Increased Heating Oil Prices and Proper Insulation

It has been reported the heating oil prices could increase in the coming months by at least 70%. This is due to the recent hurricane Katrina. It seems like we are at the total mercy of the natural gas producers as well as the Petroleum companies these days. What can we do to our homes to make them more "fuel efficient?" One this that would help is more adequate insulation in the walls and ceilings. This could get pretty costly if you are planning to tear down the existing drywall in order to install batt type insulation between the joist and stud cavities. The other option is to use the blown in cellulose or even a blown in closed cell insulation. These products are generally used for completed structures where the customer does not wish to demo walls and ceiling. The problem with these products is that they do not give adequate coverage like the fitted batt insulation can give and they also break down rapidly with time. I personally feel that these products are a waste of money and time. Now granted, I look at everything from a soundproofing standpoint, but I don't like spending $thousands$ on something that probably won't give me the "R" factor I desire in my walls and ceilings and will breakdown rapidly over time. It is always better to insulate during construction, but that's little comfort to the person living in a 60 year old Brownstone in New York as the temperatures dip into the teens, and plaster that have never even seen a batt of insulation. Living in Southern California we panic when the temps dip into the 40 deg range. Burrrrrrrrrr, It's hard to imagine deciding between food and heating oil. It seems like it is that way with gasoline these days as well.
My heart goes out to the people on the East Coast and in the Midwest as this will be one bitter winter. God Bless America, Please don't forget us Lord.

As Always,

Dr Bob
e-mail: dr.bob@soundproofingamerica.com
Call Toll free (877) 530-0139

Soundproof Sleep Chamber or bed sound enclosure

I have often toyed with the idea of creating a sleep chamber that we could market to people who were not willing to, or could not afford to soundproof their entire bedroom. I had 2 ideas in mind, one was a canopy that was suspended on pulleys that could be lowered down overtop a person sleeping in perhaps a twin bed. It sounds a little morbid, kind of like sleeping in a coffin, but in a way I did it for over 20 years of my Navy life. We slept in very close quarters with the beds (racks as they called them) about 7' long and about 3' to 3 1/2' wide.
The other idea I had was to build a wall mounted sleep chamber where you would climb into it like a bunk bed, and then close the chamber door. This wall chamber would be soundproofed and could utilize a passive or active ventilation system for the sleeper. I like the idea of the wall mounted unit better than the bed pulley type enclosure. Think about it. If you own a 1 bedroom flat or a studio, you could incorporate these wall sleep chambers and actually have people be able to sleep over without really disturbing the primary occupant. What a concept. The sleep chamber would be soundproofed and as stated prior, would have either a passive or active ventilation system. The sleep chamber would solve the problems attributed to sleeping with headphones on or ear plugs, which as most of you know do NOT work. The sleep chamber has been used in Japan for decades in Econo hotels and with crowded areas like New York and Los Angeles where space is always at a premium, the sleep chamber might be the answer to a lot of problems.
It is an idea I have been toying with for nearly 20 years. I wish I were a skilled inventor. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions. Thanks for reading and learning together.

As Always,

Dr. Bob
e-mail: dr.bob@soundproofingamerica.com
Call Toll free (877) 530-0139

Home Music Studio in a garage or basement

We receive a lot of requests from people wanting to construct a home recording studio in their garage or basement. There is only one way that we know of the construct an effectively soundproofed studio in the basement ot garage and that is by using the room within a room concept. This is explained in detail on the website www.soundproofingamerica.com but in a nutshell, the room within a room concept is exactly what it sounds like. It is the complete construction of a new room within the confines of the existing basement or garage space. This would require some construction skill and will need to meet all city and county building codes.
This reconstruction does not have to cost $30 to $40K in order to be effective, but there will be some initial cash outlay for the materials needed to soundproof and sound condition your new studio.
By constructing a new room within a room you are able to treat the stud and joist cavities with batt materials such as bonded acoustical cotton, rock wool or Mineral wool. We have had some outstanding results using a product called Roxul AFB batt insulation. Roxul is specifically designed to give you excellent thermal qualities and is an effective sound absorbent material.
Once you have the walls and ceiling framed out and the Batt insulation installed, you will want to nail up a layer of the 1 or 2 Lb Mass loaded vinyl to the studs and the joists. MLV is a reflective barrier which adds 27 to 32 STC points to your wall or ceiling assembly.
There are other factors to consider when constructing your private home studio, things such as whether or not to floating walls and ceilings to break the connection of the wallboard from the stud and joist structures. There is no such thing a "overkill" in soundproofing, but there is such a thing as overkill to your wallet. When building a home studio (this applies to home theaters as well) the more knowledge you have, the more money you will save and the better your studio will perform. There are many other factors to be considered such as studio HVAC systems and what needs to be done to silence them, as well as studio doors and control room windows.
Home studios and home theaters are evolving endeavors and are best accomplished with careful planning and thorough knowledge of what you are dealing with. Budget accordingly. The old belief that " You get what you pay for" is never more true than it is here. Thanks for reading and learning.

As Always,

Dr. Bob
e-mail: dr.bob@soundproofingamerica.com
Call Toll free (877) 530-0139

Methods for soundproofing your floor (American Impact Pro and American Impact)

In our un ending search for the finest in soundproofing materials, we have found a new floor under layment product that can be used to stop a large amount of impact noise, (foot fall noise) from being transmitted to the floor below. The name of this remarkable product is "American Impact Pro, as well as the Regular American Impact under layment. The Am Impact Pro has a rigged bottom and can provide STC ratings of 50 STC and above. The IIC (Impact Isolation Coefficient) can be as much as 64 IIC . This product is made for, you guessed it, recycled rubber, so you are actually helping the environment while you're soundproofing your floors.
The American Impact and the American Impact Pro can be adhered to your floor with a special adhesive and we would recommend that you caulk all the seams as well as the perimeter with a good acoustical sound caulk,(like OSI-175) and once the seams and perimeter are caulked, you would want to tape over the caulked seams with a MLV sealer tape.
The good news is that now you can put down any type of floor directly atop of this product, and the tile or grout will not crack or break. The sheets are 4' x 6" and will be placed on the floor pretty much the same way as you'd lay down the peel and stick vinyl tiles. It is approximately 5/8" thick so door jams and base boards will need to be considered before ordering this material from us. For more information on this and other floor soundproofing materials, just remember "Soundproofing America". We have the newest state-of-the- art soundproofing products and our helpful and friendly staff is there to help you with any installation instructions or your questions in general. Thanks for reading about the latest in floor soundproofing agents.

As Always,

Dr. Bob
e-mail: dr.bob@soundproofingamerica.com
Call Toll free (877) 530-0139

Our sympathies for all the Katrina victims

We want to offer our sympathies to those killed or injured during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. This has been a horrendous time for so many of our brothers and sisters in the Southern part of the United States. Our hearts and prayers go out to all of you in these devastated areas. This is a sincere gesture on behalf of all of us in the acoustics industry. We all need to look at this and thank The Good Lord for all the blessings we still have. We pray for a speedy recovery from this devastation and that soon the great people of the south will rise again. God Bless America, a Nation of recovery and strength Under God.

As Always,

Dr. Bob!
e-mail: dr.bob@soundproofingamerica.com
Call Toll free (877) 530-0139