Sound Proofing - Quiet Rock Review & Why use 5/8" Sheetrock

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Regular sheet of 5/8" drywall....about $7 the Quiet-Rock, available at Lowe's is $46 and when you add tax that makes the Quiet-Rock about 7x more expensive. Reviews suggest that this product really works though.

[MattRisinger]

@BikeSwimLaugh Yes that's about right. Quiet Rock is a very effective product and makes sound proofing relatively easy but it's not in-expensive. Use it where it's really necessary, and go with 5/8" SR and fiberglass batts in less sensitive areas. For instance I like quiet rock at Master Bedrooms adjacent to kids beds, but I typically just do fiberglass batt insulation around my laundry rooms. I also use 5/8" SR on all my houses I build and it makes a big difference. Matt

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Hey Matt.

I'm an insulation contractor, we specialize in residential retrofit and we prefer using blown cellulose. I get a lot of calls from homeowners with sound issues, quite often we arrive at Condo's & Townhomes only to find that the wall already has existing fiberglass in it. Fiberglass is relatively effective for thermal purposes but almost useless for sound. We drill holes in each bay & inject cellulose, it's much better. For new construction try using rockwool batting, better then fg!!

[MattRisinger]

@BikeSwimLaugh Excellent comment. I've used Damp Blown Cellulose before for sound batting but never tested it vs Fiberglass. I wonder if my 5/8" Sheetrock is helping more than my fiberglass batts? Matt

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Well Matt, I'll tell you honestly...we've gone to a LOT of condo's & townhomes where customers insist the walls/ceilings are hollow & empty and we drill a hole only to find yellow or pink fiberglass...we've come to regard fiberglass as worthless for sound proofing. And those "sound batts" are just wider then normal in order to accomodate steel studded walls. We have customers who have a drywall guy remove 18" horizontal, remove the fg & we come back to blow celluloe: HUGE DIFFERENCE!!

[MattRisinger]

@BikeSwimLaugh I appreciate the feedback since you have a ton of experience. Unfortunately there aren't many companies doing blown cellulose here in Austin. I've always regarded it highly but only used it minimally due to few contractor choices. Seems like I need to find some guys to do it for me! Matt

[wordup1]

thanks so much!! I'm gonna get started djaying in my basement!!

[MattRisinger]

@wordup1 Sweet! Now we're talking... Glad to help. Matt

[soundproofingaroom]

Pretty cool...

[JKahnapace]

Quit rock is hard to cut with your regular drywall saw , I was cutting it with a sawsal really tuff meterial.

[tiffsilva1]

If QuietRock wasn't effective, the testing and profitability of their company, Serious Materials, would essentially be out of business. A company that's been going strong for 8 years, can't discount that.

[MattRisinger]

@tiffsilva1 I'm a fan of QuietRock, great product.

[viper8red]

@tiffsilva1 May be. But that's a very poor argument. Enron could have made the same argument. The proof is in the actual product not in the existence or the longevity of the company. Lots of bad companies seem to stick around unexplainably.

[SoundprooferTed]

gellergeorge works for the company he is promoting.

[gellergeorge]

QuietRock is awesome! It defines effective soundproofing!

[zerobeat18]

1/2" and 5/8" would be more effective than having 5/8" and 5/8" because the two different densities of drywall wouldn't sympathetically vibrate with each other. It seems counter-intuitive that having LESS total thickness is better, but dampening mechanical transference of sound through structure is just as important as preventing air transference.

[MattRisinger]

@zerobeat18 Interesting, yes it is counter intuitive but makes sense.

[thgunther]

why don't you guys ever do a final test of the system, like show noise in the neighbor room b4 and after treatment? How good is the over all system for spoken noise, music with 20-20k?

[MattRisinger]

@thgunther See the "after" video where I tested the system...

The title is "QuietRock Sound Proofing Field Tested After Installation "