Shop Ceiling Panels

[MikeMcCoy]

My house should be about finished sometime in February and I will have about a month to get things set up before I move anything in. The garage is a standard two car detached building that will be a dedicated shop. When I start, it be completely unfinished and I'm toying a couple of different approaches to the overhead. I'll be in a subdivision and I'm trying to have a little mercy on my neighbors as far as sound but also convenience for me in changing things around. I've been looking at using suspended acoustic panels for the ceiling but not in the traditional way. I want to reserve a little access to the rafters so I'm wondering if anyone can see any drawbacks to rigging the mounting channels on the upper part of the rafters. That will leave the lower portion more accessible and not restrict me when I start running duct work and several other projects. The only drawback I see so far is when I break out the leaf blower.

I haven't figured out the best way to add some sound cushioning to the walls yet but I recall seeing some posts on that fairly recently so I'll do a search.

[siliconbauhaus]

I'm assuming the your garage has a pitched roof so here's my 2c's worth.

Add 4 - 6 inches worth of fibreglass insulation between the rafters and then fix 1/2 homasote boards to the underside of the rafters. You could do the same to your walls as well. Homasote has excellent sound barrier qualities.

http://www.homasote.com/products.html

[onedash]

I would never put acoustic panels in a garage. have you looked at spray in foam insulation? I know its about double the price of fiberglass but it pretty much seals everything airtight and is an awsome sound barrier as well. And in some states you can put it directly against the roof and require no venting. Thats the route I will be going someday.
as far as noise though I have an attached garage with no insulation and you can barely hear anything in the house(which also has no insulation) so im sure the neighbors can't hear anything in their houses. If they can outside that doesn't bother me. I hear plenty people with remote control cars, gas leaf blowers and motorcycles in my house though. All the more reason to use foam when I buy a house someday. My entire bedroom is going to be foamed including floor if its upstairs and interior walls.

[MikeMcCoy]

Thanks - I haven't worked with Homasote before but after looking, it offers some interesting possibilities.

[LarryG]

Homasote is very much like the material used for acoustical panels, sans the fissures and fancy finish.

If you insulate, whether between the rafters (i.e., just under the roof sheathing) or between the ceiling joists (if any), you must take into consideration whether the attic space is vented. How your roof is constructed will dictate what you can/must do in order to avoid condensation problems.

[Kristofor]

My entire bedroom is going to be foamed including floor if its upstairs and interior walls.

So is that to keep the noise out or in?


Back on topic...

The acoustic panels used in non-climate-controlled locations at work seem to pick up a lot of moisture and then grunge to the point where they're not very reflective and are fairly nastly to look at... Not sure if that's a function of the general environment (warehouse), humidity, cheap tiles, or what...

[CrashResq]

My two cents worth... When I built my 20' x 28' shop, I insulated all the walls with fiberglass batting and then put up 7/16" OSB. Home Depot in our area is selling it for $6 per sheet right now (6 years ago when I built my shop, it was $5). I rented a sheetrock jack and put the OSB on the ceilings too. Painted everything white and blowed about 8" of shredded fiberglass into the ceiling. Couldn't hear a thing in the house from the shop (it was detached and about 30' away from the house)... the all wood walls allowed me to mount or hang anything I wanted anywhere and I could heat the whole shop with a single propane radiant heater in the winter.

[MikeMcCoy]

The more I look at it OSB looks like the way to go with this one.

[onedash]

So is that to keep the noise out or in?

Out...By the time I buy a house and build a shop though the noisy kids might be moved out already. Still I think there are extra bonuses to spray in foam. Air tight seal, high R value per inch, It holds things together like gorilla glue which will make everything just a little more rigid and stable, sound deadening, plus its gotta be fun squirting the stuff. Hopefully I can squirt some. Wouldnt it be cool to fill a entire building and dig tunnels through it.

[CrashResq]

if you'd like any more info or input on the OSB "method"... just email me... I might have some pictures of that shop... I've since moved and have a completely different situation now... (the new owners of the house and shop love it though!)

[MikeMcCoy]

Thanks Bill - I'll do that. I won't have any neighbors closer than 100 feet on one side and nobody behind me but I'd just as soon plan on me not being a nuisance factor before anything starts.