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Soundproofing - Decouple walls with brackets or clips and channel?

post #1 of 10
1/1/13 at 8:54am
Thread Starter 
I have decided to use clips and hat channel to decouple my ceiling drywall from the floor joists. Now I'm trying to decide if I need clips and hat channel on the walls, or if simply using a IB-3 (or "Genie Clip LB") type of bracket to decouple the stud walls from the ceiling would be sufficient, as this is cheaper and easier. It seems to me that if the brackets work as advertised, then the stud walls will be decoupled from the ceiling, so there would be no need to decouple the drywall from the studs. I suppose that the hat channel might help due to the flexing it provides, which helps dissipate sound, but again, if the IB-3 brackets do their job, the sound transfer to the joists above should be minimal.

Thoughts?
Edited by digi-head - 1/1/13 at 9:00am
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post #2 of 10
1/2/13 at 5:26am
Quote:
It seems to me that if the brackets work as advertised, then the stud walls will be decoupled from the ceiling, so there would be no need to decouple the drywall from the studs.

That is exactly what I did with results that I am really happy with. Also, I used double 5/8s drywall and Green Glue in between on all walls and ceiling.
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post #3 of 10
1/2/13 at 7:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tlogan6797 View Post

That is exactly what I did with results that I am really happy with. Also, I used double 5/8s drywall and Green Glue in between on all walls and ceiling.

Great! That should save me some hassle.

Anyone have any recommendations for which brackets to use? The IB-3 clips from soundproofingcompany.com aren't rated to as high of a strength rating as the Genie Clip LB, but I think the IB-3's are a little cheaper. Which ones did you use Logan? Anyone have any experience with other brands?
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post #4 of 10
1/2/13 at 8:34am
I did mine before the IB clips became widely available (check out my thread --- 7 years and counting!). I used the DC-04 clips from PAC International. They were a LOT more expensive than the IB clips that are now more easily obtained. I haven't checked the prices on the DC-04s in while, though.

Edit: Just checked a a couple of places online and price doesn't seem to have come down significantly in the past 5 years, or so.
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post #5 of 10
1/3/13 at 10:26pm
Keep in mind digi-head that any walls that are not next to a foundation wall will need some kind of decoupling for the drywall. The IB-3 clips decouple the wall from the floor joists, but they do not decouple the drywall on each side of the wall. You'll still have a direct physical connection from the drywall in the theater room, through the studs, and into the drywall on the opposite side of the wall. This can be remedied by building a double stud wall, a staggered stud wall, or using clips and channel on any walls that are shared with another room.
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post #6 of 10
1/4/13 at 5:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaustin View Post

Keep in mind digi-head that any walls that are not next to a foundation wall will need some kind of decoupling for the drywall. The IB-3 clips decouple the wall from the floor joists, but they do not decouple the drywall on each side of the wall. You'll still have a direct physical connection from the drywall in the theater room, through the studs, and into the drywall on the opposite side of the wall. This can be remedied by building a double stud wall, a staggered stud wall, or using clips and channel on any walls that are shared with another room.
Thanks for the advice. The only wall that is not against the foundation wall is opposite an unfinished portion of the basement, except one section against the stairs, which I DO plan to decouple with clips and channel.

Since I'm on the subject, I'm trying to decide what clips to use. Whisper clips are 3 times the price of IB-1 clips. I assume the performance of the Whisper clips isn't 3 times that of the IB-1's,right? I have drywalled and green glued the subfloor above, so I'm hoping that will make up for any loss from using the IB-1's. Does anyone think that using Whisper clips (or Genie clips) would be just such an improvement that I shouldn't pass up the opportunity while I still have it?
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post #7 of 10
1/4/13 at 5:11am
Quote:
Does anyone think that using Whisper clips (or Genie clips) would be just such an improvement that I shouldn't pass up the opportunity while I still have it?

I think at this point you want to talk to Ted White at the soundproofing company. You can try a PM as he is on the forums all the time. Great guy to work with. Tell him I sent you. I don't know what good it will do you, but it will make him chuckle.
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post #8 of 10
1/4/13 at 9:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by digi-head View Post

Since I'm on the subject, I'm trying to decide what clips to use. Whisper clips are 3 times the price of IB-1 clips. I assume the performance of the Whisper clips isn't 3 times that of the IB-1's,right? I have drywalled and green glued the subfloor above, so I'm hoping that will make up for any loss from using the IB-1's. Does anyone think that using Whisper clips (or Genie clips) would be just such an improvement that I shouldn't pass up the opportunity while I still have it?

I'm also very interested in this question. The IB-1 are definitely more appealing from a pricing stand point. I'd be interested to hear what you find out.

Does anyone have any experience using IB-1 clips?
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post #9 of 10
1/5/13 at 2:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BllDo View Post

I'm also very interested in this question. The IB-1 are definitely more appealing from a pricing stand point. I'd be interested to hear what you find out.
Does anyone have any experience using IB-1 clips?
Ted was very helpful in answering my questions via PM. He said that he recommends IB-1 clips only with double drywall and green glue. I also asked him a couple other questions, which I'll post here for reference.

Me: Do I need to seal between the drywall on my subfloor and the floor joists with acoustic sealant? This would seem inconsequential if I am doing double drywall and clips and channel on the ceiling.

Ted:
Quote:
You do not need the sealant. There is no data on this issue, and this technique is based on an old system that used fiberglass instead of Green Glue. That old system always had sealant, with the goal of bonding the ceiling together to act more as one big lamination instead of all these strips. I think that assessment is flawed, and the sealant is another expense so we're going to be removing the sealant from our diagrams

Me: Is fiberglass insulation in my walls going to make much of a difference? I will be putting fiberglass insulation in the ceiling because that path is my main concern. With my walls I am only concerned with flanking noise, since there are no adjacent rooms.

Ted:
Quote:
You want to avoid hollow cavities that will be bombarded with sound, because they will resonate. Also, sound will flank upstairs through your walls, unless you build the walls as robustly as the ceiling.

Honestly, I was a little surprised by his answer to the sealant question. I have a few fairly large gaps between my floor joists and drywall where I just didn't make great cuts. I think I'm still going to at least seal a couple of those bigger ones in the more critical areas.
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post #10 of 10
1/5/13 at 3:12pm
Good info. Thank you.
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