Resilient Bars Installation

[MJNewton]

I am planning on using resilient bars for the ceiling of our open plan 'family room', partly due to any acoustic benefit they may provide (noting that I was only intending on one layer of 12.5mm board and no insulation) but also to ease the continuous ceiling run-through from the existing room and the knock-through extension.

 

It'll be the first time I've used resilient bars and wondered if there are any useful tips others that have used them might have to share? I note the general advice to ensure screw lengths are such that there is a minimum protrusion through the bars of 10mm and that if there's a risk of making contact with joists to ensure screw lengths won't reach that far (I'll have 17mm headroom with the bars I'm using). Aside from length though, what screws should I be using to affix the boards in place (I am assuming fixing the bars to the joists can use any old woodscrew)? Is this where the difference in coarse vs fine threaded plasterboard screw that I note Screwfix stock comes into play?

 

Regarding tools, I've got a plasterboard lifter which I expect to make relatively light work of the 2.4m x 1.2m 12.5mm sheets I'll be using, and I was planning just using my drill driver for the screws. Presumably the right selection of screws helps ensure they are quick to pierce and bite the metal?

[Moonshine]

Make sure at the perimeter of the room you leave a small gap to be filled with a acoustic / flexible mastic. This also allows the plasterboard to flex on the resi bars

[MJNewton]

Thanks; I recall reading something about that. I take it that doesn't cause any issue with cracking of skim coat at the wall-ceiling interface?

 

Edit: Ah, it has just dawned on me that the gap to be filled is that between the ceiling board and the wall and not to any subsequent board that might be fixed to the wall.

Edited March 9, 2020 by MJNewton

[Russell griffiths]

Get the little fitting for your screw gun so all screws go in nice and flush. And not over depth. 

[Nickfromwales]

28 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Get the little fitting for your screw gun so all screws go in nice and flush. And not over depth. 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/ph2-drywall-screwdriver-bits-ph2-2-pack/6623v

[joe90]

Despite having insulation between floors I sooo wish I had double boarded or/and resilient bars, it’s the only “I wish I had done that” for my build, sound travel between floors is more than I expected ?

[Bitpipe]

6 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Despite having insulation between floors I sooo wish I had double boarded or/and resilient bars, it’s the only “I wish I had done that” for my build, sound travel between floors is more than I expected ?

 

I recall that one of the active members in the eBuild days spent a fortune doing belt & braces acoustic insulation including resilient bars, rubber mats on floors etc and he was disappointed at the level of noise that still transmitted - its very difficult to eliminate.

 

We used blue soundblock (which was twice the density of normal plasterboard board) on the basement ceiling, ground floor ceiling and around all the bathrooms and plenty of noise still comes through.

[Moonshine]

21 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

We used blue soundblock (which was twice the density of normal plasterboard board)

 

***** pedantic mode *****

 

Only if you are going from 9.5mm wallboard to 15 mm SoundBloc, and only in surface density/mass.

 

Surface densities/masses below

 

9.5mm wallboard: 6.3 kg/m²

12.5mm wallboard: 8.0 kg/m²

15mm wallboard: 9.8 kg/m²

 

12.5 mm SoundBloc: 10.6 kg/m²

15 mm SoundBloc: 12.6 kg/m²

 

***** pedantic mode off *****

Edited March 10, 2020 by Moonshine

[joe90]

So double boarding with 12.5mm is better than 15mm soundbloc ( this is what I did recently on my sons house) 

[Moonshine]

3 minutes ago, joe90 said:

So double boarding with 12.5mm is better than 15mm soundbloc ( this is what I did recently on my sons house) 

 

Yes in terms of surface density / mass, 16.0 kg/m² vs 12.6 kg/m², though at a cost of space (an extra 10mm) and labour fitting an extra layer of board.

 

Or you could put a 19mm thick Gyproc plank up there , at 15 kg/m², heavy!!

Edited March 10, 2020 by Moonshine

[joe90]

1 minute ago, Moonshine said:

and labour fitting an extra layer of board

 

my sons Labour is free (it’s me ??????) and plasterboard is relatively cheap, don’t know about the price of soundblock?

[Moonshine]

1 minute ago, joe90 said:

don’t know about the price of soundblock?

 

SoundBloc, expensive because its got "acoustic" in it.

[Moonshine]

12 hours ago, MJNewton said:

but also to ease the continuous ceiling run-through from the existing room and the knock-through extension.

 

i am not sure i get this, are you saying that the ceiling boards on the resilient bars going to run to an existing ceiling / joist that isn't resiliently mounted?  

[MJNewton]

3 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

Get the little fitting for your screw gun so all screws go in nice and flush. And not over depth. 

 

Funnily enough I do have a pack of them, and have done for years, but I always forget and only remember once I've finished a boarding job! I need to put them in by plasterboard screws box really.

[MJNewton]

  

9 minutes ago, Moonshine said:

 

i am not sure i get this, are you saying that the ceiling boards on the resilient bars going to run to an existing ceiling / joist that isn't resiliently mounted?  

 

The new room consists of an existing lounge (with a bedroom above) and a single-storey extension separated by a recessed beam over a knock-through. There is some slight variation of finished height for some joists (only a matter of millimetres) and so I figured that one advantage of using resilient bars, aside from any acoustic benefit between the lounge area and bedroom above, was that they would help bridge the transition between the rooms and between individual joists without me having to pack much/anything out and perhaps also in doing so provide some protection against cracking if there is any slight differential movement between the rooms over time.

 

Thanks to the ceiling-joist gap that they create, resilient bars might also be a god-send if I need to run additional cables at a later date as the lounge area is already heavily cabled up for the likes of surround sound and whilst I have anticipated the potential need for a 4-speaker ceiling-mounted Atmos setup who knows what the future might hold. I would probably also consider running extra lighting cables right above the ceiling should the need arise, although I don't know what the regs have to say about that when it comes to running cables between the ceiling and joists i.e. not through the centre of the joists themselves. Everything is RCD protected so I consider it acceptable from a safety perspective but that's just my opinion.

 

 

i am not sure i get this, are you saying that the ceiling boards on the resilient bars going to run to an existing ceiling / joist that isn't resiliently mounted?