Love the way you handled the complaint.

Very much enjoyed this. I am a music producer and I help build out home studio for friends and colleagues. Sound proofing and sound treatment are huge topics that are very complicated. You touched on a lot of important topics here, but as you mentioned, you only scratched the surface. I would definitely like to hear more on this topics. One other comment to help explain audio numbers. Decibels are logarithmic, and a 6 dB difference in volume equates to approximately a 100% decrease is perceived loudness/energy. A change on a STC scale from 66 to 60 is very perceivable in other words. Again, great job!!

Teacher, we have lots of confusing posts on moisture barriers, rain screens, where to put the insulation, and the like. This video proves that you can move from foam info to assembly info for us who need some clarity. Issues such as non-vented attic treatment of moisture near roof peaks, fluid applied membrane over OSB/ply/wrap, and on and on. Thanks so much. Bob in Nevada

I would like to here 😉 more. I’m sure it will go over my head but I listen a few times to each one and get more out of the videos. Thank you so much for the information in the videos you have done. Hope this finds you well. Grace and peace Slick

I listen to you content, like a podcast. Yes, some of it is visual, but I can usually tell when it is, so I stop and watch when that occurs. I'm not trying to get into the industry or anything, but I like to understand the intricacies of building methods because I sometimes build for myself. To be clear, I would contract the spray foam. Anyway, I really like your format, I can learn and still be productive, doing other things. Thank you!

Hi Mike great to see you back been really busy by the looks of things that looks great work Mike nice n neat from one closed cell sprayer to another 👍👍👍👌👌

Thanks for the reply. I have watched all four of your videos you mention and also those of Joe L. and Matt R. and it is the diffusion port/dehumidifier/supply air in attic that adds a bit of confusion. I see the logic of closed cell the envelope with 2" or more, rain screen the walls, and the various ways to vent the bottom of the roofing ("frost line on foamed roofs" video"). It is the whole assembly especially with a metal roof that seems to have too many alternatives. Add peel/stick, fluid applied, ply vs Advantech vs Zip, and all the rest and it gets complicated for simple minds like mine. Joe's drawings are nice but the details are not there. We live in southern Nevada so it does not matter too much what we do regarding moisture management, no moisture to deal with in general. Thanks for your effort, I never miss one of your posts. Have a great winter season, I know it is a challenging time for doing foam. Bob Jarrard in Nevada

Thanks so much. Another reason I’m going to have parts of our home done. I can’t do all of it. But I’ll do some. 👍👍👍

Cold humid days, especially with low cloud cover is a major contributor to sound transmission. Cold air is more dense so the sound waves travel further. Ever notice how you can hear a concert or construction that's fairly far away on a cold day like it's only a few blocks away? Vs hot sunny day.

Thanks! I'm designing a commercial dog boarding kennel and have recently been wondering this. I would love the best acoustic reduction with barking, but.......it's remote desert and extreme heat. If I have to decide between better cooling or better sound reduction.......but, it's good enough for living next to a jet base (I'm former navy Aviation) then, I think this has helped me with what I wanted to know. I appreciate your anecdotal stories and being able to dumb it down for me. Lol 😁

On my last house build (1600 sqft walkout), I did the bottom part in ICF (8" concrete, 10' tall walls). It was incredibly quiet down there. That said, for the theatre room in my next house, I will use staggered, double 2x4 walls with the Roxul safe & sound as I need it to be dead quiet so I can make noise in there when my wife is asleep 😉 Foam isn't good enough at blocking the low transmission sound from a Subwoofer. Neither is fiberglass or a single layer of batts. Having said that, I may be convinced to use spray foam on the first wall if the price is competitive.

Ever here of spray foam worldwide on Facebook? Your videos would be great knowledge for people there and you would catch alot of traction! Love your content Jones! Been watching for years

Mike, Great video as always. As noted in discussion, we are going with 3" CCSF on exterior walls, ceiling & garage residence transition wall. Still deciding on interior for sound etc. We'll do something but it still deciding. One more thing to think about regarding sound, living at 6,850' elevation, I would anecdotally tell you that altitude affects...for sure outside. You would be amazed how much sound carriers the higher altitude you go.

First off thanks soooo much for sharing this. My question is with regards to interior walls with metal studs and a sandwich of gyproc open cell foam and gyproc. Also whats the best thickness to use for the gyproc ?Thank you in advance.

I'm more interested in the nerdy side of this. I'm looking to build a work shed that I can do sensitive audio recordings similar to what a radio station might need. The real only advise I've come across is to do double thickness walls to handle double the insulation. I know fiberglass is pretty good at sound insulation, but I'm looking for the best option. I've also heard that some insulation spray foams can cause the wall to become more rigid, which might transmit certain frequencies of sound better, though they'll also block others better. To me, it seems logical to look for a hybrid system, but I'm looking for more data. I'm open to input and honestly I don't know much about building code or building structures in general so I'm researching for what I need so I could tell my contractor what I need when I'm ready.

I have a new home build in CO, main floor is vaulted to 26’ and manufactured log walls on upper level and ICF 8-10” concrete on all lower level. Finished upper Floor will be slate. Lower level is 10’ ceilings and concrete floor. What treatment would you recommend? Roof is 1 1/2” ply with metal standing seam. I need R49 minimum on roof structure. In floor radiant heat btw both floors and ENERsign windows R10. I want maximum acoustic treatment between floors which is 12” OC. Also using 5/8” Quiet Rock drywall on lower level with Hilti putty for outlets and acoustic goo for the drywall application. Please advise.

Am currently on my lunch break in the middle of installing 9” of open cell foam between the floors of a 4500 sq ft residence under construction on Cape Cod, MA. Costs a little more than the pink stuff, but a superior sound attenuation product. Will never use it for a thermal envelope, though, closed cell is the product for that

I once had a house built and immediately finished the basement. I decided to attempt "sound proofing" the space, but I went too far. I used metal studs for everything, I staggered the wall studs and for the ceilings I only attached the studs to the above 1st floor wood joists, in the middle of the span, using rubber strips. Other than that, everything was supported by the basement concrete floors, the concrete block walls, or it free standing. I insulated everything (including interior walls, with rockwool. This thing was so quiet that you could stomp on the floor above and only hear the noise because it had traveled down the stairs and through 2 doors. I literally went too far because it was painful to enter the space. It felt like something was pushing on your ear drums, like q-tips were shoved in your ears too far. It was very uncomfortable! She had to run the ceiling fan any time she entered the room. Even with the fan on, my wife couldn't go into the room. I'm not joking and I'm not wrong, this is something that virtually anyone entering the space noticed. There's a point where sound deadening can be worse than noise transmission.

Having a bit of practical experience here (I'm not an acoustical engineer), sound attenuation depends a lot on what frequency you wish to block. The testing letter in the video shows quite clearly that high frequencies are blocked much better by foam than low frequencies. Automotive sound deadening, mostly low frequency, use lead impregnated rubber mat. A double layer of 5/8 drywall is very good for reducing sound transmission. I can't compare it to foam, but it does an excellent job. It's probably not something you want to do on all your exterior walls, but it's an easy add-on for existing walls shared between an office and media room or bedroom and bathroom. On the "Karen" there is a large difference between sound traveling through a wall or floor, and sound reflecting off a wall or floor. Reflected sound will always be greater in spaces with hard, flat surfaces, and the sound deadening properties inside the wall will have little effect. Carpet, wall hangings, furniture, and other things in the space will attenuate sound through both absorption and diffraction (preventing resonances). This is why soundproof rooms are not just lined with flat foam, the foam is angular to break reflections. Karen still needs to pay her flippin' bill, but I suspect she was talking about reflected noise (which you alluded to, but some folks may have missed it) and your demonstration was about transmitted sound.

I am looking to do spray foam too. Glad I found your channel. I might need to build a few boxes with fiberglass, rockwool and spray foam and see which one does a better job. I was in a barndo a few weeks ago, all spray foam but no OSB or Zip system and no drywall. You could hear outside a little bit more. I do think spraying on the metal doesn't help as much as having a OSB between the 2....

I actually tested loosefill fiberglass onsite while installing and r60. I used my phone and it was cool simple experiment. But yes, half pound being more dense will do a better job.

Any hope of a nerdville sound video? Just did a mega fiberglass drill and fill retro on a casino hotel that refused open cell foam. They couldn't get anyone to stay at the hotel because it was so loud. The original contractor didn't insulate between joining walls. I could not sway them to foam with just anecdotal evidence because some dingbat told the project manager that open cell foam doesn't work. This was a great video, and very informative. 💪🏽

Have an owner, building a 2-story ICF home, and has 12” I-beams between floors. They want sound attenuation/dampening to reduce the future noise from the future ruckus from the kids, and some plumbing between floors. Do you recommend filling that cavity or would 5.5” work well enough? (And maybe fill the cavities where plumbing is running through it?)

Thanks for this - do you know much about closed cell as opposed to open cell as most of your video is discussing open cell? We recently did a whole home full CC on the walls and OC in the roof line. Love the energy efficiency but the house rumbles easily and planes are far more noticeable than they used to be with cellulose in the attic.

I was disappointed to not get the STC ratings of fiberglass and cellulose and closed cell vs open cell. Also disappointed that you don't like putting open over closed cell. Planning on spraying my new house under construction, probably closed only but considering open for interior walls floor and ceiling around the MBR. Thanks for the video Mike. Love your channel.

I am here in New England area in USA and they spray closed cell at the basement from rim joist and concrete wall upto only few feet down and not all the way to the entire wall down close to the floor like you've shown. Is that okay? I wish I can send bunch of pictures of completed jobs.

Love the videos Spray Jones - I was wondering if you could do one for crawlspaces? I am a spray foam applicator and still struggle with spraying floor joists from underneath the house. Can't seem to find the sweet spot temperature and for the life of me cannot make it come out as smooth as walls or ceilings. Would love some feedback, thanks!

Can you do a video comparing spray foam insulation to common rigid foam insulation such as eps and xps? I installed eps on the exterior of my detached garage and it's performing great, it's more comfortable than my house.

My brother built his ICF house 10 years and had 4” closed cell sprayed down on the ceiling. He has a 6/12 roof pitch and noticed a lot of traffic noise coming into his house from the adjacent highway. He then had 6” of cellulose blown in on top the closed cell, made a big difference and helped the noise. I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this and if spraying down to the ceiling creates a “drum” for the sound to resonate in?

So what I got from this video and your other videos is use 2-3” closed cell for exterior walls and 4” open cell for basement ceiling, interior walls, and attic ceiling ?

Hi Spray Jones- is it possible to spray foam a painted surface, or will the foam lift? I would like to paint the wood in my attic white and eventually want to get it spray foamed when I have the money but I’m not sure if painting will sabotage the spray foam job.

thanks for sharing this. how thick was that floor assembly that achieved the STC 50?

"Proverbial Karens" HAHAHA. Always great Info, thanks Mike!! Would love to hear more about anything closed cell!

How does open cell compare to rockwool anecdotally? I prefer foam, but many contractors prefer rockwool

Based on my experience sprayfoam is not the best for sound attenuation. Open cell spray foam performs better than closed cell in reducing sound transfer, but neither is effective at blocking sound transfer. The qualities that make sprayfoam an excellent thermal barrier couples the wall elements together as one and therefore increases noise transfer.

Listen to the end folks! There is a "Karen" story that has has me ROFL. On a more serious note, do you think there is any benefit to cellulose flash and batt for catching additional frequencies?

nobody nowhere is safe from the karen !