Hi,
I'm new to the forum, and from the articles I've read here it seems like a nice place to discuss renovation issues. I bought my first home six months ago in an older suburb in town. The house itself is 35 years old and has a basement apartment underneath. I live in the apartment and rent the upstairs bungalow. The last tenants that live there had small kids and I found it to be really noisy upstairs because of the hardwood floors. I read that cellulose insulation provides an excellent sound barrier. I know soundproofing an old house is likely an impossible feat so I wanted somehow to dampen the sound coming from upstairs. I hired a contractor to add dense pack blown in cellulose to both the walls in my basement and the ceiling. At $2 sq/ft the ceiling cost roughly $1500. I wanted to get the walls done anyway as a thermal gun proved there was little to no insulation in the walls and my power bills were higher than normal. I opened up the ceiling above my hallway to do some minor electrical work (adding new lights) so currently this space is wide open. I purchased some Roxul Safe and Sound insulation to cover that area and to finally layer it with drywall. I did a few tests upstairs by playing a song on my cell and laying it on the floor in one of the rooms but disappointly, I could still hear it clearly from downstairs. Is cellulose in the ceiling a complete waste of money for this purpose? I have the contractor coming back on monday (haven't paid him yet) so he can explain to me exactly the sounds this is supposed to block and I want some sound tests. I know it wouldn't stop impact noise from footsteps but I at least wanted conversations to be muffled out as well as ambient sounds. There are no tenants upstairs at the moment so I can't do a very accurate test. Regardless if this proves effective or not I am eligible for a rebate on the ceiling insulation so that makes me feel a little better. Will the insulation also provide greater energy efficiency if nothing else? Thanks.
I apologize if this is discussed in another thread. First time here
I'm new to the forum, and from the articles I've read here it seems like a nice place to discuss renovation issues. I bought my first home six months ago in an older suburb in town. The house itself is 35 years old and has a basement apartment underneath. I live in the apartment and rent the upstairs bungalow. The last tenants that live there had small kids and I found it to be really noisy upstairs because of the hardwood floors. I read that cellulose insulation provides an excellent sound barrier. I know soundproofing an old house is likely an impossible feat so I wanted somehow to dampen the sound coming from upstairs. I hired a contractor to add dense pack blown in cellulose to both the walls in my basement and the ceiling. At $2 sq/ft the ceiling cost roughly $1500. I wanted to get the walls done anyway as a thermal gun proved there was little to no insulation in the walls and my power bills were higher than normal. I opened up the ceiling above my hallway to do some minor electrical work (adding new lights) so currently this space is wide open. I purchased some Roxul Safe and Sound insulation to cover that area and to finally layer it with drywall. I did a few tests upstairs by playing a song on my cell and laying it on the floor in one of the rooms but disappointly, I could still hear it clearly from downstairs. Is cellulose in the ceiling a complete waste of money for this purpose? I have the contractor coming back on monday (haven't paid him yet) so he can explain to me exactly the sounds this is supposed to block and I want some sound tests. I know it wouldn't stop impact noise from footsteps but I at least wanted conversations to be muffled out as well as ambient sounds. There are no tenants upstairs at the moment so I can't do a very accurate test. Regardless if this proves effective or not I am eligible for a rebate on the ceiling insulation so that makes me feel a little better. Will the insulation also provide greater energy efficiency if nothing else? Thanks.
I apologize if this is discussed in another thread. First time here