WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:04.040 KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The 2 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:10.039 House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app. Hey, 3 00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:13.119 did you know that this very program is also the 4 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:17.120 House Whisper podcast. That's right, we have a podcast. We 5 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:20.359 are the podcast. Every time we are done with one 6 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:23.600 of our live broadcasts, it is converted into podcast forms, 7 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:25.480 So if you've missed any part of the show, you 8 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:27.839 can go back and listen again and again and again 9 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:32.280 anytime you want, wherever you want, however you want. The 10 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:35.560 podcast is there. And where is that podcast found? Everywhere? 11 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.719 I mean literally everywhere. Of course, you can listen to 12 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:41.479 it on the free iHeartRadio app, but if you love 13 00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:44.520 Apple podcasts, we're there. If you love Spotify, we're there 14 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.960 wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Just to go 15 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.479 to the search window and put in Home with Dean Sharp, 16 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:53.200 or you can put in Dean Sharp, or you can 17 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:55.759 put in the House Whisper. I guarantee you we're coming 18 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:00.240 up hundreds of episodes all waiting there for you that 19 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:03.439 you can listen to on demand anytime. It is truly 20 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:08.439 truly a home improvement reference library at your fingertips. And 21 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.000 if you're thinking, hey, this is all great, Dean, I 22 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.120 am inspired, I'm informed. But what I really need is 23 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:16.439 you and Tina standing in our house staring at the 24 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.560 problem with us. Well, you can do that too. You 25 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:21.040 can book an in home design consult with me and 26 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:25.879 the tea. Just go to house whisperer dot Design. All right, 27 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:30.480 we're going to return to our conversation on controlling sound. However, 28 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.280 I am going to finish Wendy's question. Wendy had a 29 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:39.200 specific concern about as green as possible hardwood flooring, and 30 00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:44.159 I explain some things about hardwood flooring versus old school 31 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.159 versus engineered flooring, and I understand there is a you know, 32 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:52.319 have no doubt that modern engineered hardwood flooring is the 33 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.680 best hardwood flooring ever in the history of mankind. Just 34 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:00.400 know that, all right, the ware layers excellent, The base 35 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:04.079 and the structure underneath the best it's ever been. Yes, 36 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:07.439 way better, you old schoolers, way better as far as 37 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:13.439 a performing product than solid oak or maple or whatever 38 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:17.800 have you. Three quarter inch solid oak or maple floors. Okay, period. 39 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.159 The end, there there is no competition between the two 40 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:25.280 because of the way that wood interacts with moisture. The 41 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:29.360 end However, there is always a concern with some people 42 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:34.680 of the adhesives that are put together in order to 43 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:39.000 form the plywood layers and so on. And Wendy had 44 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:42.680 brought up one specific product, and I've got to say, 45 00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:46.360 I have not used this product yet for a client 46 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.159 in a house. I know of it. I've heard things. 47 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:51.520 I've heard good things and I've heard not so great 48 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:58.280 things about the Casablanca collection by Alston Incorporated. They've come 49 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:01.840 up with they what they call an an innovative revolutionary 50 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:08.000 hardwood hybrid combination. It's a two ply engine two ply floor. Okay, 51 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.759 and here I was saying, you want nine to eleven 52 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:14.240 plies underneath that to wear layer. They basically have the 53 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:17.360 war layer and wood underneath it. How do they do 54 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:20.960 it well, They basically build the bottom structure of the 55 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:25.080 plank like a cabinet door. Essentially, there's a tongue in 56 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:29.439 groove rail underneath and filler wood in between. And I 57 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:32.759 can see how that would lend a certain amount of 58 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:37.960 stability to the product. However, it is difficult for me 59 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:44.520 understanding that structure. Two, It's difficult for me to suggest 60 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:49.240 that it is as stable as a multiply plywood floor. 61 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:52.719 Just from the pure physics of it, I don't think 62 00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:55.439 it's true. I don't think it's as stable as a 63 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.840 multiply plywood floor. However, the advantage there being they say 64 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:04.080 that they use of completely formaldehyde free adhesives and zero 65 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:08.759 VOC materials, making it a top eco friendly green product, 66 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:11.199 and that I believe. I believe that's the case. However, 67 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:14.719 they are using a lot of solid wood underneath that, 68 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.040 So there are different ways of evaluating green. If it 69 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:22.600 comes down to chemicals and chemical off gassing, if that 70 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:26.360 is where your definition for whatever reason of green is, 71 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:29.800 then this would be near the top of a list. 72 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:34.439 My definition of green extends to the entire manufacturing process, 73 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:37.439 including how many trees and what kind of would it 74 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:41.079 takes to produce any particular product, and that would put 75 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.759 this kind of in the middle of that list. And 76 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:51.000 because there are multi layer plywoods that are also use 77 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:56.319 low formaldehyde or zero formaldehyde and zero VOC materials, by 78 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.680 the way, so that there it is just to keep 79 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:03.720 my promise to Windy about that. By the way, anybody 80 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:07.519 who is interested in finding those kinds of low off 81 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:10.720 gasing products for them, here's a website that I recommend 82 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:15.399 it's a great starting point. My chemical free house, My 83 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:20.240 chemical freehouse dot net. Go to my Chemical freehouse dot net. 84 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:24.560 You'll find every classification of flooring material there and you'll 85 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:27.360 get some input from them and some suggestions as to 86 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:30.040 what's out there, what's available, and what to be looking for. 87 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:35.040 So there you go. All right, Hopefully that satisfied that 88 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:37.560 question in the limited amount of time that I had. 89 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:39.920 Oh what are you doing? Oh? I see Keena's like, 90 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:41.720 all of a sudden behind me. I'm like, what do 91 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:44.959 you behind me for? She's watering Bob. Bob is our 92 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:48.079 official in Bob is the name of our in studio plant. 93 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.120 And now I can hear him drinking. He's very happy 94 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:54.360 that you're watering him. All right, let's get back to 95 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.560 the conversation of controlling sound in your home. 96 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.040 If you're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand 97 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.160 from KFI AM six forty. 98 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:09.759 It's not an easy thing to do. Sound gets in 99 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:11.600 and there's a lot of noise out there in the 100 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.279 world these days. And I'm not just talking metaphorically, I 101 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.720 mean literally, there's just a lot of noise in the world, 102 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:19.879 and we need to get control of it because it's 103 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:23.959 no longer in our ignorance. Noise is no longer just 104 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:27.160 a subjective thing. It is something that physically affects us 105 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:30.560 in negative ways. We know this now, and that's why 106 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.199 I'm helping you get control of it. Now. We've talked 107 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:37.560 about soundproofing. Here are a couple other insulation layers, and 108 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:40.399 it's all a layering game. We've talked about mineral wool. 109 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.279 We've talked about denim insulation. We've talked about open and 110 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:47.199 closed cell foam insulation. Open cell foam when it comes 111 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:51.439 to sound insulation does better than closed cell foam, and 112 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:54.399 the opposite is true when it comes to energy. When 113 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.120 it comes with energy. When it comes to thermal energy, 114 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:01.439 closed cell foam does a better job per inch of 115 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:05.279 thickness than open cell phone when it comes to resisting 116 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:10.000 heat or cooling. But the open cells, those air pockets 117 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:12.560 inside open cell phone does a better job with sound. 118 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:15.519 We talked about mass loaded vinyl. It's a great product. 119 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:19.319 It's expensive, but it's a great product, especially when space 120 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:22.639 to expand and thicken a wall is limited. But it's 121 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:26.000 not a miracle product, even though it's displayed that way. 122 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:29.639 Here are other simple changes inside the house when it 123 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:35.160 comes to insulating solid core doors on the inside of 124 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:39.240 your house. Get rid of those hollow core builder graye 125 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:43.040 doors that they put in and put in solid doors. 126 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:48.399 Solid doors have mass. Mass is an insulator. Solid core 127 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:53.519 doors will make rooms quieter. Dual glazed windows, it should 128 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:55.800 go without saying. Most of us have them, now some 129 00:07:55.879 --> 00:08:00.199 of us don't. Still, dual glazed windows two windows with 130 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:05.800 a gaseous gap in between is an insulating pocket. Now, 131 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:08.040 it's not as good as the wall next to it. 132 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:10.519 It never will be. Well, I shouldn't say it never 133 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:15.120 will be, because you know science. But right now, even 134 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:18.319 the most expensive dual glaze window that you can get, 135 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:21.720 the most high tech one, is not equivalent in our 136 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:25.079 value or sound control to the solid wall next to it. 137 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:29.720 But they help. They help a lot. Because sound energy 138 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:32.759 having to move through two panes of glass with a 139 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:35.840 little bit of a disruptive air in between, and by 140 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.919 the way, it's not air inside, it's ar gone gas 141 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:43.919 in between those two clanes panes of glass, it has 142 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.000 to work harder to get through, which means by the 143 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.919 time it gets the inside, it is significantly weakened in 144 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:53.799 its strength. Because sound is an energy game. Just remember 145 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:57.759 that dual glazed windows, a double layered dry wall in 146 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.720 a house. If we're really looking to quiet a room down, 147 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:03.360 and we're going to set aside budget to do it, 148 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.840 then we can without having to build a separate wall 149 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:10.679 inside a wall, which is literally recording studio kind of moves. 150 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:17.200 Double layered drywall, another layer of drywall with decoupling kulk 151 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:21.360 in between decoupling calk. We'll talk about that in a bit, 152 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:24.159 but it is a specialized kind of calc in which 153 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:27.799 we don't screw the last layer of drywall on. We 154 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:31.080 glue it on with a layer of calk that itself 155 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:35.759 becomes a vibration dampener in between the layers of drywall, 156 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:42.080 and then outside thick tree cover. Thick tree canopies doesn't 157 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:45.519 sound proof a yard, but what it does sound Having 158 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:48.639 to move through all of those leaves, all around all 159 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:52.360 of those branches, it gets diffused and so it can 160 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.120 definitely lessen the sound. There are sound blocks that can 161 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.799 be made out of trees. Yet another argument for Dean 162 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:03.440 to tell you to plant trees in your yard you 163 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.039 want a quieter yard of And we'll come back to 164 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:09.200 trees when it comes to making the right kind of 165 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:12.000 sound in a yard. But if you want to quiet 166 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:19.279 noise tree canopies, big thing, block walls better than wood fences. Obviously, 167 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:22.559 the sound has a harder time getting through a block 168 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:24.159 wall than a wood fence. But I don't make a 169 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.039 big issue of you know, in order to quiet your 170 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.799 yard down, you need to surround it with block walls. 171 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:33.559 Because most of us don't have the right the allowance 172 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.559 from the from the city to actually build an eight 173 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:39.320 or a ten foot tall block wall around our backyard. 174 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:42.480 There are there are height restrictions to block walls, and 175 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:45.960 if you if you're zoning in your area only allows 176 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.039 you to build a six foot tall block wall. Remember 177 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:50.799 what I said about air, air goes right over the top, 178 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.360 and so the difference in cost of your block wall 179 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:57.039 to your wood fence. Believe me, you're not going to 180 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:59.919 notice that big of a difference in sound deadening. However, 181 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:05.440 just saying block walls do a better job of insulating 182 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:10.559 you from sound waves than wood fences. The end air 183 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.799 ceiling when it comes to your house air ceiling. As 184 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:19.639 I've said, sound travels on air. When air gets inside, 185 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:25.639 then sound comes with it. Hence that whole mass loaded 186 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.600 vinyl demonstration that I told you about where they make 187 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.080 this cube out of mass loaded vinyl and they set 188 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.039 it over a speaker and it just goes silent. Well, 189 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:38.200 that's the real trick there is. Yes, mass loaded vinyl 190 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.879 is a great sound insulating product, but the real trick 191 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:44.279 is the fact that they've cut off all the airflow 192 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:48.120 from that speaker chamber out into the room where you are. 193 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:52.559 If we were to take the mass loaded vinyl cube 194 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:54.960 and if I was to drill a half inch hole, 195 00:11:55.159 --> 00:11:59.200 just one hole in it, believe me, you would hear 196 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:02.480 what's going on inside there. It would be quieter, but 197 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:05.639 it wouldn't be that silent, dramatic thing. So what does 198 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:08.480 that tell you? That tells you that air leakage around 199 00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:12.799 your house. You've got bad threshold underneath your front door. 200 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:16.240 Can you see daylight? Can you feel a draft coming 201 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:20.039 through the back patio door. Those aren't just air leaks. 202 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.519 Those are sound leaks into your house because with the 203 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.840 air comes the sound. So there are weather just basic 204 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.600 weather stripping. Improve the weather stripping around your doors and windows. 205 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:37.120 Acoustic culk Okay, that's a thing. You can use acoustic 206 00:12:37.320 --> 00:12:42.360 culk to caulk around leaky windows, the edges of doors, 207 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:45.440 what have you. Just know, the more air that comes 208 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.480 into your house, the more sound that comes into your house. 209 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:53.399 That's just science. Okay, So now I want to cross 210 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:56.879 over and top that's insulating, insulating, and air ceiling. That's 211 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:59.320 what we've covered so far. Now I want to talk 212 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.279 about something else I had teased at the beginning of 213 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:04.159 the show, which is decoupling. And know that doesn't mean 214 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:07.600 you breaking up with your significant other. I mean, which, 215 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:12.720 by the way, it might make your house quieter, but 216 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.279 that's not the kind of sound reduction I'm talking about. 217 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:20.440 What I'm talking about is breaking what we call bridges 218 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.799 and I'm using my air quotes here, the bridges that 219 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:28.000 conduct energy from one side of it to the other, 220 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:34.120 the bridges, and in technical sound isolation and attenuation and 221 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:40.240 insulation concerns, we call it decoupling, breaking the sound bridge. 222 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:46.919 If you remember that energy is what sound is, it's energy, okay, traveling. 223 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:51.919 Then energy travels through a medium, Okay, in order to 224 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.360 get from point A to point B. It travels through 225 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:57.679 a medium like, for instance, electricity in a wire, in 226 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:04.720 a copper wire, copper metal is a fantastic conductor of energy. 227 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:07.720 In other words, it carries energy straight on through it. 228 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:12.039 Rubber is a terrible conductor of energy, which is why 229 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:16.879 the insulation on the outside of an electrical wire is 230 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:20.120 a rubberized insulation, which means you can actually touch the 231 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:23.720 insulation when there's current running through the copper and not 232 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:27.399 get shocked, which means the energy doesn't travel through it. Okay, 233 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.279 you've follown me, all right. So when we come back, 234 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:33.480 we're going to talk about bridges, like a wire from 235 00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:36.360 one side to another, from a switch to a light. 236 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:40.879 We're going to talk about things that bridge energy and 237 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:44.559 allow sound to get from one place to a next. 238 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:46.960 And there are things that we can look at, things 239 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.240 that we can do to decouple to basically break the bridge. 240 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:54.279 Imagine a drawbridge that goes up and all of a 241 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:57.480 sudden separates. Now the traffic, you know. We do that 242 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:00.000 so that a big ship can get under the bridge 243 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:03.879 right pass through, but while it's up, the traffic can't 244 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:06.519 go from one side to the other. We have decoupled 245 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:09.360 that bridge. We'll talk about that and the stuff in 246 00:15:09.399 --> 00:15:12.840 your house that is actually bridging sound into a room 247 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:14.320 when we return. 248 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:18.600 You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from 249 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:20.399 KFI am six forty. 250 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.639 Talking about that very very most special place in your life, 251 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:29.159 your house, which I hope is slowly but surely becoming 252 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:33.360 your home. The difference between the two you, how much 253 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:36.360 of you is reflected in it, and how much of 254 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:40.120 you it reflects back to you. That's what makes a 255 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.279 house truly a home, the life that you live in it. 256 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:45.399 And we're all about it. We're all about it from 257 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:49.960 the philosophical meaningful side, and of course from the design 258 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:52.919 and the construction side. And we're talking about reducing the 259 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.039 amount of noise and noise pollution that makes its way 260 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.720 into your house. So I want to talk about decoupling. 261 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:02.720 This is a term, it's a technical term, and it 262 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:08.120 means breaking a bridge of conductivity from one form of 263 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:13.039 energy crossing over from one place to another. Let me 264 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.440 ask you this, just to make the illustration as simple 265 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:20.360 as possible. Why can you connect two tin cans together 266 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:24.720 with a piece of string and pull that string tight 267 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:29.960 and make a actual, really functioning, rudimentary telephone out of it? 268 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:36.519 Why does that work? It's very simple. It's because the 269 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:41.120 metal of the tin cans is a very conductive material. 270 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:45.679 It allows energy to pass through it very easily. Sound 271 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:50.759 is energy, and the tight string carries with it, just 272 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:54.679 like a guitar string or a piano string carries with 273 00:16:54.759 --> 00:17:00.360 it a bridge of energy of that sound energy out 274 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:03.200 of one can through the string and to the other. 275 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:06.839 And how does do kids who think that this is 276 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:09.920 a magical thing. What's the big mistake they make? They decide, oh, 277 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.319 let's make it go around a corner. So they pull 278 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:14.920 the string tight around a corner. But guess what the 279 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.279 corner is doing. It's decoupling, it is getting it. It's 280 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.279 not allowing the energy to pass around the corner because 281 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:24.400 the string isn't that good. It's not that good, so 282 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:27.400 it needs that vibration, and that dampens the vibration. Right. 283 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:29.440 So this is the kind of stuff we're talking about 284 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.240 when we're talking about breaking bridges and you're like, where 285 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:35.759 are these bridges, Dean, Well, they're all around you. Actually, 286 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:41.160 a bridge for sound energy is actually anything that is solid, 287 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:45.960 even wood, Okay, Like even the string carries vibration through it. 288 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.440 And even though wood is not a great conductor of 289 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:52.920 electrical energy, you know what, you can send vibrations through it, right, 290 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.039 And if you put your ear to it, to one 291 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:56.920 side of a two by four and I tap on 292 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.559 the other side with a hammer, you're going to hear 293 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:03.240 it right come through. So how do we break the 294 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.599 bridges down? Well, one thing that we talked about early 295 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:09.440 on was the idea of you could build a double wall, 296 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:13.119 one wall out here and then another let's say two 297 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:16.119 by four wall right next to it, not touching though 298 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:19.440 they can't touch. That air gap in between the two 299 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:23.599 is critical. Why because the vibration traveling through the one 300 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:28.559 wood wall has to not have an opportunity to jump 301 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:31.160 to the other one as easily. That's why we need 302 00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:33.920 the air gap in between. And you think, well, I 303 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:36.119 don't have room in my house Dean to build double 304 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:39.359 walls everywhere because the rooms get really small. Absolutely, I 305 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:43.359 totally agree with you. Another way, another step in reducing 306 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:46.200 that is you could build what we call a staggered 307 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:51.000 stud wall. Imagine not a double two by four wall, 308 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:55.079 but a single two by six wall. You use a 309 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:57.559 two by six bottom plate and a two by six 310 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:02.759 top plate, but you use two by four studs. Stagger 311 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:06.240 one set of studs on one side, staggered with studs 312 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.319 on the other side. The studs aren't touching. Every other 313 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:12.039 stud is on one side of the wall or the other. 314 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:15.359 And what we've done is we've created a double wall 315 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:19.000 using one wall plate. Mm hmmm hmm. You see what's 316 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.960 going on there, all right, But yet there are other 317 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:24.680 ways of just keeping your normal walls, and that is 318 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:28.440 the drywall. The drywall that goes on the wall could 319 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:31.799 be set in a way that we call sound reducing 320 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:36.240 by using resilient channels, which we use metal horizontal channels 321 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:40.680 traveling across the studs from top to bottom at regular intervals, 322 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:45.160 and then we mount the drywall to those channels. Now, 323 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:49.200 what's the secret there. Those channels have little rubber isolating 324 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:53.480 gaskets so that when the sound hits the drywall number one, 325 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.359 it's not directly attached to the wood stud so it 326 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:59.759 doesn't transfer the vibration straight through. It does transfer the 327 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:03.400 vibvibration into the metal channel, but the metal channel has 328 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.119 little rubber bumpers for lack of a less more technical term, 329 00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:11.319 little rubber bumpers that dampen the vibration as it moves 330 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:14.440 from the channel to the studs and so on. So 331 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:16.880 that's another way. What if we want to do that, well, 332 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:19.880 we put on a layer of drywall, maybe we use 333 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:23.799 quiet rock drywall. What is that? Uh huh? It is 334 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:27.599 sound reducing drywall, same thickness as regular drywall, comes in 335 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.400 five eighths and also half inch. But what it actually 336 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.640 is is like a a half inch drywall is two 337 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:39.000 quarter inch thick pieces of drywall that have been sandwiched 338 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:45.160 together with a Visco elastic polymer in between. What is 339 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:49.319 it like a vinyl rubberized gasket in between two layers 340 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:55.160 of drywall. So sound reducing drywall decouples the vibration moving 341 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:57.279 through the one quarter inch and then it gets to 342 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:02.000 that rubberized layer, and it that rubberized layer reduces the 343 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:05.279 amount of vibration that gets into the other layer, and 344 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:09.160 therefore it is sound reducing drywall. You could put two 345 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.240 layers of that on your wall. You could put two 346 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:17.000 layers of sound reducing drywall with stuck together with Visco 347 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:20.559 elastic caulking in between the two. You could put two 348 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:28.640 sound reducing drywall layers with metal a resilient channel and 349 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:31.960 the little rubber dampening things that I was just telling 350 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.839 you about. You see, and every time we do it, 351 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:37.039 every time we go a little further and a little 352 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:41.240 further and a little further, we are bridging. We're breaking 353 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:44.319 bridges that conduct energy. We're breaking the bridge. We're breaking 354 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:46.839 the bridge. We're making it harder and harder and harder 355 00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:50.880 for the energy wave to make it through. And if 356 00:21:50.920 --> 00:21:53.960 we are breaking up the ability of the energy wave 357 00:21:54.039 --> 00:21:57.920 to bridge through a material, we are reducing the amount 358 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:01.720 of sound sound as energy that comes to the other side, 359 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:05.480 and therefore we're reducing sound. There it is, you understand, 360 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.079 sound reducing windows work the exact same way. A sound 361 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.200 reducing window is not a triple glazed window per se 362 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:16.839 in the traditional thermal sense, but it is in one 363 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:20.440 sense because it's a dual glazed window, but the outside 364 00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:25.480 glass is actually two two thinner layers of glass with 365 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:30.680 one of those secret viscoelastic polymers a sandwiched between the two. 366 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:33.680 So they're doing what the dry wall that I was 367 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:37.240 just describing to you does. And as a result, Yeah, 368 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:42.559 there's a lot less sound transmission, not soundproof, just reduced 369 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:47.799 sound transmission. Okay, that's all the insulating and the air 370 00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:52.519 ceiling and the decoupling. Okay, when we return, let's talk 371 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:55.880 about what we do with the sound that is with us. 372 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:01.640 Sound absorption inside a room is different than proofing of 373 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:03.839 the sound from getting in. What do we do with 374 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:06.759 those sound that's already inside a room, for a home 375 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:10.119 theater or for just an echoe room, how do we 376 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:14.160 keep it from sounding so weird and hollow and echoing 377 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.480 in here? And then let's talk about outside a little 378 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:21.759 bit sound masking all of that noise from town that's 379 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:25.119 making its way in. How can we let go of that. 380 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:28.039 We'll do all of that when we return, but first. 381 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:32.039 You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from 382 00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:33.599 KFI AM six forty. 383 00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:40.119 All right, let's finish up our conversation on controlling sound. 384 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.039 We've talked about all the others. If you've missed any 385 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.319 part of the show, make sure you go back and 386 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:47.359 listen to the podcast, which you can do again and 387 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:51.519 again wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Simply do a 388 00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:55.039 search for Home with Dean Sharp, or The House Whisper 389 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:57.279 or any of the above. You'll find us. We're there. 390 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:01.799 This entire topic will be there for you just minutes 391 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:06.000 after we go off the air. All right, sound absorption, 392 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:10.559 that's what we talk about when we're acoustically treating sound 393 00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:13.480 inside a room, not soundproofing it from what's coming in. 394 00:24:13.799 --> 00:24:16.119 But once the sound that's in there. This studio is 395 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:19.519 a great example of treating the room, because when there 396 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:22.519 are too many reflective surfaces in a room, what happens 397 00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:25.119 is that energy wave which comes out, let's say, out 398 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:31.559 of my melodious throat, so clear and resonant, it bounces 399 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:33.920 off the wall directly across from me, and then the 400 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:36.079 ceiling and then the floor, and then all of these 401 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:39.000