Searching for best products to insulate as well as deaden sound.

[Paul F Franklin]

You might want to look at Rockwool Comfortboard. (Rockwool company used to be called Roxul) It's a rigid board form of mineral wool insulation. It's principle use is on the exterior of a building, over the sheathing and under the water resistive barrier and siding, but the audio and home theater enthusiasts have found it makes very good sound absorbers used to tune listening rooms and home theaters. Rockwool touts it's sound deadening properties. It comes in different thicknesses, doesn't burn, and is water and mold resistant. You could line your bays with the normal form of mineral wool insulation, and then apply the comfortboard across the outside of the studs and then sheetrock over that. That will give you a lot of mass in the wall assembly to help deaden lower frequencies. You will have a thermal break, and the sheetrock will be decoupled from the studs. Mind you, I haven't tried any of this, but the approach checks a lot of boxes.

It can be hard to find depending on your area. Lowes will order a pallet of it for you if you need that much. You can buy small quantities on Amazon, but it's expensive because of shipping. You might get lucky and find a building supply or insulation supply house in your area that carries it.

[Bill Jobe]

Thank all of you.
In my case, though, all the electrical outlets and switches are already set in place, so some rearranging would be needed.
Kinda like retrofitting a 2x6 frame.
And the windows are single pane.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda. I did not have a realistic understanding of the full magnitude of building and finishing a workshop.
Far more costly, as well.

[Scott T Smith]

In one corner of my shop is a 14 square room with a 400hp Diesel engine generator inside for producing 480 three phase power for the larger shop equipment. When running, the generator is so loud that it is impossible to hear someone yelling just a few feet away from you.

In the shop it’s a different story. You can easily carry on a conversation at normal levels right outside of the generator room.

What I did to insulate for noise was as follows: 2x4 wall construction with open cell spray foam totally filling the cavity and drywall on the shop side. Next, a thin layer of close cell foam tape (what you used between a sill and a concrete slab) was stapled to the studs and a sheet of 5/8” drywall installed. Then another strip of foam tape installed on top of the drywall (lined up with the studs) and a second sheet of 5/8” drywall installed on top of the first. Last, a layer of 3/4” “jute” sound dreading board was installed as the inner surface.

The double doors into the shop got the same treatment, except for the spray foam.

This combination was very effective for my needs.

[Tom Bender]

So I'm guessing that you are concerned with neighborhood nice complaints, not building a sound studio. In any case the doors and windows for a sound studio will break the budget, so a minimal solution that would be easy and pretty good all around would be;

a. 3/4" closed cell foam against the siding to provide moisture control and insulation. Fit it fairly tight and seal the edges with foam from a spray can. (wall insulation is not as critical as air leakage and roof insulation)

b. Wiring and any pluming in the stud space

c. 1/2" plywood screwed to the inside to provide some noise control. Be careful with any openings. Little plywood boxes in the wall around outlet boxes should help.

d. Drywall ceiling with R19 fiberglass batts

e. Industrial steel pedestrian doors with magnetic weatherstripping, insulated fiberglass or aluminum vehicle door,

This will give you a comfortable shop and you can hang things on the walls. And you can open up the walls as needed.

[Jerome Stanek]

I would look into thermafiber we used that a lot for sound and climate control