Soundproofing

This topic will mainly be of interest to those who are lucky enough to be building their dream home theater from scratch. After cramming 2 home theaters into rooms that were never intended for such a use I finally got to do one from scratch. That is really a treat.

This topic will mainly be of interest to those who are lucky enough to be building their dream home theater from scratch. After cramming 2 home theaters into rooms that were never intended for such a use I finally got to do one from scratch. That is really a treat.

We spent the last two years building out dream house and along with that was my chance to build my dream home theater. Part of the dream is to be able to watch what you want when you want and as loud as you want. Since I don't live on an island away form all human contact this dream is going to require some sound proofing.

I did a little research (not a lot) and decided that I would use double walls where I could and sound insulation as needed. The research I did do lead me to exotic materials like lead vinyl sound blankets that you put inside your wall. I knew this didn't fit the Cheap Dave model when the calculations on their web page that showed how reasonably priced their system was included deducting the cost of the extra square footage of a double wall from the cost. So unwittingly they steered me towards my ultimate solution.

It was only about a week before the insulators were coming and I had to make a quick decision. So I decided on the double wall. It only cost about $72 in 2 x 4's and about 2 hours to knock together an extra wall. You basically just build another wall and leave about 1/2" gap between the two. That gap keeps sound from transmitting through the wall. It is very effective.

The rear wall of my home theater also acts as a double wall because I have my projection room there. So I have two full walls between the home theater and the other living spaces. When I finally get some doors in here it should be dead quiet. Surprisingly even without doors the sound is pretty reasonable.

My in-laws live downstairs. So to insure my goal of watching movies any time I cleverly soundproofed my mother-in-laws bedroom. So the source of the sound is insulated and the area I want to keep quiet is insulated. Also home theater is over the garage and some sound does go through the floor but it is not transferred into the house.

So the sound insulation I chose is called RockWool. brand name Roxul. Basically it is heavy weight insulation made from mineral fibers, or even steel slag. It is pretty nasty stuff so make sure to wear your PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) when working with it. It only costs about double what regular insulation costs but is a superior sound blocker.

So in the end I was happy with the results. In fact the home theater has become our favorite room to try to sneak in a nap. It is so quiet and completely dark with stars on the ceiling.

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