QuietRock – Sound Dampening Sheetrock
When my wife and I designed our pole building home in South Dakota, one of our considerations was to isolate (for sound) as much as possible the master suite from the living areas of the rest of the house. We put a large pool table in the center of an adjoining room and wanted kids (grown now) and grandkids to be able to access it at any hour of the day, without fear they were disturbing our beauty sleep.
In our case, we used interior walls which were framed with 2×8 top and bottom plates; with offsetting 2×4 studs (the studs on the interior and exterior walls are not aligned). To further deaden sound, we installed a layer of drywall between the studs, insulated both with fiberglass insulation and then used 5/8” drywall on both exterior sides.
While our solution has been effective, I’ve since found there may very well have been a more practical solution, which would not have used up so much floor space – caused by the width of the double walls.
QuietRock is a brand of internally damped drywall panel manufactured in the United States by Quiet Solution (aka Serious Materials and Serious Energy). It is designed to provide high levels of sound attenuation between rooms.
QuietRock uses a damping technique called constrained-layer dampening (CLD). QuietRock panels use several tuned constrained-layer systems to create a higher ability to damp vibrational (and therefore acoustic) energy. In essence, the panel does not “want” to vibrate due to stress and strain caused by the damping method. Acoustic energy ends up dissipating as small amounts of heat (which cannot be heard).
Sound attenuation is measured using tests known as ASTM E90 and ASTM E413 to achieve a single sound-transmission-class (STC) rating. QuietRock is one of a class of soundproof drywall products that, according to independent lab tests and field reports, may add 15 to 20 STC points in comparison to standard drywall.
Most of QuietRock panels should have no effect on WiFi or cellular in a pole building. There are a few exceptions to this. Two panels, the QuietRock 530 and QuietRock 545 do contain a layer of steel in the panel which may interfere with WiFi or cellular signals.
QuietRock cannot be used alone for fire rated assemblies. For a panel to be considered fire rated, it must be tested by UL laboratories and pass the fire test (typically either a 1 or 2 hour rating), for the specific assembly. Individual UL fire tests are conducted for specific assemblies and for a product to be considered “fire rated” for a particular assembly it must be included in and pass the specific test. Once an assembly and set of materials is included in a test pass, they are given a “UL Design Number” indicating those materials are approved for the stated test for only the particular assembly. QuietRock has not been tested on any floor/ceiling assemblies as there are too many floor/ceiling assemblies to practically test and each test is expensive to conduct. In order to get a 1 hour rated floor/ceiling assembly to pass, one layer of 5/8″ Type X drywall would need to be added along with the QuietRock layer.
Looking for peace and quiet in a new pole barn? If so… QuietRock may prove to be a product worth investigating further.
