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Often complete demolition of a room's walls is not possible. If you are struggling with sound isolation between rooms, but are limited with your options, then you can still accomplish quite a bit without too much construction.

In Order Of Least Effective To Most Effective:

• TotalMass Barrier: We have multiple weights of TotalMass Barrier for your project including 1/2 pound, 1 pound, and 2 pound. The most common mass loaded vinyl installed is 1 pound due to affordability, ease of installation (weighs less, easier to unroll), and performance. TotalMass Barrier can be installed over the top of your current drywall (attachind into the studs) and then from there you can install another layer of drywall over the top of the barrier to finish like any other wall. Adding a layer of 1 LB TotalMass Barrier to an insulated wall will provide STC ratings in the mid 40's and OITC ratings in the mid 30's.  
• Green Glue Compound and Mass: Add a layer of 5/8" drywall to the current layer of drywall with Green Glue Compound in between at a rate of 2 tubes per 4' x 8' sheet. It always best to make sure your walls are insulated. If you had to cut 2" holes to insulate the ceiling then make sure to patch these holes before putting up the final layer of drywall with Green Glue Compound. Adding a layer of drywall with Green Glue Compound to an insulated wall will provide STC ratings in the low 50's and OITC ratings in the mid to high 30's.
• Layering Green Glue Compound: Since you are unable to remove the current layer of drywall you will not be able to include decoupling in your isolation efforts (ie, Green Glue Clips, GenieClips, RSIC-1, double stud wall framing). To improve isolation beyond an additional layer of drywall and Green Glue Compound you should consider layering the Green Glue. Applying Green Glue in multiple layers is the most effective way to apply Green Glue. Add two layers of 5/8" drywall to the current layer of drywall with Green Glue in between each layer at a rate of either 1 tube per 4' x 8' sheet or 2 tubes per 4' x 8' sheet. Using 3 tubes per 4' x 8' sheet at any point between these layers will have an unnoticeable improvement in high frequencies, but dramatic improvement in low frequencies. Depending on the amount of layering and how much Green Glue is used per layer, this method will provide STC ratings in the high 50's and OITC ratings in the high 30's to low 40's.

An average 2" x 4" wall will have an STC rating of around 30. Adding products like our TotalMass Barrier and/or Green Glue Compound to an existing wall is an affordable way to increase your walls' ability to reduce sound transmission to an acceptable level. Without removing the drywall from your existing wall you will be limited to using damping, mass, and absorption in your sound isolation efforts. For a higher level of isolation you will need to remove the existing drywall to get to the exposed framing. The options from there increase dramatically. These options are discussed in the next section.

All isolation methods are available with if you are able to remove the existing layer of drywall.

In Order Of Least Effective To Most Effective:

• Insulation: Add insulation between the studs using regular unfaced R-13 fiberglass batts for 2" x 4" walls and R-19 fiberglass batts for 2" x 6" walls. Without filling this space with insulation, sound can easily travel between the studs without any resistance. Adding insulation is not a significant improvement, but definitely provides an affordable boost in STC ratings.  
• TotalMass Barrier: We have multiple weights of TotalMass Barrier for your project including 1/2 pound, 1 pound, and 2 pound. The most common mass loaded vinyl installed is 1 pound due to affordability, ease of installation (weighs less, easier to unroll), and performance. MLV can be installed directly to your studs and then hang a layer of drywall over the MLV to finish like any other wall. You can also include this option with a resilient sound clip system by attaching clips, then hat channel, then a layer of drywall, then TotalMass Barrier, and then a final layer of drywall. Adding a layer of 1 pound MLV to an insulated wall will provide STC ratings around the mid 40's and OITC ratings in the mid 30's.  
• Green Glue Compound and Mass: Use double layer 5/8" drywall with Green Glue Compound in between at a rate of 2 tubes per 4' x 8' sheet of drywall. For increased performance use either 3 tubes per 4' x 8' sheet or another layer of drywall with Green Glue Compound between each layer.  This method will provide STC ratings in the low to mid 50's and OITC ratings in the mid to high 30's.  Adding an additioanl layer of drywall and Green Glue will increase the STC ratings into the high 50's and OITC ratings to the high 30' to low 40's.
• Resilient Sound Clips: Decouple the drywall from the studs using one of our resilient sound clips. The most effective clips on the market at this point are the Green Glue Clip, GenieClip and the RSIC-1 clip. Attach the sound clip of your choice directly to the studs and then attach a furring hat channel to the sound clips. In a typical wall, sound vibrates the drywall which in turn vibrates the framing and the vibrations (sound) spreads through the rest of the structure. Resilient sound clips and hat channel decouple the drywall from the framing so that much of this energy is lost, from the wall's increased flexibility, before it even reaches the framing. We recommend hanging double layer 5/8" drywall from the hat channel to add significant mass to the wall. Resilient sound clips perform best with extra mass which helps lower resonance frequency. It is also important to note that the effect of extra mass is more noticeable in decoupled systems. This method will provide STC ratings in the low 60's and OITC ratings in the high 40's.  
• Decoupling, Damping, Mass, and Absorption: Include insulation, resilient sound clips, and double layer drywall with Green Glue Compound in between layers of drywall (or MLV between layers of drywall). This is definitely the most expensive method, but the results will be a huge improvement. This method will provide STC ratings in the high 60's and OITC ratings in the mid to high 40's which is an improvement of over 5 times a standard wall.  
•  Additional Framing and Green Glue Compound: The final option is to frame another wall in front of your current wall or change the current wall from a standard 2" x 4" wall to a staggered stud wall. Review the pictures to the right for reference. If you build a double stud wall or a staggered stud wall then it is not necessary to use resilient sound clips on the walls. However, resilient sound clips will perform better than a staggered stud wall and as well as a double stud wall with a 3" gap.  

If you do decide to add framing rather than using clips, then we recommend framing the studs 24" on center to allow for more flexing in the drywall between studs and also to use steel stud framing for a significant increase in results with no real extra cost. After the double stud wall or staggered stud wall is framed you can then attach a double layer of 5/8" drywall with Green Glue in between for maximum results. Similar to a resilient clip system, Green Glue Compound and additional mass provides great improvement in a decoupled wall than in a standard framed wall. A wood double stud wall will provide an STC rating of 59 and a steel stud double stud wall will provide an STC rating of 63. A wood staggered stud wall will provide an STC rating of 49. The addition of Green Glue Compound to one side of the wall will increase the STC rating of either of these constructions by an estimated 8 points.

Here are a few notes for you to remember when upgrading your walls:

• Always seal gaps in your walls by using Green Glue Sealant or a silicone caulk. Green Glue Sealant is a flexible and easy to use acoustical caulk that is crucial to maintaining high STC ratings.  
• Never attach resilient sound clips, resilient channel, or furring strip directly over the drywall. This will cause a triple leaf effect which will completely negate your efforts. You can still achieve some improvement in attaching resilient sound clips over existing drywall, but the results will be significantly reduced because of the triple leaf.  
• Always insulate between wall studs. Different types of insulation won't do much to actually isolate sound, but if your wall cavity is not filled with some type of insulation then sound will bounce around in the empty wall cavities and pass through the drywall with ease.
• Do not treat your wall with insulation alone. Absorption provides a minimal improvement overall to reducing sound transmission mostly because it only treats the space between the studs. Much of the sound passing through the wall is passing through the drywall into the framing. Insulation does nothing to address this issue.  
• Increasing mass is important, but to really reduce sound transmission significantly you will need to add several layers of drywall. The best alternative to avoid hanging layer after layer would be to include Green Glue Compound between two or three layers of drywall.  

Please contact us for project advice if you need help making a decision on which method is most appropriate for your situation.