Still have noise after installing floating ceiling

[David]

I have a bedroom below the living room of my tennants, who keep different hours than me.  I can hear their TV/stereo and footfalls.  Their floor is a wood laminate with a cork underlayment and a carpet pad (leftover from the carpet that used to be up there) under that.  Structurally speaking the configuration is a little unusual in that the staircase that they use to access their apartment is on the other side of one of my bedroom walls. This staircase is open at the top, allowing sound to travel from the upstairs down to our level, and the wall that divides the staircase from our bedroom reaches all the way up into their living room, collecting soun vibrations and creating somewhat of a bridge between the apartments.  



I purchased the supersound clips from you and installed a floating ceiling and floating wall on my bedroom side of the adjoining wall.  I caulked all around the edges and in between the pieces of drywall. The sound is reduced but not as significantly as I hoped.  I can still hear the base of their stereo/TV and the footfalls are barely reduced.



I'm not sure exactly what the problem is.  If I put my ear to the wall, even on the opposite side of the room as their stereo and TV are, I can hear the sound very clearly.  I can also hear their voices  very clearly with my ear to the wall.  The sound is the clearest in the adjoining wall but still very present in the other walls.  It's as if we are surrounded by every sound that they make.



I have ordered a small piece of the MLV Floormat (54 x 24") to put under the shelving unit they keep their stereo on.  But other than that, I am out of ideas.  



Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated.



Thanks,

David

[John Rice]

David,

   I am debating using the clips to reduce footfall and airborne noise as well and have a some of questions for you about your install (particularly since it doesn't seem to have completely done the trick)

1. Did you rip out the old drywall first before attaching the sound clips?

2. How many layers of drywall did attach to the sound clips/channel (and what thickness?)

3. Is the footfall noise you still hear more of the "clicking" sound that is made when people wear hard sole shoes on wood floors, or a very low frequency "booming" sound?

thanks

John Rice

[GC]

Good post and questions David!  

I personally don't know whether to get resilient channels, supersound clips, or isomax clips to attach to my current drywall ceiling.

[Scott C.]

I just purchased the clips as well as mass loaded vinyl and am about to do my install.  Would love to hear more about the details of your install....or any other help.  This is for a ceiling install and my primary concern is footfall an dcreaky floor.  Thanks!