Sound proofing a ceiling

[aaront]

I am about to remove my original Victorian lathe & plaster ceiling.

This means I will be left with a bare set of joists onto which I have to attach my new ceiling with halogen downlighters.

Any tips on easy & simple ways to soundproof the ceiling? Does the Gyproc soundproof board work & is it worth the money?

Thanks

 

[bathjobby]

This means I will be left with a bare set of joists onto which I have to attach my new ceiling with halogen downlighters

I'd use plaster board screws instead......

 

[Johnboy54]

If you do a quick search on the net, you'll find that soundproofing a wall is a waste of time unless you buy special mountings and rubberized sheet etc, etc, up to a thickness of at least 4". You could make it worse if you cut corners. And, sound is like water, it will get through the smallest cracks.
As for soundproofing a ceiling?
Forget it, I'd say.

 

[sidecar_jon]

Dipends what sound you are trying to combat. If its foot falls on the upstairs floors, then your better off i think putting sound deadening mats down on the floor. If its load music, then its very expensive. basicaly you have to "decouple" the cieling from the joists as mentioned above. The boards have to be installed with nothing solid touching, sound swill travel down screws etc and turn the cieling into a boombox!... i dont know the product your talking about but i asume its more massive than normal plaster board. Sound will then have to move more of it to propergate, but it has to be isolated from the floor upstairs.

i jsut looked it up and its "Gyproc SoundBloc".. its double the density of normal board. So its sound deadening. But as i said it MUST be mounted as per instructions, otherwise your just throwing moeny away.

 

[Deluks]

The problem with installing downlighters is that you have to punch a hole in the ceiling to fit them into, this itself creates a path for sound to travel through. So you will need to fit acoustic hoods...

http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/soundproofing/hoods.htm

The other problem you could have is that of sound travelling from the ceiling to the floor above through the joist itself, consider using resilient channel (RC)
http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/soundproofing/rbar.htm

..More ceiling info here... http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/articles/howtoceilings.htm (forget about using that acoustic membrane though, the performance isn't all that great for the price you pay)

Also add up the cost for that Gyproc soundbloc stuff versus using double layers of standard plasterboard, which will certainly give better performance than the soundbloc stuff at the same thickness.

ie: 2x 12.5 mm plasterboard will be better than a single 12.5 soundbloc which probably costs 3 times as much anyway...

 

[chappers]

I assume we are talking about two rooms in your own house and you just want to reduce the noise from foot fall above any dense material you put in the void will help to some extent, as will using double check plasterboard and ressillient bars,
But as has been said cutting holes in the ceiling will dramatically reduce the effectiveness of anything you do.
It is possible to insulate well between floors but its costly and probably not worth your while.
Recently did two flats the system involved a layer of accoustic matting over the existing 22mm chipboard with an 18mm floating chipboard floor over that. accoustic sealant was gunned in around the perimiters and the skirtings were refitted ensuring they didnt touch the floor at any point(same with all architraves.The void was filled with a very dense rockwool and then resillient bars were fitted across the joists two layers of double check plasterboard were fitted with staggered joint to form the ceiling.
down lighters were covered by boxes constructed of two layers of double check plasterboard and accoustic sealant.
A measured reduction of 60dB was achieved but at a cost.

 

[Jayroc2k]

i just did mine. the builder skipped on detail as i was not there to watch over him and he missed out on the rubber sheet between the plasterboard

here is what i did:

suspended ceiling on rubber L-shaped holders joined to steel beam (resiliant bars)

acoustic rockwool

two layers of plasterboard, one 12.5 and second 15mm

eight spot light in living room and one hole in bedroom for one light fitting

in the bedroom i hear nothing yet (have not moved in). in the living room i hear them walking but not conversations


i am planning as a last ditch attempt to install acoustic hoods even though my builder feel it will hardly make any difference.. but i have come this far and spent so much for £100 more is hardly time to save!

 

[Jayroc2k]

one last advise.. if you decide to sound proof. use a specialist company who knows what they are doing or be prepared to stand over your builders shoulders to make sure the insulate VERY WELL