Subject:How to kill Metal Roof Creaking & Cracking?

Posted by: Will_3

Date:3/12/2004 7:08:31 AM

I need to leave as much vertical height in my studio as possible as we are using it for video stuff too...

Ceiling is 11' 8" high and is a corragated metal roof.

What is a poor-man's way to kill the creaking and cracking of metal roof buildings as they expand and contract with tempature?

1 - Double layer of Fiberglass Insulation pushed up againist it.
2 - Spray on Insulation foam... the kind they spray on the inside (they put about 5-6 inches on I hear)
3 - Double sheetrock ceiling with fiberglass insulation (means we loose height for mounting lights for video as this must go under 18" beams running front to back in our studio)

What have you guys seen that works w/o breaking the bank... remember, we are mainly doing video in this studio... I'm posting here as a Sound Forge user and because I know you guys have experience with this issue.

I got good feadback about how to treat walls here a few days ago.

Thanks for any help - Will

Subject:RE: How to kill Metal Roof Creaking & Cracking?

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:3/12/2004 12:51:21 PM

"What is a poor-man's way to kill the creaking and cracking of metal roof buildings as they expand and contract with tempature?"

The obvious answer? Get rid of the roof and replace it with a wood one. The poor man's solution. You need to dampen that sound. How to do that? Hmmmm...that might be a toughy. You could strap some mattresses to the back side, to give it some extra flexible support and a good dampening factor. That might not look the best, though, unless you cover the mattresses with some drywall to hide it. Realistically, you might want to look into some spray type insulation that will stick to metal. I've seen spray type insulation like this, that deadens sound. It similar to having your car undercoated, it always sounds quieter after the undercoating is done.

Subject:RE: How to kill Metal Roof Creaking & Cracking?

Reply by: MJhig

Date:3/12/2004 12:59:07 PM

I would use Red's idea of the double sheetrock plus insulation suggestion (Building within a building approach). I used to design, fabricate and erect metal buildings (wood frame also). If it's one of these, they are incredibly noisy and giving up some ceiling height will be a small price to pay in the long run.

Isolation is the key here. Anything applied directly to the metal sheeting or even attaching anything to the Purlins (metal joists) will be a disaster.

MJ

Subject:RE: How to kill Metal Roof Creaking & Cracking?

Reply by: farss

Date:3/13/2004 5:51:40 AM

The noise in mostly created by the sheets of roofing sliding over one another so cheapest fix might be to use stips of neoprene or butyl rubber to keep them apart, just unscrew the sheets and put the strips of rubber between the areas where they overlap. Make certain you don't create trap for water otherwise your roof will rust out in no time. Also increase size of holes where the screws go through the sheet so they easily slide rather than have the tension build up until it snaps.
Other alternative would be to replace the roof with continuous sheets, don't know if you can get the in the US but there very common in Australia, you just order the lengths you need. Last longer too as the joins are where it starts to rust.

Whatever you do check the fire rating of any insulation. Some of that stuff ends up like raining naplam in a fire.

Now that I've scared you I don't think a metal ceiling is going to give you a good acoustic environment. But if you need the headroom Sondex make an acoustic panel that you can suspend to deaden the room. Judicial placement would keep the headroom and not interfere with your lighting layout. The thing hangs vertically, very easy to install.

Subject:RE: How to kill Metal Roof Creaking & Cracking?

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:3/15/2004 9:11:59 AM

"Whatever you do check the fire rating of any insulation. Some of that stuff ends up like raining naplam in a fire."

Maytresses are suppose to be fire proof right? LOL :-)