green glue over existing resilient channels

4 years ago

Hi there. Anyone who can help and get through this post would be my hero right now. Currently our master bedroom faces a very busy two lane state route. A very busy artery road for commuters and 18 wheelers. We bought our house (built early 90’s) a year ago and since then got new windows which has helped. We also had a drywall company come in and do the main long wall in our bedroom facing the road with resilient channeling (hung overtop of our existing drywall) which we were told would help. In the beginning it seemed to. Over time, the low frequency from the trucks have gotten worse and almost now sounds like a echo vibration sound as trucks go by. To the point where the sound has amplified. Also, you can now hit the wall and hear the metal channels banging around. As we want nothing to do with the company who did it, we have a drywall guy who does side jobs for us at our rentals who at the time was busy to do the job. We had him come over the other day to check it out. He said they were done poorly and should have been glued and may have come loose. He said he could take the wall down and start fresh with the green glue and another layer. The only question I have is, could the green glue and another layer be added to the existing walls with the channels? The channels DO help with the loud motorcycles but make the semis sound louder and worse. So I’m just wondering if going over top would solve both problems? TIA!

Featured Answer

User

4 years ago

I recommend removing the drywall and resilient channels and installing horizontal hat channels on resilient clips and then installing drywall. That should triple the performance improvement of the resilient channels especially in the lower frequency range.

Then, if you like, add a second layer of drywall with green glue.

Of course, this assumes you have already installed triple-pane windows.

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Comments (7)

PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
4 years ago
Remove the work the "company who did it" did and install the channel and gypsum board properly. Other supplementary actions to take could include exterior landscaping with plants and/or walls, window treatment, white noise, repaving the road, and/or a realestate agent.
worthy
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
I've installed resilient channels on whole homes. That was before sound-dampened drywall and Green Glue came along. Just one misplaced fastener and the whole installation is compromised.

So I would forget about the channel and use one of the other methods. But be sure the edges are carefully detailed and look to stop up any "flanking" paths, which are the bane of "sound dampening" any structure not designed from the get-go to resist sound penetration at all frequencies.
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Jaimie B.
Original Author
4 years ago
So are your thoughts on green glue better then the channeling? The channeling seems to be iffy because of insulation and I would hate to redo that and have it done wrong again. Would the green glue work as well put overtop the poorly installed RC wall? Or would you suggest taking the RC wall down and starting fresh with green glue and a layer of drywall?
worthy
4 years ago
As mentioned before, just one misplaced fastener can short circuit the resilient channels. I've only used Quiet Rock as it installs like standard drywall--just much heavier. Green Glue works out cheaper. But the material is a lot messier to deal with. Results are about the same.
User
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Resilient channels are a light duty sound isolation solution that is easily short circuited and works better on a ceiling.

For this wall I would recommend channels supported by isolation clips.

Here is one system.

GreenGlue makes isolation clips too.
Jaimie B.
Original Author
4 years ago
We already bought the green glue and are going that route. I guess my only question is - do we green glue another layer of drywall over the existing drywall with the poorly installed RC - or do we have tear it out completely and start fresh with only green glue? Or does it even matter because the green glue will hush the resilient channel echo? *Example if we didn’t tear the existing RC wall down (from outside in) - first layer of drywall when house was built + short circuit RC + second layer drywall + green glue + last layer of drywall to finish and paint.