sound proofing a wall

[birdman2005]

How can we sound proof a finished wall between a garage and living quarters on a budget. Without having to take the drywall off.

[DAS]

Generally sound transmission is stopped by a combination of mass, mechanical isolation, and atmospheric isolation.

Mass - concrete, thick and heavy walls, special materials (not foam or traditional insulation, though it can help a very small amount).

Mechanical Isolation - separate foundation, isolating the wood and construction materials from the other space, etc. (not much you can do here)

Atmospheric Isolation - Make it air tight. Good seals around doors, etc.

Just putting treatment on the walls and ceilings isn't going to do much to stop transmission, though it may improve the sound of the room a lot. Tough problem. Others may have time to give more specific advice.

[Audioholic]

If you are turning your garage into a studio (as I have done) you will have to decide on how much sound isolation you want.. for instance, if you want absolutly no sound to go through, you won't really be able to do that with small budget, but if you can live with some sound to pass through, but at the same time really deaden it, you will probally need to build another wall off of your garage wall, and fill it with either tons of insulation (cheap way), or buy more mass stopping material or special material to stop tranmission of sound. you could also float your new studio floor, you can seach online on how that is done,, though it won't be cheap... I built a sound booth within my garage, my DAW stuff is in my garage, and I hear some transmission from my living room and back and forth, but It does not botther my wife and I, and we spent more time trying to make a separate room more quit for recording.

[roblavender]

Well here are a couple ideas that have worked well for me...

On the wall between the house and garage (you mentioned there is already drywall there) add another layer of drywall being sure to cross align the joints... You do not want any joints on each layer to line up.. This easily adds mass to the wall... If you need more dampening you can also create a standoff wall from that wall.. This costs quite a bit more. But you may find that the double layer of drywall along with some stand alone isolators effective enough.

Using a combination of goboes and amp isolation platforms, you can cut down a lot of transmitted sound. You can build amp platforms by using 4" of heavy foam, 5/8" plywood and a bit of carpet... First wrap carpet over the top and side of plywood secure with construction staples.. then Use 3M contact cement to secure foam to bottom of plywood.. This isolates the amp from the floor greatly reducing tranmission of sound from amp to stucture.

If using a real drum set, you can float the floor under the drums (or in a drum booth) inexpensively by using 1' to 2" of foam and lay carpeted plywood over that.. It really does help.. (even better with a layer of rubber matting under the foam. Yeah the floor with rock a bit when you step near the edge, but it works.

If you have to cut even more transmission noise from the house, you can also add a combination of sound absorption material and defusers..

Hope that helps and gives you some ideas.