potential basement shop - noise question

[Derek Voigt]

So we are looking at a new house that has a great unfinished basement for workshop. It has ceiling that are over 10" tall and I would have about 700-800 sqft to play with.

My plans would be to add a door to the bottom of the stairs to help keep dust out, but my biggest concern would be to deal with sound.

For those that have a basement shop how noisy is it on your main floor? I know that I would have to do a good amount of work to try and sound proof it, but if my wife can't be in the kitchen or watching TV on the main floor because the shop noise coming from the basement is too loud we are going to have issues.

Any one have any experience dealing with this???

Thanks,
Derek

[Matt Day]

There was a thread recently on this, and there was a fww'ing article about soundproofing a few months ago.

I know Roxul makes some good sound insulation, and you can add some hat channel and drywall to the ceiling. I'm no expert but do some more research here and check out that fww'ing article if you can.

[Scott Brandstetter]

Derek
My last two shops have been in my basement but never directly under the master bedroom or family room, somehow I got lucky with that. With that said, I never went to extreme extents to "sound proof" the shop. I currently have a 22 x 22 shop and when I'm down there, it's really not an issue with my tools running. I did put typical insulation in the ceiling and dry walled after that. I have dry wall on the bottom half of the walls with peg board above. The one thing I did do was spend extra time sealing the doors and trying to control the dust. Without seeing a layout of the shop vs the upstairs hard to recommend too much. One thing I would recommend is put your door up at the bottom of the steps and start by having your wife upstairs watching tv or laying in bed and then turn on the table saw or miter saw. See what she says. The other benefit of this is if you get her buy in from the beginning, you have a card to play when she complains at 2am when your working on a project. Just kidding. My two cents.

[Derek Voigt]

Well we don't own the house yet so I can't do any trial runs. i just don't want trial runs to be unsuccessful... because then it is too late!

I won't be able to add a door to the top of the steps... but can at the bottom, and would plan on using an exterior door to keep the dust down.

[Mike Olson]

do you have forced air, or hot water? if there are air ducts in the ceiling above your shop space, then there is not much you can do. My last shop, i covered every air duct with a waterproof roofing membrane which is similar to Automotive sound proofing mat and sealed all edges with aluminum tape which helped but noise would always come through the vents into the bedrooms above. I actually moved a dresser in front of the one vent in my son's room which helped a little more.

[Dennis Nagle]

I've been sound proofing rooms for 30 years for audio reasons. Two things I can tell you that will make the most difference. (three actually). 1. put 12" of roxul between the joist. 2. don't attached any of the machinery of dust collection to any wood or sheet rock walls. 3. vent your dust collection outside.

Follow these rules and you will be surprised how quite your shop will be. And, if you think about it, how much time do you actually spend at the planner or table saw? It is more like fits and spurts so the noise factor should not be too much of an issue to begin with.

[Jim Andrew]

I don't have a basement shop, my nephew has 5 kids, and he used the blue denim insulation that Menards sells to insulate between their rooms and the upstairs. Their rooms are in the basement. Think you might be amazed at how well that stuff works for sound. I'd probably plug any holes in the ductwork that is designed to heat the area you are working in, to keep the sound from going up the duct work. Maybe even install some sound board over the duct work. Is the basement finished? The height you have down there would really help.

[Ole Anderson]

I have had my basement shop in my small ranch style home for 39 years now. Bare joists, no sound insulation, forced air heat with the kitchen and a spare bedroom above. No complaints so far. I do try not to run any loud machinery when my wife is sleeping in the morning. But at times I work into the night, she says I don't wake her. I did sound insulate the dust collector closet.

[james glenn]

I am in a similar situation as Ole above, just not for 39years. Only at 7 now, but I am not AARP eligible yet either. haha

I do not have sound insulation or even an insulated door. I did seal all my ductwork and insulated the supplies (for efficiency purposes). The baby sleeps thru any tool noise, but I do not run anything in the early morning hours out of fear of waking my wife and daughter.

[JayStPeter]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...hop&highlight=

It's an old thread, but I still use this shop. The soundproofing did a decent job. It sounds like someone down the street is doing stuff if I run a router or my planer. Can't really hear many of the other tools, including the DC.

Before the build/soundproof, it sounded like the tools were in the same room as the TV and the miter saw woke babies two floors up.

[Phil Thien]

Follow these rules and you will be surprised how quite your shop will be. And, if you think about it, how much time do you actually spend at the planner or table saw? It is more like fits and spurts so the noise factor should not be too much of an issue to begin with.

That is the money Q right there. I've done nothing to noise-insulate my basement shop but all my machine time per week adds up to maybe one to two hours. I try to avoid cutting when it would disturb the rest of the family. Often this isn't difficult because they're "out" on a weekend day when I'm cutting/planning/etc.

[Derek Voigt]

Didn't think about the ductwork... I don't really want to plug them because I would like the basement to be warm in the winter. What about adding some sound deadener to them, like wrap the duct work with Dynamat or something. I know that the sound still would have an opening to transmit through, but maybe it would resonate less?

If we end up closing on the house I will go slow and add as needed...

[Charles Lent]

My present shop is in an out building because my last shop was in the basement of my last house. Noise and sawdust got into the whole house and I was forever getting into trouble with the other half over it. With the move to the new house I decided to solve the problem by putting my shop in another building. I not only solved the noise and sawdust problem, but I no longer have the humidity problems and rusting that I had in the basement shop. Getting out of the house also makes it harder for her to ask for help with those trivial problems that she can easily handle herself, but chooses to interrupt you to help with them because you are "just downstairs". Being outside and 75 ft away makes a big difference in the number of these requests. I have a sink and small fridge in my shop but my only mistake was not installing a bathroom when I built my outbuilding shop.

Charley

[Ralph Okonieski]

My basement shop is directly under the family room. My wife never complained but would tell me it was loud if I asked her.

I put in Roxul, moved some equipment around, replaced the louder ones with better quality machines. My wife said it has made a big difference.

[Jim Andrew]

Don't really think the heat will be a problem, especially if you put some closed cell insulation on your basement wall. Heat seems to creep into a room inside your house. And plugging your duct will help keep the dust sealed out of your forced air system. I'd use exterior doors on the shop area also to help keep the dust out of the house, and if the furnace and hot water are in that area, build walls and try to seal them off from the shop. You don't want a dust explosion from the appliances turning on. Especially if you burn gas.