Spray foam would definitely help if you did it on all sides and possibly the ceiling. Another consideration would be sound transmission through windows and doors, particularly if there are large, resonant garage doors involved. So the fewer of these, the better. More details would help...

- Good double/triple windows should help a lot.

- Spray foam, done correctly, will help.

- Audio bridging can be similar to thermal bridging so it will xmit through the sheetrock and studs to the exterior of the building. External foam will help with both audio and thermal bridging. You need to be careful how much external foam and internal insulation you have to avoid moisture problems from where the dew point ends up.

- Isolation pads under floor tools.

- Hang your DC and ducts with isolation hangers.

- If you can float your floor that would help.

What you want is sound isolation. For loud high pitched noise, if you can't build a separate building or masonry walls, you need to isolate the surfaces of the workroom from the house structure with multiple layers of gypsum wall board attached with resilient adhesives, connectors or channels the ultimate being those features in a free standing room inside a room. Insulation helps a little with cracks but foam is no better than any other kind and since foam is an adhesive don't let it defeat the resilient isolation system. No windows and two sound sealed solid core doors in one frame. Caulk all seams and cracks. Add steel insulated double-walled ducts for air supply and exhaust. Surface mounted lighting and power. It cannot be done on a tight budget.

Can you locate the shop in a separate building from your house, and one not close to any neighbors? That would solve most of your concerns.

It's the tails on the tools what's the problem.

Traditional woodworking is much quieter. I know a number of folks who do all of their woodworking with hand tools. They quite enjoy it and their results are exceptional. Also much healthier since there is no dust to breath and it's a more active.

Renting pseudo industrial space is another option. This can be fairly inexpensive in some places and even better if you share costs with one or two others. Artspace is a good starting point for finding something.

I would recommend heading over to lumberjocks and reading one of the many sound control threads.

Thanks for the comments. It sounds like there are some options of which I will have to do some additional research.

I wish I could say i will put it on a bigger lot away from people but unfortunately there aren't many options like that so are stuck with the few choices we have which is close to neighbors.

Those that do it in the basement, does the dust caused eventually leak into the rest of the home?

So as i mention i think the foam could happen in this space. Also, i hadn't thought about it but i do have it in my current space a wood sub floor to aid in keeping my feet warm. I could certainly do this again as well. All windows would be at least double pane but we don't have the plan figured just yet on a floor plan still in the exploration phase.

The initial idea of the space was to have it as an extension of the garage but in its own space. If doors would cause an issue I could likely leave it and a garage door out and utilize the one in the garage we would have.

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions.

I've had to deal with sound isolation many times on projects from high end condos to recording studios. Exposed foam will absorb a little of the sound as it bounces around inside the workspace but it won't do much to prevent sound from escaping from the space and its a serious fire hazard and code violation. However, its worth using insulation in a wall cavity simply because it helps absorb sound that gets into the wall through cracks and bounces around inside the cavity. But it will only increase the STC rating of a normal wall by 2 or 3 points and you need to improve it by ten times that.

First, it takes more than one wall. Choose an unfinished room and add fiberglass or cellulose or rock wool insulation (whatever is cheaper) to the stud cavities. It will help to seal the cavity with sealant or foam. Then install sound isolation clips to the studs, add continuous horizontal hat channels and then install two layers of 5/8" drywall being careful to not screw through into the studs. [Resilient RC-1 channels are cheaper and effective but not as effective as isolation clips] Tape and seal all drywall edges and joints well. Do the same to the ceiling. Avoid penetrations. There are special ways to seal outlet boxes but I won't go into it here. No recessed lights.

Then build another wall a few inches or more away from the first wall and create a false ceiling from 2x4's or 2x6's depending on the size of the room. It helps to built this in a garage bay with a high ceiling, then a new buyer can remove the room and use it for a car. You may need intermediary supports but if you hang the joists from the ceiling, use a resilient hanger. Add insulation, 2 layers of drywall and seal it.

Put a solid core sound sealed door in each wall and seal the perimeter of the frame. If you must have a window put one in each wall. The goal is to decouple the walls.

Some like to hang mass loaded vinyl between the walls. I've seen lead sheets hung in that space for low frequency sound in a recording studio but that's not relevant here.

This may seem expensive but it has a good chance of working. Bargain approaches are unlikely to work.

Don't forget ventilation and dust collection systems. Perhaps an intercom too.

Get your neighbors interested in woodworking, then you can work as long as they do.

Those that do it in the basement, does the dust caused eventually leak into the rest of the home?

I get very little dust in my shop, and even less in the rest of the home. I would guess that less dust gets from my shop into the house than gets carried in from the outside on the bottom of shoes and by pets.

Airborne dust is dangerous and requires a deliberate effort to remove the dust generated by power tools at the point of generation. Once the dust is in the air it is too late. A properly constructed two stage dust collection system will work wonders.

Another voice to say that spray foam in walls won't help that much. Arguably, it isn't that good at all. You need to decouple and that requires 2 walls or other means. Foam does not decouple.

Foam air seals and that is needed too. But there are other ways of doing that.

Honestly - given your budget and needs - I would go for the basement and seal that for the dust. Ventilate it outside.

It really isn't hard to control sound in a shop. There are plenty of guys in major metropolitan areas with apartment wood shops. Induction motors run around the 200 Hz and a universal motor around 500 Hz. Those are fairly easy frequencies to deal with. Sound control in my home theater was many times more difficult and expensive than sound control in my shop.

Every woodworking site out there will have pages and pages of information for sound control for an in-home shop. Fine Woodworking, Lumberjocks, Sawmillcreek, Wood Magazine, etc. all have addressed the specific sound issues in a wood shop, most have done so many times. Utilizing those sources rather than broad information on general soundproofing will address your question specifically.

You do not have to silence the sound, just make it palatable.

I am curious on the idea of creating a room withing a room. I have heard of this before and I think what I find that I like the best about it is that since this this is a woodshop I will be hanging stuff on my walls, storing wood, etc. I need some structure to be able to do that. I don't believe I could trust resilient channel or anything like that to be able to take the weight of potential heavy items on walls.

What I am not yet sure of though is how would effective this is in addition, it sounds like if you have a 2x6 exterior wall you might have that in addition to a another or at least a 2x4 wall. so you are loosing around 10" to 12" on all walls. When you build this do you have to keep the interior wall completely separate so not touching the exterior wall in any way?

If the shop will be a basement, the biggest challenge will be reducing noise for your family.

The sides of the shop against the foundation wall can probably be bare concrete or drywall on studs with no decoupling so wood could be stored on it. You could add decoupling with resilient channels later if necessary. An acoustic isolation wall is only as good as the weakest part of the exterior walls will be any basement windows.

The interior shop walls could be a standard double layer drywall acoustic separation wall with resilient channels or resilient clips.

The toughest issue will be the ceiling. Untreated, it can transmit sound to the rest of the house. There are too many ways to isolate the ceiling from the room to discuss. They are described on the internet (acoustic isolation ceiling)

Believe it or not, to get the most for your money and efforts you should hire a professional engineer. Its really easy to unintentionally defeat even the simplest acoustic treatment.

For studios and screening rooms we'd frequently float the floor (so you have a concrete floor raised above another concrete floor using isolation bells). This floor is within the 'building wall system' which may be exterior or interior walls. Then on top of the floated floor you build standard stud walls with about a 1/2" gap to the building walls and then a joisted or trussed ceiling supported only by the walls on the floated floor. The result is a room that is entirely isolated from the rest of the building except through the isolation bells supporting the floor.

SO, you have standard stud walls to support shelves and cabinets.

Rigid stud walls will still transmit sound so resilient channels can help.

"Rigid stud walls will still transmit sound so resilient channels can help."

If they are built the way that I discussed above they will be acoustically isolated much more than channel can provide. This is the way that studio's and soundstage are built when sound and vibration isolation (in or out) are critical.

My shop is in an old balloon framed barn. Contrary to the theory and expert opinion here my real-world experience is that spray foam insulation made a tremendous difference, even though it was only 4 in (from the days when 2x4's measured 2" by 4") and no other sound isolation methods were employed. My walls are skip board sheathing with cedar shingles, 4" of foam in the bays, and then 5/8" drywall on the inside. The day after the job was done, prior to interior wall board I walked in and my first reaction was "this place is like a tomb!". Now if I'm running the dust collector, planer, and fairly loud radio what you can hear outside is at most a low hum, much less than the leaf blower running two blocks away. Our back fence neighbor (house perhaps 100 ft away, works at home) didn't know I did woodworking. Prior to the insulation there would have been no doubt!

Our house is similar construction, but we wrapped it in continuous blue foam as well, creating a break between the studs and outer wall. We can hear essentially nothing from outside-- no road noise at all despite being 100 yards from a busy street with high speed traffic.

I really think sound transmission through foam-filled walls is pretty negligible, Vigilant air sealing along with quality windows and doors will do wonders for both insulation value and sound transmission. Foam is an easy way to accomplish that, even in a 120 year old building..

"...How to silence a shop..."

Turn off the electricity?

Contrary to the theory and expert opinion here my real-world experience is that spray foam insulation made a tremendous difference, even though it was only 4 in (from the days when 2x4's measured 2" by 4") and no other sound isolation methods were employed.

I really didn't want to argue with people so I didn't engage, but some studies on industrial machinery sound control agree with you.

I will say it again, "Induction motors run around the 200 Hz and a universal motor around 500 Hz. Those are fairly easy frequencies to deal with."

Feel free to spend as much money as you want to achieve whatever result you are convinced you need. Undoubtedly, the more you spend, the better your results will be. However, be careful that you don't spend a dollar chasing a nickel's worth of difference.

"Turn off the electricity?"

I got to work in the woodworking shop in Williamsburg for 4 days. It was a really great experience and exceptionally quiet (and dust free).

For grins I actually just collected some data. With machines running I recorded 93-94 dB inside my shop (yes, I always wear ear protection when machines are running), I then stood 10 ft outside the big double doors (the worst insulated side of the building) and got 62 dB. It was raining pretty hard, so I don't know how much of that was the rain and how much was the shop noise.

I don't have the technology to measure STC, but it seems like pretty effective quieting.

For reference. The EU target noise levels for residential neighborhoods is 48dB day and 40dB night. I believe these are both typically dBa (vs dBc).

What were you using to measure? a or c? FWIW, we've found that Decibal X Pro on an iPhone X is the most accurate consumer option but for your purposes I'd think most apps accurate enough.

IIRC the most annoying sound is a tablesaw while cutting with a poor blade. I think the Forrest WWII is typically ranked the quietest though that's from some years ago.

IIRC the most annoying sound is a tablesaw while cutting with a poor blade.

Mitre saw is supposed to be the loudest but personally, I always find the router the most annoying tool. I don't know anything about poor blades (at least that's my story and I am sticking to it).

As for most annoying sound in a wood shop... A nail in a board + new jointer blades.

I think you're right about the mitre saw. Interestingly my 12" planer was much more annoying to me than my new to me 16".

As for most annoying sound in a wood shop... A nail in a board + new jointer blades.

Yep. And for me not so much the cost of the blades but trying to get everything adjusted correctly. For some reason I've always found my Jointer the most difficult to align tool I've ever had.

My meter says 56-57 dB standing in the driveway with just the birds and light wind in the trees and road noise from several hundred yards away. The refrigerator and ticking clocks inside the house give me 47, so one more clock and I'll be violating EU rules. Heaven forbid I speak out loud to my wife or the cat starts to purr! (It gives one at least some modest sympathy for Brexit)

40 dB-- especially at night with the frogs and bugs singing would be pretty unimaginable. How do they possibly obtain or enforce that? (it's way louder here at night than during the day most of the year with all the critters).

I'm using an app called SPL Meter on the C scale

The EU target is focused primarily on road and commercial/industrial noise. This is both for health and creating more pleasurable environments.

They're doing increasing testing of road surfaces to determine which are the quietest. Tyres have noise ratings and if you want a tyre with a louder rating, a noisier tyre, then you pay a stiff penalty. You'll never experience pick up trucks w/ loud engines/mufflers there.

I don't know that they'll care about you yelling at your wife but if you talk too loud in a café or on a train then someone will likely say something to you. I've seen more than a few Americans booted out of a pub for their behavior or loudness but on the other hand extreme loudness and some bit of drunken obnoxiousness is the norm during a football match.

I travel between the two several times per year and the U.S. is extremely loud compared to much of Europe and it's both noticeable and measurable.

An air tight atmosphere during your noise producing sessions is paramount . Noise attenuation curtains ( localized noise reduction ) can be used within the garage in specific areas , since smooth hard surfaces reflect and can increase noise amplitude . If you are building a new structure the use of Roxal mineral wool insulation is the most efficient and cost effective noise reduction barrier available to reduce noise to area neighbours . This insulation is used within the manufacture of industrial mufflers within reducing ambient noise through the double walled mufflers of steam turbines and jet engine turbines exhaust gas,s to atmosphere . It is also spec,d in all R - 2000 housing projects that are so air right that ventilation units are required !

Noise attenuation curtains can be used within the garage in specific areas , since smooth hard surfaces reflect and can increase noise amplitude.

Really... curtains in a shop...

The very last thing you want in a shop are curtains, and the very first thing you want are smooth walls. At some point noise reduction should take a backseat to safe environmental conditions. Even ignoring breathing concerns, in a wood shop it is very important to get dust on the floor and out of the air for fire safety.

bry911 , apparently you have never been in a welding shop . Flash curtains @ every welding booth and plenty of local fumehood usage to reduce fumes / vapour emissions .Perhaps you should invest in a proper dust collection system or wear a respirator for personal protection and increase your cleaning schedule prior to a slip and fall on a unsafe dust covered floor . P.S. More importantly the jest of the originator "Olson,s" concern was in regards to potential local bylaw noise complaints , curtains are a very practical control measure and much more feisable than acoustical foam application on interior stud walls . Dust on the floor is a secondary and preventable issue . If you had read more carefully you would have recognized that I mentioned mineral wool insulation as the best form of noise abatement within the woodworking structure . Sorry if you find sound Health , Safety & Environmental Practices inconvenient .

ssewalk1... LOL

First, let's dispense with the obvious. You didn't say flash curtains in your original post, so the assertion that you meant flash curtains seems a bit like a major backpedal.

More importantly the jest of the originator "Olson,s" concern was in regards to potential local bylaw noise complaints , curtains are a very practical control measure and much more feisable than acoustical foam application on interior stud walls

Which has been covered. You don't need thick pvc curtains hanging from your walls to limit the sound in a woodworking shop. Wood working tools use two types of motors, a universal motor and an induction motor. It is fairly easy to address those specific frequency ranges without breaking the bank. Actually, it is incredibly easy to do. In fact, the vast majority of people who have managed to put woodworking shops in apartment buildings and condos didn't need thick shower curtains to do it.

If you had read more carefully you would have recognized that I mentioned mineral wool insulation as the best form of noise abatement within the woodworking structure .

You definitely shouldn't spend money on Roxul, just head on over to the AVS soundproofing master thread to get actual results from third party testers of Roxul. Roxul gets great results in their tests, but most every reputable double blind study calls those results into question. Honestly, the consensus is that Roxul is less effective than other methods that cost the same.

-----

You are never going to remove all of the fine dust out of the air and adding curtains to a shop, even welding curtains, are a bad idea.

Put some radios outside your shop, and play a radio station your neighbors like.

Kind of like how I put a noise machine in my babies room so he doesn't hear me downstairs watching horror movies

bry911 , Noise attenuation curtains is what I said . Flash curtain was in response to your assumption that free standing curtains increase airborne dust particulate control concerns . I never said to hang lmv curtains from his walls . Air borne wood dust should be removed at the source of origination (equipment) if not , a general dust collection system for the shop is required . Same with a welding shop , Noise from grinding , chipping , scarfing etc and fumes and vapours are removed with curtains and a fume cabinet . My recommendations have been employed successfully within numerous industrial applications , as interim measures for noise abatement . Mineral wool (Roxal) is a World Leading Manufacturer of noise / heat retention matting for steam turbine casings and industrial mufflers for obvious Safety & Evironmental reasons . I have used Roxal successfully for its noise deadening properties on new structures for Diesel Gen sets noise control at our hunting and fishing camps . The most effective design control would be the construction of a properly sized room within a room application that Olson himself indicated !

Let's just stop trying to flex here. It is a bit ridiculous.

I have asthma and when we decided to build a shop connected to the house, dust control was our most important concern. I have a 5 HP dust collection system, with an air cleaner, both with 2 micron filters.

No matter what you do, you are not going to eliminate all dust in a shop using power tools. You are going to be very lucky to get 95%-98%, and two weekends ago, I generated two 55 gallon drums of sawdust ( I had a lot of boards to plane). Even with crazy dust collection, there is at least a couple of gallons of dust floating around my shop, and that is in one weekend, and honestly even with one of the cleanest shops I have ever been in, there was more than that.

Sound attenuation curtains are going to collect dust, and they are going to prevent it collecting on the floor. When you hit those curtains, which you will as you move boards around, that dust is going to get back into the air. It it is a good general suggestion, but not one that is good for the specific situation.

This is the problem of providing general advice to specific questions. I have a home theater, and the work I did to build it was much different than my shop. It was much more expensive and required a lot of decoupling, mass, and absorption, as I am running four large SVS subs in there. However, my shop is just as quiet without most of that expense, and I am not alone in that result. I recommended sources with detailed information and real results addressing wood shops specifically.

I apologize that the tone of my response was rude, I admit that you were the disproportionate recipient of my frustration. That frustration can largely be attributed to the above phenomenon of discounting specific expertise and results, while endorsing general knowledge. I didn't want to advocate for spray insulation as I don't like spray insulation, however, if you were to peruse the information available on shop sound control, you would find scientific studies indicating that open cell foam insulation is actually the most effective option for quieting universal and induction motors, with results that significantly exceed Roxul. However, they must be used in a specific manner, which is detailed in those sources.

bry911 , I agree that open cell foam insulation is the best form of noise dampening / absorption material on the market . However much more expensive within a residential application . Thus my recommendation of mineral wool for heat / cool "R" factor retention and noise control within new garage walls . The portable free standing noise curtains were just a interim bandage measure at the noise source . Your apology accepted no foul no harm , all good from this former 3rd Class Stationary Engineer and current Ventolin / Flovent user , Cheers !