# Ideas to quiet noisy stairs?



## bobcatarts (Jun 26, 2013)

Due to architectural villainy, my black box has stairs to the second floor offices and support spaces that cut through an upper corner of the main performance space. With effort, smaller groups people can sneak down sufficiently quietly during performances but larger groups or the ignorant/rude go THUMPTHUMPTHUMPing enough to disturb things on stage. Though it was renovated in '07 or '08, I believe it is still the original wooden carriage and carpeted treads making up the stairs, with just drywall boxing around it. It cuts through the space at an angle, and the lower part of it was partitioned off to be a piano/storage closet. 

I'm trying to avoid taking the stairs apart or knocking out major section of drywall (IE major renovations) if possible for mostly budget reasons. Am I crazy to want to just bore some holes along the drywall and underside of the stairs to inject a crapton of AB foam (or similar) and fill up the voids? Would that even help at all? Would that create any hazards?

My boss is asking for the "anything you can do without doing anything" solution, and I'm trying to avoid using magic and keep within the laws of physics in this universe.


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## JLNorthGA (Jun 26, 2013)

bobcatarts said:


> Am I crazy to want to just bore some holes along the drywall and underside of the stairs to inject a crapton of AB foam (or similar) and fill up the voids? Would that even help at all? Would that create any hazards?



Are you crazy? That's for mental health professionals to determine. What you need to do is isolate the various components. Ways to do this include removing the stair treads and putting a suitable cushioning material such as Hushboard, high density rubber or a similar material between the treads and the stringers. Ideally you'd also have some sort of sound deadening material under your drywall (such as Hushboard, Quietbrace, etc.).

Injecting foam will just fill up voids. You'll still have sound transmission from the treads to the risers to the drywall sheathing the underside of the stringers. It will still echo into the closet. Some things to try - put some insulation (blue board or similar) on the drywall on the underside of the stringers. See it that will attenuate the sound. Also put a cover over the closet door and see if that will help attenuate the sound. On second thought, your foam might help - as it would decrease the volume between the treads and the underside of the stringers. You won't have as large a cavity for reverberation.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Jun 26, 2013)

Can't quite picture the whole thing but direct openings to the stair volume should sealed and I guess that means the piano storage door should be gasketed. Trying to be a little economical - because rebuilding it or just finding a place outside of bb for stairs is the right answer - if it is enclosed, a second layer - as in separate studs or at least gwb on resilient channels - would help. Sealing and just a second layer of GWB would help actually but not as much as the resiliently supported second layer.


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## Kelite (Jun 26, 2013)

I can understand your angst- a local live performance rarely goes by when those not aware (or caring) how loud they are distracts from the performance. A physical upgrade can certainly help alleviate unwanted noise with the steps, but the casual (dare I say ignorant?) visitor has a hand in the unwanted noise too.

Not sure how we change that part of the equation...


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## lwinters630 (Jun 27, 2013)

Are you beating a drum? I mean is the sound waves driving the walls around the stairs causing it to transmit into the room? If so applying a second layer of drywall using green glue. it is not a glue, but a sound isolating material


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## jglodeklights (Jun 30, 2013)

If you are getting any "squeak-squeak", ensuring that all treads are secured firmly against the carriage will help with that. A few screws may do the trick. Depending on how wide the stairs are, you may also only have outside pieces, with no center support. If there is nothing blocking you from accessing the undersides of the treads themselves, or if you don't mind removing some drywall in the closet space, you may be able to add a center support piece that will decrease deflection in the treads. You can also add material to the tops of the treads, such as 3/4" ply or pine, to decrase deflection. 

To get rid of thumping is more difficult in this situation. Redoing the carpet, and possibly treads may be in order. Making sure that the treads aren't just carpeted, but padded, too, will help. As others have said, making sure there is isolation between the treads and carriage will also aid in this endeavour. 

The next step is adding material to absorb sound coming from both the stairwell wall and the storage beneath. There a few different ways to do this, and which is appropriate will depend on the required aesthetics and code compliances of your space.


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## mstaylor (Jul 6, 2013)

Removing the drywall and insulating the staircase is a good start. Maybe changing the carpet to rubber treads may help. Also while the drywall is off fill any voids between the treads and carriages. Talk to an acoustic expert, there are metal or wood options to isolate the drywall from the stringers to stop the bass drum effect.


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