Anyone have suggestions for sound deadening interior finishes?

belfert · May 05, 2012, 05:06:40 PM

Right now my bus just has plain plywood walls. My buddy really wants me to install carpet on the walls and ceiling to deaden the sound inside the bus. He wants me to get some used carpet and just throw it in. I'm not going with used carpet. That is just nasty. I've told him I don't want to do carpet since we go out to the Black Rock desert (Near Burning Man site) every year and the bus fills with dust. My friend just thinks I can clean or replace the carpet every year and I am not doing that.

I've had a lot of different ideas about interior finishes over the years and I don't think any of them would help deaden sound. My thought has been to install FRP paneling in the rear around and then something else up front. I wanted to do tongue and groove wood, but that is time consuming and expensive.

Any suggestions on any interior finishes that will help with sound? I'm thinking that upholstering with vinyl isn't going to help with sound, but maybe it would.

Jeremy · May 05, 2012, 05:20:16 PM

Anything with a hard finish (eg FRP panelling) is not likely to help much. Wood would help slightly, especially a soft wood such as cork tiles - but a soft upholstery surface is going to be best; vinyl with a foam backing would be easy to keep clean and would absorb sound reasonably well.

But of course the final interior surface finish is only going to make a small contribution to the overall quietness of the bus; if the problem is sound bouncing around inside the interior then it will help quite a lot - but if the problem is the more usual one of sound coming from outside and underneath (eg engine and tyres) then the bulk of the sound reduction needs to be built into the walls and floor.

Jeremy

christopher · May 05, 2012, 07:20:22 PM

http://www.soundown.com/index_Marine.htm

try these folks

robertglines1 · May 05, 2012, 07:30:28 PM

We use upholstery for wall covering in our conversions and underneath it quilt batting. Does a fine job. We do not expose it to much dust etc. Actually vacuum it on occasion. kills sound and adds insulation. Bob

belfert · May 05, 2012, 07:43:20 PM

My bus has 2" of spray foam under most of the floor so that probably helps a bit with road noise. I'm not convinced that sound deadening materials with really help with noise. There really isn't that much noise inside except for air leaks up front that I'll probably never solve 100%.

Dave5Cs · May 05, 2012, 10:34:03 PM

sound board from HD with material or vinyl over it trhen screwed to the walls and or ceiling.

Dave5Cs

Eric · May 06, 2012, 06:23:47 AM

Question/ statement.... Upholstery and carpet on the wall does work great as I've seen it on a few coaches we looked at....however I have severe allergies and dust mites live in carpet.....rephrase that....carpet is thier equivalent to a vacation spot......

robertglines1 · May 06, 2012, 06:53:25 AM

Like everything we do it is individual. I do understand the carpet especially . Good luck

luvrbus · May 06, 2012, 07:03:38 AM

Wall covering won't help much the noise come from the floors that is why most high bus conversions like Prevost have lead sheets from front to rear fwiw I used lead sheets on the floors in our Eagle conversion but the stuff was cheap then it's still the best for a noise barrier IMO

Ace · May 06, 2012, 10:20:15 AM

I think using lead sandwiched in the sub floor is standard on all Prevost, seated models as well because mine has it!

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DMoedave · May 06, 2012, 10:30:46 AM

i did lead over the wheel wells and engine area it helped ALOT. That area in the back bedroom is also the only place with carpet.

FloridaCliff · May 06, 2012, 11:49:09 AM

Brian,

You have a real problem with the dust issue.

To able to absorb the sound requires anything but a smooth surface.

There are some Ozite type materials you could glue on, but you requirements severely limit your options.

Cliff

Seayfam · May 06, 2012, 12:15:21 PM

As Dave stated in a previous post...
You can go down to home depot and get some sound board and wrap it in some good vinyl. Sound board is engineered just for this. With the vinyl, you won't have the problems with your allergies. You can get many different choices of vinyl to fit your taste. Then just build your panels to fit your walls then wrap them and install them with nice little buttons to match.

After that I think you will need to do something with your windows. Single pane windows are the worst. You will get most of your noise through your windows.

Good luck

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Oonrahnjay · May 06, 2012, 12:21:53 PM

Quote from: DMoedave on May 06, 2012, 10:30:46 AMi did lead over the wheel wells and engine area it helped ALOT. That area in the back bedroom is also the only place with carpet.

Dave, how thick was the lead you used in these locations? Thanks.

belfert · May 06, 2012, 12:55:49 PM

The only real reason for sound deadening finishes is to keep my friend happy. I figure if I put stuff like FRP on the walls I might make the sound problem worse than it is now with just plywood. I need to do some sort of interior finish anyhow. Wouldn't Ozite be just as likely to get dirty as carpet? We actually got a lot more holes plugged in the bus this past trip to the desert and the dust wasn't as bad on the way in and out. It still builds up on any flat surface though. I'm thinking carpet or Ozite might not be too bad on the ceiling.

It appears that Home Depots locally don't stock sound board. I found it on the Home Depot website and it is just Homasote. This is the same stuff used for model railroads. I don't think I want to use a paper based product in a bus.

I'm still thinking about upholstering with vinyl. For those that use screws do you then cap the screws? I'm wondering if the 3M Duallock fasteners would hold well enough? They hold 2 lbs per inch.