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Soundproofing a Shed

droodzilla

droodzilla

pfm Member
Hi folks, I'm asking this for a friend who's a keen woodworker...

He wants to build a workshop (approx 3m x 4m) at the top of his garden where he will pursue his hobby. The workshop will be on a bed of concrete and he's already decided he wants it to have a wooden exterior.

His next-door neighbour has approached him to express concern about noise levels. The two gardens share a back wall and both houses are in something of a dip, which somehow seems to trap or focus the sound - for example, she can hear conversations in the garden next door even when her double glazed windows are closed.

The neighbour is a lovely woman with some serious health issues which mean she has to rest as much as possible during the day - any significant level of noise will disturb her. My friend gets on well with her and wants to be as considerate as he can be so he's thinking about soundproofing options for the workshop. Hence a few questions...

1. Does it work? If so, how well?

2. How should he go about finding a reputable supplier (he's in Sheffield)?

3. What sort of thing should he be looking for? What questions should he ask?

4. Roughly how much might it cost - assume the shed is 3 x 4 x 2 m?

5. Any other advice?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
What is his noisy hobby ?

He could buy a pre built shed and add sound proofing to it.

Rough cost about £500 for a decent shed and then add extra for the sound proofing layers. You can get insulation board in sheets and apply it manually.

He could buy triple glazing for the neighbour and some ear plugs, or a pair of those Bose thingies.
 
I suppose it depends on if he needs total noise reduction. the more reduction, the more costly.

wood is probably not going to do it.

Mass and air between the Mass is the way, (breeze blocks) but this may not be possible.

You can buy completed soundproof booths, but again expensive.

sorry, I dont know specifics, but this stuff is all over the internet.
 
madmike said:
What is his noisy hobby ?

He could buy a pre built shed and add sound proofing to it.

Rough cost about £500 for a decent shed and then add extra for the sound proofing layers. You can get insulation board in sheets and apply it manually.

He could buy triple glazing for the neighbour and some ear plugs, or a pair of those Bose thingies.
Click to expand...

Woodworking - think hammering and sawing (probably a power saw). I mentioned it in the first sentence of my post but I knew I should have repeated it somewhere in the rest of the text. :)

For clarity, it's the potential cost of soundproofing he's interested in - he's already budgeted for the shed.
 
'Soundproofing' will never be A) Easy or B) Cheap
As has already been said - MASS is needed, but not only that.
Absolute 100% sealing of ALL holes / gaps etc is key. The means many, many tubes of acoustic sealant (Rockwool do an intumescent version that I get at around £1.20 tube +VAT) Making the door soundproof will not be an easy task.

It does depend on limit of reduction, but if circular saw / planer-thicknesser / dust extraction going = huge task. No way will a £500.00 shed do that - a proper block built job will be best place to start.
 
He is probably not going to be hugely successful with a wooden shed.

best forget about a window in his new shed.

He is then going to have to totally line it inside. with what, i dont know.

His problem is going to be that the smallest gap/hole is going to allow leakage. getting an air tight seal is going to be very difficult.

The door area is going to be a problem.

He is probably not going to get "sound proof", but could possibly get a reduction sufficient to not be heard indoors , next door. If he is lucky and very careful re gaps.

It still isnt going to be cheap
 
He may want a wooden exterior but the walls are going to have to be a lot more substantial than that to hide the noise of woodworking machinery. So blockwork or double brick going to be needed, and limited window sizing - triple glazed too.

Roofs on sheds are typically of very lightweight construction, so that too will be signifacnt problem allowing noise to escape. The upshot would be a rather oppressive atmosphere inside that will be unpleasant as a workshop.

In a nutshell, I think he is asking the almost unrealistically impossible. If, however, his woodwork does not involve a lot of routing or circular sawing then there is less to worry about!
 
He needs to use hand tools, much quieter.

As said above its difficult/expensive to sound proof a shed.
And it sounds like the neighbour is going to have problems with any level of sound.

Pete
 
I think he might be better to forget the hugely expensive soundproofing, which it seems will probably not hide the noise sufficiently for his neighbour. He is obviously a good guy to even consider it.

He might be better to have some kind of informal arrangement with her that he will try to do the noisiest bits when she is out, or at least not sleeping. Or find somewhere else to do his hobby.

Kind regards

- Garry
 
i was up at 5 am today for my new shed to be delivered . only a small one but its beautifully built . maybe not the cheapest but its real quality compared to the trash you get in some places

http://www.ukgardenbuildings.co.uk/

they do security sheds as well which have very small windows
 
Line it, insulate the cavities, keep the door shut. If this is still too noisy, give up. I had a neighbour who expected silence, I did my best to accommodate her requests but one day she asked me to turn my very modestly playing HiFi down at 8pm. I said no, we didn't speak again. Neighbours the other side were fine. Point is that if someone expects silence then you won't achieve it without moving or giving up the activity. As you have a good relationship with her then your best route is to agree quiet times and noisy times. You are out all day at work, I imagine, you aren't running a business, realistically how often will you actually be using power tools? If you said no more than an hour at a time and not after 10pm, I'd say that was fair enough. If you were a gardener she could expect far more noise from mowers and hedge trimmers.
 
hifinutt said:
i was up at 5 am today for my new shed to be delivered . only a small one but its beautifully built . maybe not the cheapest but its real quality compared to the trash you get in some places

http://www.ukgardenbuildings.co.uk/

they do security sheds as well which have very small windows
Click to expand...

A common security weak point is the roof you can usually lift it off with your bare hands I always fix extra L shaped brackets to the roof to make it harder to lift off.
 
It might be worth getting an SPL meter and doing some readings to get an idea of the kind issues his neighbour has in terms of the sound she can hear inside her house and in her garden.

A long time ago when I worked for a venue in Sheffield, I got a complaint from someone who lived half a mile away in a block of flats on a hill high above the venue. He said he could hear the music clearly in his bedroom from an 80's disco we used to put on a weekly basis. I made an appointment to go and visit his flat late at night when the disco was on and he was right, it was like we had a put a speaker from the venue in his bedroom.

He said that even if he got to sleep, there was always one record that woke him up, which was Leader of the gang by Gary Glitter......
 
I have a woodworking shed in my garden and insulated it for heat but have found it very good as sound insulation as well. Trouble is it is not inaudible but it is considerably quieter than I expected.

Not sure where you or your friend are located but you would be welcome to come over and assess the level of noise with doors closed etc. It is an 18mm solid wood cladding with membrane and a 50mm insulation layer covered with 12mm OSB per the pics.

The ceiling has a metal roof with membrane, 75mm insulation and 12mm OSB.

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cutting42 said:
I have a woodworking shed in my garden and insulated it for heat but have found it very good as sound insulation as well. Trouble is it is not inaudible but it is considerably quieter than I expected.

Not sure where you or your friend are located but you would be welcome to come over and assess the level of noise with doors closed etc. It is an 18mm solid wood cladding with membrane and a 50mm insulation layer covered with 12mm OSB per the pics.

The ceiling has a metal roof with membrane, 75mm insulation and 12mm OSB.

37746627026_2ce875a6bc_b.jpg



37085763794_bb64760b5a_b.jpg
[/url]


37746625516_846455088f_b.jpg
[/url]


37536938030_1141c61d6f_b.jpg
[/url]
Click to expand...

Wow thats lovely
 
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