Basement Shop Ceiling Questions

[Eric Porter]

All,
I recently moved to a new home and I am in the process of restablishing my shop. I now have nearly 1000 sq. ft of unfinished basement (hidden gloat) which will be a dedicated shop. It is a new home, basement is bone dry, I still Dryloked it for peace of mind, and I couldn't be happier. Of course my wife can now use the garage again (gloat for her), which she has not been able to do since I moved her car out for a project nearly five years ago.

Anyway back to my question. My basement is block wall, with engineered i-beam ceiling that is almost 9 feet tall with some small wiring, and plumbing protrusions below 9 feet. I want to install a ceiling that has the following properties (listed in order of importance):

- Reduces noise from shop so that other family members can watch TV, and converse without being overly annoyed in rooms directly above the shop

- Allows easy access to pipes, wiring, ductwork within the ceiling

- Looks nice (I know its a shop, but I still want it to look clean and professional)

- Economical, I don't need media room level complexity or sound isolation

- I want to minimize ceiling height reduction


What do you suggest? I was originally planning to install 5/8" drywall on resilient metal channel which satisfies all my needs, except it doesn't allow access to internals so it is a no-go. I am now thinking about a suspended ceiling, but I am not sure how quiet it would be. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Eric

[Scott Loven]

OSB with screws, paint white
Scott

[Brian Dormer]

Suspended ceiling. You can put it up solo - it's cheap (well, cheaper than drywall) - you can easily get it within 3 1/2 inches of the rough ceiling (I use a chunk of 2x4 on edge as my "spacer" when I install ceiling tracks). You can get to pipes/wires easily. With 9 feet of rough clearance, you won't have any headroom problems.

As for sound isolation - it depends on the type of panels you use. The cheaper (soft fiberglass - easy to work with) panels won't totally stop sound, but will reduce it. The hard (more expensive, heavy and hard to work with) panels will give you more sound reduction.

For a "best of both worlds" solution - you could put fiberglass batts in the rough ceiling cavities before you put up the suspended ceiling. That would cut the noise transmission way down.

I did my shop and home office combined (about 18x18 and 12x18) for a couple hundred bucks (in 1998 or so).

No matter what you do - if you are hammering or running loud power tools (a squealing router bit chewing thru oak comes to mind) - they will hear something upstairs.

[Joe Chritz]

What Brian said.

If you can finish drywall then it is probably cheaper to use drywall but there is no access under (above) it.

A suspended ceiling will eat 4 inches and be easy to install. It has most of the other properties you are looking for as well.

I have two large areas in my basement that use suspended ceilings. It is my bar/entertainment area. Some of the people that use it are every bit as loud as a planer or router. :D

Joe

[Jim Newman]

My solution has been to put insulation above for sound deadening followed by 4 mil plastic to keep the dust out and where I need access, use painted board screwed in place.

[Robert Strasser]

My basement shop ceiling was just short of 8 feet. So I used a product called Ceiling Max to minimize loss in ceiling height. It looks just like a dropped ceiling, but it mounts flush with no drop. Only about 1 inch of ceiling height is used up with this product. However, it is not the least expensive product. Here is a link to find out more about the product. http://www.acpideas.com/index.cfm?XlinkID=13

I also put fiberglass insulation above for sound insulation. But I'm not sure I'd do that again. I hate working with fiberglass. Just tell the people upstairs to turn up the radio or TV volume.

[Andrew Williams]

Acoustic mineral wool attached with adhesive to the subfloor inbetween joists. This way you get full access to all pipes and wires. Mount panels of midrange sound absorptive product on walls to lessen concrete echoes. Use rubber matting to absorb sound from the floor.

If this is not enough, the only choices left all involve sheetrock on the ceiling, not a great choice if you are covering up important utilities.

[Charles Wilson]

I was thinking alonf the lines of Andrew.

I don't know if it would work but maybe you could use styrofoam panels and cut them to width of the joists and slide them in place. Then paint the remaining I-beams or (I don't know if you can do it) paint everything up there white with a paint gun.

Or, maybe you should just go to using all hand tools. :p

Regards,
Chuck

[Eric Porter]

Thanks for all the replys so far, hopefully a few more will chime in soon. At this point I am leaning towards Brian's suggestion of suspending a ceiling as close as possible to the existing beams. I was also planning on installing insulation between the beams, but from what I had recently read I wasn't convinced that it would reduce the travel of sound much.

My goal is not to completly eliminate the sound from the shop, just make it where it is not "overly annoying" to my wife and kids above. Thankfully, all the sleeping areas are on the second level so I have no worry of waking the kids with late night shop time.

I did read a suggestion by one DIYer who installed the fiberboard sheathing like you put on the exterior of a house under drywall. Therefore, I thought I could purchase some of that and screw it directly to the beams and then suspend a ceiling several inches below that. It would act as a partion, it is fairly cheap, I could easily install the suspended ceiling hanger through it etc.

Eric

[Wilbur Pan]

Why do you want a ceiling in the first place? It seems that the installation of a ceiling of any type will interfere with one or more of the items you list. As far as sound insulation above your shop, a ceiling by itself won't help that much without a decent investment in materials.

I went through the same thought process in my basement workshop (only 200 sq. ft. :( -- I'm jealous), and realized that the main thing I wanted to accomplish with a ceiling was a white surface to reflect light. I wound up just painting the floor joists that ran overhead with white primer, hanging lights, and calling it a day.

Perhaps instead of thinking about what you don't want your ceiling to do (cost headroom, block pipes and wiring, cost a lot of money), focusing on what you want your ceiling to do for you would help you more.

[Bob Wingard]

Use sound-deadening insulation and install a dropped ceiling, but, to save some money and get a better job, cut your own panels out of drywall .. pre-paint or paper them, then install them in the grid.

We're in the process of doing just that in a friend's basement, and he's looking at applying textured wallpaper to the drywall panels prior to painting them.

[Al Killian]

You can put the panels between the joist, which will give the sound asorbtion and a brigth ceiling in one. I seen a guy run the strips down one joist and a short strip on the joist next to it. Then you can side your panel up in and finish hanging the strips. He used screws to hold the strips for easy removal.

[Brian Dormer]

The pro's use a material known generically as "sound soak" to build quiet rooms. Basically it's Homasote (available at the Borg) with carpet glued to it. The stuff is quite heavy - I dont know if it's rated for ceiling installation. You would need help (and probably a drywall lift) to get it up.

You could, I suppose, put Homasote between the rafters - but fiberglass batts (or even styrofoam panels) would be far easier and cheaper.

Don't know what borg calls Homasote - it's 1/2 to 3/4 thick, gray and kindof soft (softer than drywall).

[John W. Willis]

I recently insulated my shop which is an out building so sound transfer wasn't a thought. I used 1/2" 4x8' white on one side aluminum stuff on the other styrofoam.

It insulated really well for heat and cold BUT they didn't seem to lower the noise level at all.

[Alfred Clem]

All,
I recently moved to a new home and I am in the process of restablishing my shop. I now have nearly 1000 sq. ft of unfinished basement (hidden gloat) which will be a dedicated shop. It is a new home, basement is bone dry, I still Dryloked it for peace of mind, and I couldn't be happier. Of course my wife can now use the garage again (gloat for her), which she has not been able to do since I moved her car out for a project nearly five years ago.

Anyway back to my question. My basement is block wall, with engineered i-beam ceiling that is almost 9 feet tall with some small wiring, and plumbing protrusions below 9 feet. I want to install a ceiling that has the following properties (listed in order of importance):

- Reduces noise from shop so that other family members can watch TV, and converse without being overly annoyed in rooms directly above the shop

- Allows easy access to pipes, wiring, ductwork within the ceiling

- Looks nice (I know its a shop, but I still want it to look clean and professional)

- Economical, I don't need media room level complexity or sound isolation

- I want to minimize ceiling height reduction


What do you suggest? I was originally planning to install 5/8" drywall on resilient metal channel which satisfies all my needs, except it doesn't allow access to internals so it is a no-go. I am now thinking about a suspended ceiling, but I am not sure how quiet it would be. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Eric
If you have not already done so, I suggest you take a camera down into your unfinished basement and take photos of where all the plumbing and electrical lines run. Otherwise, draw a schematic plan of these important lines. Why? Because once you put up a ceiling, you or whoever in future must find those lines will have a very good idea where they are located.

When we built our home, I took photos of each wall before the insulation and drywall went into place. That way, I knew where all the pipes and wires were located. Believe me, those photos were worth solid gold whenever we had any problems.

Al Clem
Sedona, AZ

[Chris Friesen]

The rock wool insulation that is designed for sound absorbtion (available at the Borg around here) works pretty well. You might think about putting it up in between the joists to cut down on sound transmission.

For the ceiling you want something that can be painted white for good illumination, yet still allow access. How about something simple like plywood panels screwed to the joists?

[Eric Porter]

Thanks again to everyone for all the replys. I have decided that going with the suspended ceiling is going to be the best option for me, but I am still trying to decide what to put between the joists to cut down on sound transmission above the suspended ceiling. Several of you mentioned regular insulation, but I have read several articles that said it makes little if any difference in the transfer of sound, so I don't want to waste my money on that.

Brian, I am planning to go to the Borg during lunch to check our the Homasote that you mentioned. I don't think I have seen that, but I seem to recall seeing a product once called sound board or something. Like you mentioned, I don't want to overload the ceiling. Since the ceiling is made from engineered i-beams, it would be great to have a product that I could simply rip and lay in between the beams where it would be supported by the lower lip that way I wouldn't have to fasten it at all.

Al, taking a picture is a great idea. I just wish I thought of that. I will make sure that I have lots of pictures before I attach the ceiling.

Eric

[Ken Belisle]

I don't remember where I saw this, but I'm about to do it in my basement shop.......

Stuff 6" of noise control bats up between the joists; nail 3" - 4" wide plywood strips to the bottom of the joists (parallel to them), lay 4' lengths of drywall, 1/4" plywood or hardboard up between the joists, resting in the plywood strips. Paint strips & panels white if desired.

You'll get good sound insullation, minimum loss of height, access to all the wiring/plumbing above & it should be the cheapest solution you can find.

Just my opinion........

[Rob Blaustein]

I don't recall which issue of Fine Homebuilding this was in--I think maybe the most recent--but there was an article that discussed soundproofing. I don't recall if they discussed ceilings, but it might be worth checking out. I'll try to find it, it's around here in some pile somewhere... Rob

[Eric Porter]

Rob,
Thanks for the tip. I would like to know which issue it was in, especially if it is recent enough that I can still pick it up somewhere.

Eric

[Andrew Schlosser]

the FWW issue appearaed within the last year. Go hang out in the library and you'll find it right quick.

Also, make sure you close up air gaps that will allow more sound transmission than THROUGH the floor, ie the door frame. In my new construction basement, the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor was over an inch. A floor sweep would work, and some weatherstripping would take up the gap between the door and the door frame.