sound proofing ceiling

gonefishin1

I would like add some kind of sound proofing between our room and our kids room which is directly above us. I was thinking of pulling back the carpet in the kids room and finding a way to spray foam in between the joists....but this may not be the best way to go.

do any of you have suggestions on how to sound proof our ceiling or the kids floor?

pyper

There are two types of noise you might be likely to want to mitigate.

1) Noise from talking or playing music or something like that.

2) Noise from thumping on the floor.

Type one you might substantially reduce by lifting the carpet, putting down several layers of 30# felt, another layer of subfloor and putting the carpet back. High pitched sounds are relatively easy to absorb with mass, which is what the 30# felt is. They also make a sound absorbing material that looks like felt but works better -- don't know how much it costs. Insulation in the joists will help a little bit, but not much.

Noise type 2 you can only mitigate by having a separate ceiling joist. Sound that gets to the subfloor will go directly to the joist, through the joist to the drywall, and radiate back out.

Ted White

Pyper is right on about the two different types of noise. Airborne and impact.

I'll say that the simplest solution is carpet and pad above. Reduces the impact noise which is more difficult to deal with than airborne noise. Many people are moving away from carpet + pad, and the resulting hardwood and tile floors are much noisier as a result.