Sound "Proofing" a room

[AgentJean]

Ok, here's the deal: I live in an apartment. A poorly constructed on as far as sound insulation goes. I can hear people in the upstairs unit just walking around. The fact that their 2 year old kid likes to jump up and down makes it even worse.

Does anyone know of any form of sound insulation that I could staple to my ceiling so I don't hear the people upstairs? The building management won't do crap. They knew about this problem before the people upstairs moved in last month (I complained about the same problem with the previous person). They even replaced the carpet, that would have been a great time to put in some padding but they didn't, so I have to take matters into my own hands.

Oh yeah, as far as talking to the tenet up stairs to see if he can keep the pounding down. He' said the noise is a part of apartment life and I'd better get used to it.

You have no idea how tempted I am to unplug my HEADPHONES and hook up some high wattage speakers with a sub woofer, thow in some Rammstein and fire up Counter-Strike.

 

[mchammer]

ouch

 

[swtethan]

foam, lots of foam padding

 

[neutralizer]

Originally posted by: AgentJean
Ok, here's the deal: I live in an apartment. A poorly constructed on as far as sound insulation goes. I can hear people in the upstairs unit just walking around. The fact that their 2 year old kid likes to jump up and down makes it even worse.

Does anyone know of any form of sound insulation that I could staple to my ceiling so I don't hear the people upstairs? The building management won't do crap. They knew about this problem before the people upstairs moved in last month (I complained about the same problem with the previous person). They even replaced the carpet, that would have been a great time to put in some padding but they didn't, so I have to take matters into my own hands.

Oh yeah, as far as talking to the tenet up stairs to see if he can keep the pounding down. He' said the noise is a part of apartment life and I'd better get used to it.

You have no idea how tempted I am to unplug my HEADPHONES and hook up some high wattage speakers with a sub woofer, thow in some Rammstein and fire up Counter-Strike.

That's awesome. Yeah, make it sound like a warzone in your room. I used to have bass wars with my roommate just piss people off. Trance + max volume on speakers = a lot of bass.

 

[imported_Tick]

There is only one solution. Build a 1 KW subwoofer, and leave metalica playing all day for a week. Then see if your neighbors will cooperate.

 

[Christobevii3]

High frequency noise that is annoying as ****** everytime you leave. Then blame it on the poor wiring in the building.

 

[AgentJean]

Does anyone know where I can find one of them sound "laser" speakers? I seen them on the discovery channel(I think it was future weapons or something) I could blast my music right into their bed room at 3am and no one else would hear it.


Yes, I'm a evil SOB.
If I were a Charismatic leader, I could be the anti-christ.:evil:

 

[warpigeon]

Just move out. No landlord will enforce your lease under these circumstances.

 

[neutralizer]

Isn't there also a device that turns any surface it is attached to a speaker?

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: warpigeon
Just move out. No landlord will enforce your lease under these circumstances.

Well my dad(yes I still live at home. I'm saving for my own house) talked with the landlord to get out cause he's sick of the crap too. They want 2 months rent if we break the lease and he isn't going to throw away that much money. Me moving out isn't really a option at this time. I'm hoping to move out of state and I don't want to be stuck in another lease when the time comes.

So, I'm either going to sound proof my room and/or wage some form of warfare on the tenet upstairs and the landlord which will not be pretty.

 

[imported_wicka]

Rammstein? Pssh.
Metallica? No way.

DRAGONFORCE

 

[Zorba]

Look into some Sonex foam. It is great stuff, I've been around it a lot in industrial buildings.
Sonex It is kind of expensice, though. Be sure you get the right type for the frequency range. For example, don't get 1/2" cones to stop your neighbor's bass

 

[warpigeon]

Originally posted by: AgentJean

Originally posted by: warpigeon
Just move out. No landlord will enforce your lease under these circumstances.

Well my dad(yes I still live at home. I'm saving for my own house) talked with the landlord to get out cause he's sick of the crap too. They want 2 months rent if we break the lease and he isn't going to throw away that much money. Me moving out isn't really a option at this time. I'm hoping to move out of state and I don't want to be stuck in another lease when the time comes.

So, I'm either going to sound proof my room and/or wage some form of warfare on the tenet upstairs and the landlord which will not be pretty.

Here's the deal. If you go the warfare route the tenant upstairs can call the police and the police can and might confiscate your sound system. This is a real possibilty, afterall you'd be the one breaking the law.

I'm very suprised that your landlords are taking this position. You have every right to break the lease and imo your landlord knows this.

 

[T9D]

Best thing you can get is soundboard. Go down to home depot. I think they still sell it there. It's pretty cheap. you'll have to screw it in but it's just a few screw holes.

What I'd do is record the little brat making all the noise. Then play it super loud in a loop over and over They will get the point how annoying it is lol.

 

[imported_wicka]

BTW, what time is it that the little kid makes this noise? Don't kids go to bed at like 8 these days?

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: wicka
BTW, what time is it that the little kid makes this noise? Don't kids go to bed at like 8 these days?

With a loser parent that can't simply tell his kid to stop jumping up and down, I'd say the kid doesn't sleep at 8

 

[Xyclone]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: wicka
BTW, what time is it that the little kid makes this noise? Don't kids go to bed at like 8 these days?

With a loser parent that can't simply tell his kid to stop jumping up and down, I'd say the kid doesn't sleep at 8

ditto

 

[biggestmuff]

Don't waste your money on foam. The sound isolation is performed during the construction phase using layers of drywall and seperation.

 

[AlienCraft]

It is often cost prohibative to do anything substantial , especially to a rental, after construction has finished. HOWEVER, that never stops the issue from needing to be dealt with. This is what I know from building studios, music rooms, rehearsal halls, and more than a few homes and businesses....
Mass is the biggest inhibitor of sound travel (freq dependant). Foam works great on mids and highs and not so well on lows and subsonics. That requires different techniques and materials.

The best answer would be to add a layer of sheetrock on resilient channel, and silicone caulk the seams and edges, and all the switch boxes and outlets.

There is a brand of sheetrock specifically for soundproofing that is thicker and of a combination of materials that is much denser than ordinary 1/2" gypsum.

I would do the ceiling with alaminate of cellulose sound deadening board and 5/8" sheetrock on top of furring strips done at right angles on 8" centers that are glued and screwed to the rafters / existing ceiling. Then I would leave it in place when I left. Make sure you finish it out so it blends in with the old work. You'll only need to extend the ceilign boxes then.
Good Luck wit dat.

 

[feelingshorter]

lol Rammatein? its German rock...funny

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: neutralizer
Isn't there also a device that turns any surface it is attached to a speaker?

It's just a vibrator with line input. And it sounds like ****** as you should expect.

There's nothing you can do for any reasonable price you're probably willing to spend, maybe buy better headphones

 

[torpid]

Wow, I have to say I am surprised by the responses here. The fact is that it IS a part of apartment life to hear people walking around and jumping up and down. That is why you should always try to live on the top floor or in a more expensive place or at least test out the impact of people walking around.

I find it very unlikely you will be able to legally break a lease because you didn't realize that people make noise when they live in an apartment.

 

[JDMnAR1]

If you are going to wage aural war on your neighbor, forget the loud music, the annoying sounds, anything like that. If you want to get their attention - go with really really loud sex. If they have even the slightest bit of parental apptitude, they will want to shelter their young heathen from the sounds of coitus that may frequently take the form of quite loud obscenities of encouragement. Besides, if it doesn't get through to them, you are still getting some.

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1
If you are going to wage aural war on your neighbor, forget the loud music, the annoying sounds, anything like that. If you want to get their attention - go with really really loud sex. If they have even the slightest bit of parental apptitude, they will want to shelter their young heathen from the sounds of coitus that may frequently take the form of quite loud obscenities of encouragement. Besides, if it doesn't get through to them, you are still getting some.

Wow, that was the most pointless response yet!

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: AgentJean

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1
If you are going to wage aural war on your neighbor, forget the loud music, the annoying sounds, anything like that. If you want to get their attention - go with really really loud sex. If they have even the slightest bit of parental apptitude, they will want to shelter their young heathen from the sounds of coitus that may frequently take the form of quite loud obscenities of encouragement. Besides, if it doesn't get through to them, you are still getting some.

Wow, that was the most pointless response yet!

You helped steer the thread in this direction though. Not to say it wouldn't have gone there on its own, but by mentioning putting subs towards your ceiling and those laser speakers, you can't complain.