klettermann
Member
Hope this is the right place to post. If not, sorry, just move on. Anyway, my soon-to-be media room is framed and electrical is now going in. The plan is to use the well established design of "floating" the walls and ceiling using resilient channels and clips with double drywall, green glue, etc. My question involves a large soffit spanning the ceiling across the room. The soffit encloses both a steel beam and HVAC duct and is extremely rigid. The room is H7.5' x L22' x W13', hence walls are about 525 sq ft and ceiling is about 266 sq ft. Area of soffit is about 50 sq ft.
In a perfect world the soffit would use the same floating sheetrock construction as the other surfaces. However, the bottom of the soffit is already low and this would reduce already limited headroom. It would also require a much more complicated construction. So, let's assume that the soffit just gets double sheetrock but is still acoustically decoupled from the adjacent surfaces (i.e., gap filled with acoustic sealant).
Another approach might be to use the floating sheetrock on the sides of the soffit but not float the bottom to preserve headroom. Still not ideal, but likely better than the above. (??)
So here's the question: To what extent would these compromised designs negate the rest of the soundproofing effort? On the one hand I can imagine that the sound conduction from the soffit would be negligible cause surface area is very small compared to the rest of the surface in the room. On the other hand, I can also imagine it negating the rest of the room cause it can still conduct sound through the joists to the area directly above. Even so, I'd think that the extent of sound transmission is somehow proportional to the area of the space, so the other wall/ceiling construction isn't in vain. But my background and experience is utterly inadequate to knowing which (or maybe something else altogether?). Any thoughts or comments? Thanks and cheers,
In a perfect world the soffit would use the same floating sheetrock construction as the other surfaces. However, the bottom of the soffit is already low and this would reduce already limited headroom. It would also require a much more complicated construction. So, let's assume that the soffit just gets double sheetrock but is still acoustically decoupled from the adjacent surfaces (i.e., gap filled with acoustic sealant).
Another approach might be to use the floating sheetrock on the sides of the soffit but not float the bottom to preserve headroom. Still not ideal, but likely better than the above. (??)
So here's the question: To what extent would these compromised designs negate the rest of the soundproofing effort? On the one hand I can imagine that the sound conduction from the soffit would be negligible cause surface area is very small compared to the rest of the surface in the room. On the other hand, I can also imagine it negating the rest of the room cause it can still conduct sound through the joists to the area directly above. Even so, I'd think that the extent of sound transmission is somehow proportional to the area of the space, so the other wall/ceiling construction isn't in vain. But my background and experience is utterly inadequate to knowing which (or maybe something else altogether?). Any thoughts or comments? Thanks and cheers,
