Anybody have any experience with soundproofing ceilings?

[TEH]

 

[Michael's Black Son]

Sound proofing is harmonic/sound waves

What you’re experiencing is vibrational. As a builder a lot of that is controlled by subfloor glue, how the load is carried (floor joist), how thick the subfloor is, if they installed insulation in the ceiling.

I said all that bullshyt to say that nope ain’t shyt you can do about it in an apartment

Yup. Impact sounds with nowhere to go in iffy builds can’t really be fixed. Then you have floor joists that aren’t blocked/bridged so the spaces in between the joists bounce over time and squeak. Most American construction is trash, even new builds. Wood everywhere.

 

[Rev Leon Lonnie Love]

Short story is this: if you are renting, just ride out the lease and move when the year is over.

Read below for the long, but effective way.

Any other solution is going to run you a decent amount of money and you don’t want to blow it on a rental.

You’re hearing impact sound from what is likely wood flooring with wood subfloors/joists. There’s not much in that floor/ceiling to trap the noise and dissipate the sound so you’re hearing it as if it’s in your crib. And the people above you are probably heel striking like crazy.

Now, if you somehow wanted to spend the $ you’d have do “decouple” your existing ceiling, drop your new ceiling down at least 4-6 inches and use that space to fill with sound deadening material.

There’s basically no such thing as sound proofing unless you build a room within a room and that’s going to be expensive. Anything like that foam you see in music studios won’t do shít because you’re dealing with impact sounds, not something like a loud non sound bar/subwoofer TV.

Impact sounds are the force + the sound and the shoddy build of your building amplifies the sound until it dies down. But that don’t mean a damn thing if people are walking around a lot.

Your options: noise canceling headphones work well. Get the latest Sony WH over the ear headphones. They work well and last like 7 hours + charge quickly. This will only cost you $300-400.

Aside from that unless you merk your neighbors, you can’t do much because the way the subfloor/joists are laid out, you’d have to build a new ceiling under your current one. That mean making a “sandwich” of one sheet of QuietRock, the thickest mass loaded vinyl you can afford and then another layer of QuietRock. This will be for the whole room to “replace” the ceiling. Then you have to drill hanging clips into your existing ceiling to hang it because this shít is heavy. You need a drywall hoist to do it. If this is the route you chose, good luck. It’s not a messy job at all but will require some physical strength and like $5-7k because materials ain’t cheap these days.

But it will work. All of these materials have a STC rating. That’s how much sound is transmitted. So 2 layers of QuietRock + MLV is gonna have you sitting nice.

A day laborer who does drywall can help since it’s a not to big of a job for them.

Since you're based in NYC, which buildings do you think are built decently such that these issues are at minimum?

 

[Michael's Black Son]

Since you're based in NYC, which buildings do you think are built decently such that these issues are at minimum?

Anything pre war is not good. That’s most buildings here. Avoid it even if it’s a condo. So that means wood floors/joists, lead paint (most is/should’ve been removed by law by now), older pipes, older windows and radiator heating that uses oil.

Avoid anything built before the 80s honestly.

Now, if it’s a non housing project hi rise, it’s from the 60s/70s and has a concrete core/floors so that’s something good to start with. New builds are VERY iffy and cheap but they will charge $4-6k + a month for something small that you can literally punch holes in. When these buildings are being built, see how thin/thick the floor plates are. Many times the will pour these wimpy ass slabs to save $.

Now if you can get into a renovated brownstone youll be okay because it likely was gutted and some owners with $ will replace the wood beams with steel but that’s pricey.

Unless you have $1-3 million to blow on a crib you gotta rely on luck and having elderly neighbors that don’t know shyt about soundbars and subwoofers — or you live next to single people who ain’t around much.

City is packed to the gills with people so your only salvation is having money long enough to get you into a single family home or one of those two floor mini rowhouses that you see in East NY.

 

[acri1]

Short story is this: if you are renting, just ride out the lease and move when the year is over.

Read below for the long, but effective way.

Any other solution is going to run you a decent amount of money and you don’t want to blow it on a rental.

You’re hearing impact sound from what is likely wood flooring with wood subfloors/joists. There’s not much in that floor/ceiling to trap the noise and dissipate the sound so you’re hearing it as if it’s in your crib. And the people above you are probably heel striking like crazy.

Now, if you somehow wanted to spend the $ you’d have do “decouple” your existing ceiling, drop your new ceiling down at least 4-6 inches and use that space to fill with sound deadening material.

There’s basically no such thing as sound proofing unless you build a room within a room and that’s going to be expensive. Anything like that foam you see in music studios won’t do shít because you’re dealing with impact sounds, not something like a loud non sound bar/subwoofer TV.

Impact sounds are the force + the sound and the shoddy build of your building amplifies the sound until it dies down. But that don’t mean a damn thing if people are walking around a lot.

Your options: noise canceling headphones work well. Get the latest Sony WH over the ear headphones. They work well and last like 7 hours + charge quickly. This will only cost you $300-400.

Aside from that unless you merk your neighbors, you can’t do much because the way the subfloor/joists are laid out, you’d have to build a new ceiling under your current one. That mean making a “sandwich” of one sheet of QuietRock, the thickest mass loaded vinyl you can afford and then another layer of QuietRock. This will be for the whole room to “replace” the ceiling. Then you have to drill hanging clips into your existing ceiling to hang it because this shít is heavy. You need a drywall hoist to do it. If this is the route you chose, good luck. It’s not a messy job at all but will require some physical strength and like $5-7k because materials ain’t cheap these days.

But it will work. All of these materials have a STC rating. That’s how much sound is transmitted. So 2 layers of QuietRock + MLV is gonna have you sitting nice.

A day laborer who does drywall can help since it’s a not to big of a job for them.

it's a condo so I can actually do whatever I want, but I don't know if I'm ready to drop $5-7K

Ordered a white noise machine off Amazon so maybe that'll help because that "merk the upstairs neighbor" option is sounding pretty good right about now

 

[Consigliere]

You would need to remove the drywall on your ceiling and then reinstall the entire support system for your neighbors flooring with something in place to absorb vibrations.

You may be able to get a small benefit from having a contractor blow spray insulation into the ceiling cavity.

Or ask you neighbor to install shag carpet and see if it helps.

 

[Michael's Black Son]

it's a condo so I can actually do whatever I want, but I don't know if I'm ready to drop $5-7K

Ordered a white noise machine off Amazon so maybe that'll help because that "merk the upstairs neighbor" option is sounding pretty good right about now

Sell the condo

 

[acri1]

Sell the condo

I just bought it not that long ago

Gotta be something that can help somewhat and not cost me $7k. I'm willing to spend a little but $5-7K is crazy. Maybe just doing the bedroom is possible.


Amazon should be dropping off a white noise machine tomorrow so we'll see.

 

[Black Excellence]

Thank me later.

 

[null]

I just bought it not that long ago

Gotta be something that can help somewhat and not cost me $7k.

gofundme.com

 

[⠀X ⠀]

That white noise machine ain’t gonna do shít. It’ll block out the voices and such, but them stomps...

 

[Michael's Black Son]

I just bought it not that long ago

Gotta be something that can help somewhat and not cost me $7k. I'm willing to spend a little but $5-7K is crazy. Maybe just doing the bedroom is possible.


Amazon should be dropping off a white noise machine tomorrow so we'll see.

If you wanna do it right you gotta decouple the ceiling and do what I mentioned above. White noise machine won’t do much and you’re better off spending the $ on the headphones.

But if you wanna spend the money just buy the materials over time and install the ceiling in a few months. Measure the area of your room and then price out the QuietRock, MLV and green glue. Those are the main materials. The other stuff will be cheap and you can rent a drywall hoist for cheap for a day since this will take a couple of hours to do

 

[acri1]

HELL NO

The last thing we need another situation like this to occur.

Downstairs neighbor allegedly shoots, kills father and son in noise dispute at Brooklyn apartment

When police arrived at the scene, they found the bodies of the father and son in the fourth-floor hallway. The suspect fled the scene.

abc7ny.com

I think there was a thread made with the video.

I don't condone it murder is wrong but I'd be lying if I didn't say I understand

 

[Rev Leon Lonnie Love]

Anything pre war is not good. That’s most buildings here. Avoid it even if it’s a condo. So that means wood floors/joists, lead paint (most is/should’ve been removed by law by now), older pipes, older windows and radiator heating that uses oil.

Avoid anything built before the 80s honestly.

Now, if it’s a non housing project hi rise, it’s from the 60s/70s and has a concrete core/floors so that’s something good to start with. New builds are VERY iffy and cheap but they will charge $4-6k + a month for something small that you can literally punch holes in. When these buildings are being built, see how thin/thick the floor plates are. Many times the will pour these wimpy ass slabs to save $.

Now if you can get into a renovated brownstone youll be okay because it likely was gutted and some owners with $ will replace the wood beams with steel but that’s pricey.

Unless you have $1-3 million to blow on a crib you gotta rely on luck and having elderly neighbors that don’t know shyt about soundbars and subwoofers — or you live next to single people who ain’t around much.

City is packed to the gills with people so your only salvation is having money long enough to get you into a single family home or one of those two floor mini rowhouses that you see in East NY.

Thanks, this sounds like good advice. Speaking of concrete floors, I've read somewhere that developers cheat and don't put concrete on all floors of a supposedly concrete floor building. They say these developers use a 5-by-1 style of build, where 1 out of every 5 floors is actually concrete, the ones inbetween are not. How true is this?

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Sorry OP. I used to havd upstairs neighbors in my old apartments and trust the shyt is ingrating.

Kids running at 10pm, Dusty Rhodes with the elbow drop at 9am, Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz at 7pm.

When we finally got the place out in koalabama, we ended up on the top floor. My son's goofy ass be doing cartwheels and running like he's a toddler. Had to tell him to knock it off because as under the bridge apartment breh, I understood

TLDR

Get earbuds and pray for slippers and light steps.