Soundproofing a Garage Door Motor
We have a project that has a board room atop a mechanical/storage room that the owner would like to sound proof and decrease the overhead door noise and other noise including human voice.
The structure is 5″ composite concrete structural slab, the ceiling in the mechanical room is exposed metal deck. What is your recommendation for applying something to the underside of the metal deck?
We have met with the overhead door company and they will mount the track with isolators and propose changing out the motor to a more quiet type.
Any help you can offer will be appreciated.
Thanks
J.T.
J.T.,
This Situation could be treated in a two step process. I would first suggest eliminating the physical vibration that makes it’s way into the structure and if that is not enough, treating the ceiling of the room below with some kind of acoustical panels.
I would first starting by isolating both the garage door mounting brackets as well as the rails by the RSIC Garage Door Isolation Kit. This system essentially eliminates all of the hard surface to hard surface contact that the motor and rails have with the structure. I have heard some VERY good reviews and testimonials from people who have used these for similar applications. As long as it is a relatively standard (residential size) motor, one kit should be fine for the motor, and one for the doors. I would be happy to send you specific pricing including shipping if you would like.
This is a testimonial that we have on our website:
Thanks for the silence
We just moved into our new house and everything was great, but every time I left for work the noise and vibrations from our garage door opener would wake up our newborn. My wife was making me park my car outside because she didn’t want him disturbed. A friend of mine recommended that I buy the Garage Door Silencer kit to reduce the noise. After I installed them, which was much easier than I thought it would be, we were amazed by how much they reduced the noise. It’s hard to believe that those two small clips absorb so much noise. My wife is much happier now that our baby isn’t disturbed by the garage door opener and I can now park in the garage again.
Thanks for the silence.
Dr. Rich C. (Tualatin, OR)
Before treating the ceiling, I would recommend getting the RSIC isolators installed and then assessing the situation, because the “acoustical picture” is now different. The panels can always be installed at a later date and very likely might not be needed. It all depends on the type of sound energy that is making it’s way upstairs. You should be able to tell rather quickly if the isolation kit is enough or not.
If you are still looking more attenuation, there are a few panels that could be applied directly to the ceiling with adhesive. There are only a few surface applied panels that are going to reduce sound transmission, and they are as follows:
Echo Eliminator 8# composite panels
For each of these panels there are going to be two units of measure for the acoustical performance: NRC and STC. The value that is of the most concern to you is the STC (Sound Transmission Coefficient). The higher this number, the more sound it blocks. The unfortunate part about these panels is the better they perform, the heavier they are, and the harder it will be to get them adhered to the ceiling.
