noise reduction - acoustical foam

[TGT]

I just talked to a friend and he says he used the special insulation that is labeled as 'sound deadening insulation' and he said it worked great compared to regular insulation. Now only if we could remember the name and manufacturer lol. He said he has tried some of the other sound deadening stuff available and nothing really worked well, especially the stuff at Home Depot. I asked him because he has built many more rooms than I have for grows,my guru you could say. I will be going this route when I do mine so I will know first hand and report here.

TGT

 

[sneakyninja]

Google MLV or mass loaded vinyl, its what "someguy" was talking about and is often used in high end home theaters and recording studios to stop sound escaping from the room.

 

[darkhollo]

TGT - The insulation is sold at some lowes/home depots. Mine didn't have it but got it through a friend. Certainteed makes it as well as the "pink guy". I used this in my walls.

The house/closet is CMU construction and then I have a 2x4 walls framed on the inside of that so I can run electrical and have additional insulation. You can't hear ANYTHING on the other side of the wall, but go near the door and bam! it becomes quite obvious. I may try carpet/padding/egg crate bed covers as a DIY/low budget item while I wait for a quote on the wedge foam.

It's not so much one item in the room, it's the collective hum from 2 fans/ballast/pump/air pump/bubbles/AC kicking on/off. I have done my best to isolate all for vibrations. The AC is in a box hung from the ceiling via rubber straps etc. But noise is noise and as of right now it's the only thing keeping me worried.

-dh

 

[TGT]

So you found the insulation worked great, but you can still hear through the door? I wonder if you insulated the back of the door and panelled it in if it would fix your problem? Might make the door a tad bit thick, but might work. Just a suggestion.

TGT

 

[darkhollo]

Yeah I def. have to work on the door more. I was just giving out what I had done to mitigate the sound and was looking for heavy duty sound deadening for the door and came across the foam, hence the post.

I will be messing with it over the next week or so and will report my results.

-dh

 

[PurplePotion]

You can find the acoustical foam on eBay for cheap if that's really what you want.. same stuff as Auralex, etc.

 

[DiscoDuck]

TGT - The insulation is sold at some lowes/home depots. Mine didn't have it but got it through a friend. Certainteed makes it as well as the "pink guy". I used this in my walls.

The house/closet is CMU construction and then I have a 2x4 walls framed on the inside of that so I can run electrical and have additional insulation. You can't hear ANYTHING on the other side of the wall, but go near the door and bam! it becomes quite obvious. I may try carpet/padding/egg crate bed covers as a DIY/low budget item while I wait for a quote on the wedge foam.

It's not so much one item in the room, it's the collective hum from 2 fans/ballast/pump/air pump/bubbles/AC kicking on/off. I have done my best to isolate all for vibrations. The AC is in a box hung from the ceiling via rubber straps etc. But noise is noise and as of right now it's the only thing keeping me worried.

-dh

You didn't ask but I'll throw in my 2c. I've tried the eggshell mattress foam pads. I couldn't even tell the difference, the foam is not dense enough and the shells are not tall enough. The multi-colored dense foam carpet pad is uglier than a pig's butt but it works just about better than any single application material (maybe besides the sound insulation.)

I'll bet the door is hollow core. If so, it acts just like the wooden body of an acoustic guitar, amplifying the sound inside the room through the door to the outside. Try some heavy duty dense foam weather stripping to block any cracks between the door and the frame. Use the weather stripping on the top and sides only. For the door, just cut whatever foam sheet you're gonna use the entire size of the door and leave it long enough to make contact with the floor, it will flex back and forth while opening/closing the door. If this stuff is on the grow room side of the door, it won't be an eyesore/giveaway. The foam will reduce the resonation of the door. This is where the carpet foam works well, sealing the bottom of the door space and dampening the vibration of the door. If you need air to enter/escape the bottom of the door, you'd have to cut the carpet pad/foam sheet the length of the door only.

Another good sound reduction material is cotton quilts for moving furniture. The quilting can be hung in a corrugated fashion and works better this way than spread flat on a surface. I've bought these from Stanton Quilting in upstate SC. I don't have their contacts but a Google will find them. They may have moved to Mexico if they're like all the other mills in the area, lol. Good luck.