Hi,

I'm curious as to how long it actually takes to install the RSIC-1 and hat channel. I'm sure this is tackled in some build threads, but through searching I've only found reference to people doing the installation without discussion of how much time it took them.

If you've done this or had it done for your project, please respond with the number of man hours/days, professional crew or DIY, your room dimensions (LxWxH), and the number of clips used if you know.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Straight up clips and hat-channel with no special "trying to save every last 1/4 inch of ceiling height" like Craig and I did could be done in an hour or two max. We're talking one screw per clip (4-5 clips per joist depending on room width) and cutting hat channel to length.

Thanks Michael. Did you install them on your walls and ceiling?

Just ceiling. It's all detailed in my thread. If you decouple your walls from the ceiling joists you won't need to use hat channel on the walls. If you end up doing the walls, then figure another couple of hours for the room tops. It's really, really easy and straight forward to do. The only thing that will slow you down is screwing hat-track pieces together if you need lengths greater than 10'.

Just a heads up, around here there are very few drywall crews who would have a clue how to install RSIC clips properly.

You should read the instructions, then provide on site supervision for this phase of the process. Also I have zero confidence in a typical drywall crews ability to screw drywall to the channel without short circuiting the isolation.

Just a warning. Hopefully you have some one who has experience and it's not just a track housing crew.

I have zero confidence in typical drywall crews, period. :D

It took my "crew" under an hour to install some 70 clips and the associated hat channel on my ceiling. My crew was just me.

I'd echo the other statements here - drywall guys are programmed to hang drywall. They typically do a very good job, but that's about the only task they do. so I'd recommend putting up the clips yourself before the drywall guys arrive.

My carpenter did it, instead of the drywall crew, since he had doubts. It was done on the same day as the sheetrock went up. I never got a chance to inspect or take pics of the install. A part of me wondered whether they were installed at all, let alone correctly. But I wasn't going to cut the drywall to satisfy the curiousity.

Generally the clip systems are a lot more foolproof than say, resilient channel. RC short circuits are pretty much a statistical given, due to the shallow depth of the RC.

RSIC is less risk :) partly due to the increased depth. You'd need one loooong screw to go through the drywall, track, and that 1 5/8" clip depth before making it to the original framing. So one safeguard is simply to make sure the crew is using the shortest screws that accomodate the Hat Track, which they should be doing anyway.

Thanks for all of the comments!

So one safeguard is simply to make sure the crew is using the shortest screws that accomodate the Hat Track, which they should be doing anyway.


re: length of screw

Hi,

I've got the Isomax clips and standard hat channeling on my ceiling.... I have 1 5/8" fine thread screws for the 2nd layer of GG/drywall. Do u think that is long enough? 2 x 5/8" = 1 1/4". That leaves 3/8ths of screw to bite into the hat channel.

P

Hey Pete,

I'd up that to 1 3/4" screws. Even 2". You have 2 5/8" to the stud or joist counting the drywall, hat track and clip, by my math. The goal is not to hit the stud or joist so even a 2" screw will never hit.

FYI the 1 3/8" would work technically, but if there's a slight irregularity, you may be short

I printed out all the instructions for RSIC-1 I could find and sat down with my general contractor until he understood exactly how it all worked. He then explained it to the framing contractor and supervised the installation. I also included a plan showing the exact location of the each clip. They started in the morning and by the time I got there around 10am, the clips and track was already up (25'x16' room).