GREEN GLUE

The owners of this Bangor nightclub had been the target of noise complaints for months. They were re-issued a special permit to stay in business, but only under the condition that they take steps to significantly increase the soundproofing. Three walls were concrete, but the fourth was a standard single stud wall. It was recommended to remove the old wood wall and replace it with a double stud wall. On the inside they used three layers of standard 5/8” drywall with Green Glue. On the outside they used three sheets of standard “T-111” exterior siding with 3.5” fiberglass insulation in the stud cavities. COMMENTS FROM THE MANAGEMENT: “The sound problem has been completely eliminated. We hosted the City Council to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new wall. We really turned up the volume to give the council an idea of the sound levels inside during operation. Then everyone went out into the parking lot. There is a ‘wow’ factor as everyone comes out.” Council member Gerry Palmer noted.“The sound from the mercury vapor lights was louder than what was coming out of the building when standing 15 feet away.”

The motel was scheduled for a remodel. One of the issues scheduled for upgrading was the sound isolation between units. Previously there was a single stud wall with single 5/8” drywall on each side. There were frequent customer noise complaints about occupants in adjacent rooms.After considering many options including pre-fabricated “soundproof” drywall, Green Glue was selected to be used. An additional layer of 5/8” drywall with Green Glue was installed. All seams and outlets were sealed with caulk. COMMENTS FROM THE CONSTRUCTION FIRM: “Cost, performance, and speed of installation were the three driving factors considered. On a test wall, Green Glue passed the motel owner’s informal sound tests even before it was completely dry. When we first started this research (for sound isolation) we were concerned about finding a solution that was fast and required no special skill or training. After the furniture was moved, we could complete the drywall install (with Green Glue), sealing with caulk and first coat of mud in under 1 hour. We were able to conduct the remodel while the motel was still occupied.”

This is the latest phase of the town home project. This is all new construction. Previously units were constructed with resilient channel and double drywall on the walls and ceilings. There were issues with short circuiting the resilient channel as well as crushing the resilient channel on the walls after an impact.In the 900 building, the resilient channel was replaced with Green Glue between the double drywall. COMMENTS FROM THE MANAGEMENT: “We found the Green Glue easier to work with than the resilient channel. Once the Green Glue dried, the rooms were really quiet. The walls feel more solid also. We have Green Glue spec’d for the next building this summer.”

We (Rives Audio) are in the completion stages of a high-end Home Theatre, in the Chicago area. We specified Green Glue for the first time on this project, having used soundboard (Celotex or an equivalent) before. In fact, I have been using 1/2” soundboard as a ‘change of medium’ between two layers of 5/8” sheetrock in my studio design work for 25 or more years. I have just returned from a site visit to the Chicago project and had a chance to evaluate the preliminary results. I have to say that the Green Glue product is exceptional as a damping factor. It reduces the ability of the sheetrock to vibrate at its fundamental frequencies (relative to spacing and attachment) with great efficiency, so much so that we intend to specify Green Glue for all our future work.