David lives in an old Freo-style two-storey home in Fremantle, with exposed timber joists and timber floors. It’s a beautiful house, but it carried sound like a drum.
The problem
Sound from the kitchen downstairs travelled straight up through the timber floor into the bedroom above, and the other way too. If his wife dropped a shoe upstairs, it echoed through the kitchen like a jump scare.
What we did
We started with the kitchen ceiling, building an acoustic system between the exposed joists:
- Polyester acoustic insulation in the cavity.
- 13 mm soundcheck plasterboard, a 6 mm polyester sound break and 16 mm fire-rated plasterboard.
- Every joint sealed, so sound has no easy way through.
David pre-painted the timber first, so the finished job kept the character of the house.
The result
David was so delighted with the kitchen that he had us do the rest of the house. Painted white, the new ceilings also gave the whole home an incredible lift. Now the grandchildren can watch TV downstairs while Nan sleeps in.
Tip from Nigel: timber floors carry sound like a drum. Sealing a properly built acoustic system under the joists stops it travelling between floors.
