Green Glue Compound FAQs

Sound travels as a wave through the air. It’s an airborne vibration. The waves hit a wall or ceiling and the energy becomes structure-borne. Unless the wall or ceiling material is damped, the vibration will travel through the building framing and exit somewhere else as sound again.

In a constrained layer damping system, sometimes referred to as CLD, a damping material is sandwiched between two other materials (usually stiff/center of the "sandwich" is sheared rigid). For example, Green Glue Compound sandwiched between two layers of drywall. Damping occurs when the viscoelastic center of the "sandwich" is sheared (see image above).

When bent, shear forces pull and stretch on the damping material. Under these conditions, the unique polymeric construction of Green Glue Compound very efficiently converts this mechanical energy to heat. The vibration energy is not isolated, it's dissipated and gone.

Green Glue Compound comes in 28 oz. tubes and five gallon pails. You can use any quart size caulk gun, available at most hardware and building material stores, to apply from the tubes. You will need to purchase our Green Glue Dispensing Gun to apply from the buckets or use a 1/8" square notched trowel. Either way, it is very fast and easy to apply with no special skills whatsoever required.

Application Instructions

No. Green Glue Compound needs to be a constrained layer, meaning that Green Glue Compound is sandwiched between to rigid, dense layers of building material. There is no limit to how many drywall with Green Glue Compound layers you can utilize, and performance will improve as the # of layers goes up. You can save valuable $$$ by using slightly less Green Glue Compound in each damping layer if your walls are to have more than two layers of drywall. For floors, you can use any common materials (cement board, OSB, plywood, etc.)

Yes. The manufacturer recommends the use of screws in accordance with local building codes. Screws assist with the compression of the Green Glue layer into a thin film.

No. The presence of rigid, low-damping materials alongside Green Glue Compound between layers is not desirable

1/32" or 0.5 mm.

Absolutely, in fact when used in floors, Green Glue yields a double benefit - it helps with both impact (footstep) noise and airborne sound, and is very effective at both. Green Glue Compound may be used between layers of subfloor, between subfloor and tile backer board, and between thinset mortar and the surfaces below. You may be able to use two layers of thinner sub-floor if convenient. We would not recommend treating footfall noise by applying Green Glue Compound to the ceiling unless combined with a resilient sound clip system.

If you have a situation where you want, for example, to stop sound from moving upstairs, the most logical path for the sound is through the floor/ceiling into the room above, this is called the direct path. However, sound can make its way upstairs through the walls (or even floor) as well in the form of mechanical vibration. Sound in your room vibrates the walls, this vibration makes its way up where it creates sound by vibrating the surfaces of the upstairs room. Sound making its way through these indirect paths is called flanking noise.

An analogy that is sometimes used when discussing sound isolation is that of an aquarium. If your aquarium has a hole in any of the 5 sides, then the water can spill onto the floor, regardless of how tight the other 4 are. The same applies to sound.

For best results, you should consider treating all the surfaces of your room. You may also have to pay attention to other sound paths, such as noise going in and out of doors, and noise making its way through ductwork. Read more about how sound can travel along non-linear paths.

Yes. In fact, Green Glue Compound has performance advantages in many applications relative to assemblies decoupled with resilient channel.

Yes, and better performance is achieved. For walls the preferred decoupling methods are double studs, resilient sound clips, staggered studs, or resilient channel. For applications where low frequency isolation is important, resilient channel is not recommended.

No. Soundboard is far lighter than drywall and isn't preferable in any ceiling or wall assembly.

Compared to most other isolation techniques, Green Glue Compound is typically the best option. When you compare the performance of damping to mass loaded vinyl, soundboard type products, resilient channel, joist tapes, and other products, the damping performance of Green Glue Compound will always win out. However, for isolating ceilings for airborne transfer and footfall noise, resilient sound clips, like the GenieClip is a much better option.

No. Green Glue Compound is water based, non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, and very low in VOC (<5grams per liter / compliant in all 50 states and worldwide). As with all products, paints, glues, and so forth, you should use proper precautions and read the MSDS before using Green Glue Compound. Green Glue Compound has a mild odor, typical of latex products. This odor is not dangerous and will dissipate completely given time.

No. Green Glue Compound is a UL rated product in several assemblies and can be utilized in fire-rated walls without diminishing the rating of the wall.

About .75 cents per square foot, making a layer of Green Glue Compound one of the most economical sound isolation product around.

Recommended application is two tubes of Green Glue Compound per 4' x 8' area or 2 tubes per standard sheet of drywall. If you are not on a budget, utilizing 3 tubes per sheet will improve performance further in low frequencies. Each case of Green Glue Compound covers about 192 square feet, or 128 square feet if used at the 3 tubes coverage rate. Do not use more than 3 tubes per 4' x 8' sheet as performance will actually decline above 3 tubes per sheet.