Sound Proof Insulation - Experimental Samples

There are now several ways to soundproof a wall and insulate it. Improvements in the soundproofing industry have resulted in products that are now more effective and cost less than the old traditional ways in soundproofing methods. Soundproof insulation had come a long way.

Some principles

However, one must understand some of the main principles of sound movements and how to minimize or totally eliminate it. Some of these include getting the information that the effect of insulation is minimal in both low and high frequencies.

In a conventional wall, the effects of insulation are very similar to having insulation. The largest gains are just above the primary low-frequency resonance, low frequency gains are non-existent and high frequency gains are very minimal.

More experiments

The effects of adding layers to a normal single wood stud wall results in having the gains in the midrange higher at middle and high frequencies. Low frequencies, however, the performance is not as good as with the lighter installation.

Here the STC rises by a mere 2 points (from 32 to 34). Insulation has much more value in decoupled walls.

In walls having mechanical connections between the two sides, the insulation has proven the benefits of insulation at middle and high frequencies. In low frequencies, however, the capacity of the insulating materials to absorb sound falls dramatically. The benefit of insulation at low frequencies is to lower resonance points.

Still, lowering the resonance is valuable and in walls with damping or decoupling, the insulation has considerable value at middle and high frequencies which should be considered mandatory for any sound isolation application.

As a sample on how insulation becomes less effective as frequency falls, place a fiberglass in front of the mid and high frequency speakers in your room and listen to what happens. The sound would probably be muffled and muted.

Now put the same fiberglass in front of the subwoofer cones. Nothing happens. This is the same with the walls.

STC

Dealing with sound, one needs to be familiar about STC ratings, or the sound transmission class ratings. STC ratings measure how much a particular sound proofing construction material reduces sound.  (R-values in thermal insulation are the values of retained heat in the materials used.)

Higher STC rating indicates that the materials used are better at noise reduction. A wall with an STC rating of 30 will allow most sentences to be heard clearly in a conversation. A wall having an STC rating of 50 will block most of the loud speech and only transfer faint sounds of loud musical instruments. 

Tips

Most often, people thought using denser insulation materials cures every sound problem. Generally, it is preferable to use standard building type insulations (like fiberglass).

It is not desirable to use expensive and very dense insulations. In addition to the expense, they also tend to make low frequency performance worse by raising the resonance frequencies.

Some notes

The use of sound proof insulation is critical and valuable, but insulation alone doesn’t win, especially in conventional walls where direct structural connections exist between the sides.

Floor Insulation - A Quick Run-Through

Moving into a new house with a floor that is not insulated can be a problem if the house has solid floors. The difficulty might be in the materials used because floor insulation for each type differs in work and costs.

Generally, ground floors are done as either solid, usually concrete slabs, or suspended. (These are timber floorboards on joists.) When these are not insulated, the U-value between is 0.45/m2k and 0.70W/m2k. Our target value is between 0.20W/m2K and 0.25W/m2K (depending on floor geometry).

It can be more trouble (and costs more) insulating a solid floor than insulating a timber floor. The payback for the former is 8 to 10 years or more, but the payback for timber floors is between 3 and 5 years. (This is recouping your investment-expense on the insulating work.)

Initial precaution

Sloppy insulation work can result in thermal bridging. Thermal bridging happens where the solid building elements continue from the inside to the outside of the structure, conducting the cold out or heat in. this results in severely compromising the value of work done and leads to cold spots and condensations.

During work, you need to consider the airtightness layer beneath the floor next to walls and round the edges. The airtightness prevents unwanted infiltration of draughts.

Wooden floor insulation

It will be easier to stuff insulation between the joists if there is access from below. Simply press the insulation against the floorboards without having to over-compress them.

You can add more insulation than the depth of the joists would permit in two stages. One is stuffing the spaces between the joists and adding battens to the underneath of the joists. You can then fasten the second layer of retaining boards or netting to them.

The holes in the floorboards (where pipes and wires go through) need to be plugged with mastic and tapes to prevent draughts. If there is a possibility that the room could flood, a damp proof layer should not be put beneath the insulation. (Draught-resistant fabrics should be used).

Concrete floor insulation

Floor Insulation can be added over the existing concrete slab or under a new one. If the insulation is placed above the slab, the room will warm up more quickly when the heating is one. It also cools down easily. (This applies to all internal insulation.)

It affects the floor level which can impact on door openings, stairs and other house fixtures. This is the reason why phenolic foam is the most common solution in cases like this because it can still achieve greater insulation with less depth.

Insulation below the slab is generally better especially in warm south-facing rooms since the concrete helps absorb the heat and can limit the overheating. The damp proof membrane is placed on a layer of sand to prevent being punctured by sharp stones.

Since it also serves as the airtightness membrane, it laps up the sides of the walls to link to the plaster or plasterboard. Floor insulation is usually a more efficient heating than the conventional systems.

Ceiling Insulation - Cost-Effective Energy Measure

Ceiling insulation is one other important insulation to protect the inside of the house from outside cold. It is also among the better cost-effective energy efficiency measures. Among the many parts of the house, one of the easiest parts to insulate is the attic over a flat ceiling.

However, in today’s homes, the day’s fashion is the use of cathedral ceilings. The other one is having attic walls with unique insulation needs. From a practical point, it is always important in insulating the ceilings, whatever type, properly.

Attic insulation

You need to ensure (and check first) some certain things when you decide to do your attic insulation project. One important consideration is to have air leaks through the top floor be completely sealed off.

The insulation levels must also meet (or exceed) local building codes. You need to provide space for both insulation and air flow from the vents at the eaves. This needs to be continuous.

The attic space intended for storage do need an underneath space for the full insulation. The attic access doors have to be insulated and sealed. Also, the knee walls need ample insulation and a barrier that will seal the air.

Procedures

Among the favorites typically installed in an attic is a loose-fill or batt insulation. With it, you have to put the backing next to the ceiling for the batts with the attached vapor retarders.

Installation costs vary, but blown-in loose-fill attic insulation (usually fiberglass, rock wool or cellulose) is typically less expensive than the batts. In addition, they also provide better coverage.

Loose-fill 

When installing loose-fill, you need to seal all attics to home air leaks with chases, bypasses and furr-downs. Insulation like fiberglass and rock wool do not actually stop air flow.

Next, you need to follow clearance requirements for heat-producing equipment found in the attic like flues or exhaust fans. The other blocking requirement might be dictated by the local building codes. You can use metal flashing, plastic or cardboard batt files or pieces of batt or rigid insulation blocking.

You need to install rafter baffles to preserve ventilation from soffit vents at the eave of the roof. Use insulation dams at the soffit, porch, and garage and attic access to ensure full coverage and reduce spills.

Insulate the access to the attic by attaching a piece of batt insulation. Get complete coverage of the insulation at consistent depths. You need to use attic rulers to show blown depth.

Batts 

Seal the attics to home air leaks, chases and furr-downs. Fiberglass and rock wool do not stop air flow. Block around heat-producing appliances. It is important to cover the top of the ceiling joints or bottom cords of truss with insulation.

Get the complete coverage of full thickness and non-compressed insulation. You need to fill the joints cavities when installing the batts. If the joist spacing is uneven, patch the gaps in the insulation with scrap pieces. Do not compress the insulation with wiring, plumbing or duct work. For the R-values in cathedral ceiling insulation, R-19 is usual, but R-25 and R-38 are recommended.

Insulation - for Extreme Temperatures

Basically, the material used to contain heat or cold from spreading to the next area is what is termed insulation. There are several insulation materials around, but the most-commonly used are glasswool and rockwool batts.

The main idea is to prevent heat (or sound) from being transmitted from one place to another. The use is to keep the heat (or sound) in or out of your house. It might also work in confining it to certain points in your house.

There are many ways on how insulation works, but the most commonly incorporated materials include tiny pockets of air. Air is a very good insulator. Trapped pockets of air give most insulation their high thermal resistance.

Thermal insulation

Usually, this is the type of insulation people think of in association with insulation. This is usually found in walls and ceilings, especially the outer walls of a house where heat is most likely to be gained (or lost).

This is the sort of insulation people normally think of first when they hear the word ‘insulation’.  The idea is simple: to keep one side of the insulation warmer than the other. In cold countries or even in temperate ones where the weather varies with the seasons, insulation is incorporated into the house’s design.

Keeping one side warmer

This is found usually on walls and ceilings, mostly on outside walls of a home where heat is most likely to be gained or lost. Thermal insulation is simply to keep one side of the insulation warmer than the other.

It your residence is on areas where the weather varies through the seasons, the insulation will need to be coupled with the correct passive design principles. If the temperatures are in the extremes, your home design needs to be incorporated in everything.

Insulation types

The most common type is the batts, usually made of glasswool or rockwool.  In general, batts are light panels of materials that are fluffy-looking. This usually sits inside the frame of your house, in wall spaces or in ceilings.

These are made from fibrous materials and it works by trapping the tiny pockets of air within the fibers.

.The other common insulation type is the blown-in cellulose, polyurethane foam, polyester matting, and reflective foil. Each of these types works differently in trapping or repelling heat.

R values

The T values are the measuring stick in calculating the effectiveness of thermal insulation. The higher the R value, the better the thermal insulation it provides.

There are two ways R values are specified. One is the R value of the insulation material itself (the Rm. or the total R value) of the construction. This includes the all the other layers which may be concrete, bricks, plasterboard and others.

Sound control

In addition to heat, insulating can also control sound. This is usually found in walls, ceilings, and floors. The real specialized soundproofing is usually reserved in specialty rooms or buildings (home theaters, movie theaters, stage, etc.).

Insulation and the need for it are usually place-specific especially in places where extremes in temperature happen.

Ceiling Insulation Batts - Choose Your Type

Ceiling insulation batts are one of the three (maybe four) usual choices of methods used in insulating attics. The other three are those that are blown (fiberglass and cellulose), those that are sprayed (also fiberglass and cellulose) and other materials (usually structural insulation panels).

In sealing the house (part by part) for insulation, the most important consideration is the absence of air leakage areas. Failure to do this will saddle you and your house with multiple problems on comfort, indoor air quality, durability and efficiency problems.

Insulating the ceiling

Insulating ceilings is one of the most cost effective energy efficiency measures. Other advantages include the fact that they are the easiest part to insulate because they are accessible. Those homes with cathedral ceilings, however, have unique insulation requirement.

 When installing batt insulation on the ceiling, you need to seal the entire attic to home air leaks, especially chases, bypasses, and fur-downs. Most insulation like fiberglass and rock wool does not stop the air flow.

Batts

These are large pieces of insulation that hold together because they are made of long, interwoven fibers with adhesive binders. The most usual batts materials you’ll get is fiberglass and cotton which has almost the same insulating quality.

These are large pieces of insulation that hold together because they’re made of long, interweaving fibers with adhesive binders. The two kinds of batts you’re most likely to encounter are fiberglass and cotton.

In terms of their insulating quality, they’re pretty much equivalent. Cotton batts, though, are ‘cool’ because they’re made of recycled blue jeans.

Blown

Depending on circumstances, the better choice sometimes is insulation that comes in smaller chunks.
With a large hose on hand, installers blows the insulating chunks into the attic. The two main choices here are fiberglass and cellulose with both their advantages and disadvantages.

Both of them insulates about the same and have R-values at about the same range. Cellulose, however, comes from recycled newspapers.

Sprayed-on

The 3rd most common insulation type is the spray foam. There is the open cell and the closed cell. Each of these has its own pros and cons, with its own set of supporters and.

The main advantage of spray foam is it allows you to move – the boundary between conditioned and unconditioned spaces. Spraying foam in the roofline can bring the ducts inside. The big disadvantage with spray foam is cost. Generally, it’s generally 3 to 4 times the amount you’ll pay for cellulose or for fiberglass.

Some action notes

Most of the batts don’t work well because they cannot fill the space well.  Ideally, to elicit its best performance, an insulation material needs to fill the whole space with no gaps, no voids, compressing or incompletely filled areas.

When doing batt insulation on ceilings, make sure all your insulation level should meet or even exceed local building codes. Make sure attic access doors are also insulated and sealed properly just like the others. The knee wall areas must adequate insulations and an air sealing barrier.

All in all, ceiling insulation batts is one good choice, which leaves you 3 more good ones, too.

Soundproofing Walls - Some Practical Tips

In today’s type of living in the city, one cannot avoid the many things that, once are over their limits, can sometimes constitute as already harmful, like sound. Unless you live just under an overhead railway, or by the side of a noisy factory nearby, you simply need to endure them as best as you can. However, there might be ways to reduce outside noise by soundproofing walls of your house.

Muffling outside sound might not be the perfect method of eliminating the irritating noise that can sometimes disrupt not just the proverbial peace and quiet in your residential area. It can be such a nuisance that can distract and sometimes literally interrupt doing what you need to do.

Some suggested ways

The first on the list is what they call extra drywall. This is simply trying to deaden the extra vibrations with heavy or dense materials that stops noise or dampen its intensity. Some resort to heavy ways like using bricks and stones in retrofitting their walls.

However, it simply is impractical to re-do your interior walls with such materials. An easier strategy might be to add a second layer of drywall to build a thicker sound-deadening barrier between your walls and the noisemaker.

You also need not to drywall everything in your house. The baby’s room or the library might need such a refinement. Also, you need to refinish your new drywall and probably needs to redirect or do all over again the electrical switches and other outlets.

Caulk sandwich /mass loaded vinyl

For extra defense, you can separate the two layers so f drywall with a 3/8-inch thick beads of acoustical caulk. The caulk deadens the vibrations that try to travel from one layer of our drywall to the other. With the caulk, it can stop them cold.

Mass-loaded vinyl (MLV) is a flexible material made especially for noise control. It comes in 4-foot wide rolls. It is made to hand on walls or install on floors to help reduce sounds. You can have it sandwiched between layers of drywall to reduce sound transmission through the walls.

Sound leak plugs

Much like water or air, sound can leak through in cracks and openings, much like water or air. To arrest the leaking sound, you can use acoustical caulk to plug holes and gaps where they can get through.

You can use it in ceiling fixtures, switch boxes, receptacle boxes, and door casings. You can also add sweeps to the bottoms of doors and weather stripping door frames.

Acoustic panels

These panels absorb sound before they are bounced off the walls and ceilings. They are designed to improve the sound inside a room, like home theaters, and also are helpful in reducing transmission of sound through the walls.

Usually made of porous polypropylene, these panels come in a variety of sizes and thickness. Most of the types used for homes are covered in fabrics. The panels attached with clips of Velcro and are easy to install. Soundproofing walls can be a challenge to your ingenuity in fighting off these unneeded sounds.

Wall Insulation - All-time Necessity

Insulation keeps homes cool in summer and warm in winter. Like the other parts of your home, it is important to insulate the exterior walls to have a comfortable and energy-efficient home. If you have an older home without any insulation in the exterior walls, you need to add wall insulation.

It is important to install insulation to the exterior walls of the house because of the movement of heat in either summer or winter. In winter, heat moves through exterior walls to the outdoors. In summer, heat moves from the outdoors through the exterior walls to the house interior.

When there is insulation in your exterior walls, the work of your HVAC system will lessen and your home becomes more comfortable. Homes with no insulation on their walls would need to install one to maximize their savings on energy.

Air sealing

Insulation works best when the air around it is not moving. Exterior walls are regularly used and penetrated by electrical wirings and outlets, including gaps in the top, bottom and sides of the walls. This is where the leaks of warm air come inside or out of the house.

Aside from increasing heating and cooling costs, these air leaks can introduce water vapor into the walls, with potential of condensation and damage. Blown-in and batt insulation cannot stop air leakage.

Air leaks will then have to be sealed with caulk or foam before you can install insulation. If the penetrations and gaps are not accessible for air sealing, you need to install dense pack insulation (cellulose or fiberglass) or you will need blown-in foam insulation to achieve the level of air sealing needed.

Insulation levels

The insulation levels are specified b y R-values that measure the insulation’s ability to resist heat flow. With higher T-value, the better is the thermal performance of the insulation used.

The amount of wall insulation you need to add depends on the size of your walls (usually 2” X 4”) and the type of insulation that you and your contractor have decided to install. In general, exterior wall should be insulated to at least R-13.

The house

Most of the homes built before 1972 usually have no insulation in the walls. Homeowners then would not know that their homes have empty walls. In winter time, insulated walls will serve to hold the heat in and prevent warmth from escaping.

After insulation, the walls will not feel ice-cold and there is significantly less condensation and mold to form. Insulation makes a big difference in the comfort level inside the home.

On the other end, during summer, insulation will reduce the amount of heat coming in through the walls and help contain the cool atmosphere inside the house. The sun tends to bake the south and west –facing walls of the house. These heated walls tend to radiate heat even after the sun is out. Insulated, the heat entering the house is reduced.

Wall insulation is important if you want you and your family is comfortable inside your house at any time of the year, because it seals off both heat and cold.