb a sleeping baby, you're looking at a fairly costly ceiling project.