Fire+sound proof

[671jungle]

Would like to smith at night while not disturbing neighbors. East side is void of residents. Ideas?

[Glenn]

We need more information about the neighbors.

[ThomasPowers]

Dig a well ventilated bunker!

[671jungle]

7 hours ago, Glenn said:

We need more information about the neighbors.

I have neighbors north and south, a park on the east and a street with a neighbor across it on the west. I don’t see much of any of them except in passing. I work outside and was thinking of some kind dampening enclosure. Just enough to muffle the ping and maybe direct it upward instead of into the living rooms and bedrooms of unsuspecting sleepyheads.

 

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Dig a well ventilated bunker!

I have thought about similar projects. If the greenhouse busts this year it may become the new “shop”. 

Ive been pondering the idea of using cattle panels to frame up a small sound deflecting anvil house

[ThomasPowers]

First thing is to get a Fisher or mute a regular anvil so there is NO anvil ping!

[671jungle]

I have a upright rail sunk into a stump with about a #100 of chain wrapped around it. I’m saving up for a proper anvil. One of these days when I have enough bottles and cans to trade in.

[mutant]

I made part of my shed into a smithy. I lined the walls with rock wool for sound proofing and fire protection. Looked up eviltwinx on youtube - I have a series of videos on building a tiny and sound proof blacksmith shop.

[Glenn]

Set up a plywood or other reflective barrier between the anvil and the neighbor, tilted to 45 degrees to reflect sound upward.

If the rr track rings, enclose 1/3 to 1/2 of the bottom of the track (and chain) in sand. You want to absorb the vibration which kills the ring.

[Ninjabotslc]

I've been a handyman for 12 years, and now a general contractor for 8 months. Ideally, first in the walls I'd put in R-19 w/sound dampening, next instead of drywall-skin the walls with at least 1/2" plywood-5/8" is better. Be sure to do this on the ceiling/roof as well! If that's still not good enough, really inexpensive way to go is buying a few cases of acoustic ceiling tiles (for grid/drop ceiling) liquid nails or just screw them covering the entire fascia of all your walls plus ceiling/roof. I guarantee nobody's going to hear nothing more than the low thrum....I'm doing this exact same identical thing in my backyard garage as we speak !! 

 

[Teddybo]

I’m actually currently dealing with a similar situation at the garage I rent and use as  area to build things in . Except my neighbors are retired snobby xxxx couple who only leave the house to do garden work and frankly I didn’t even know their was more than 1 guy in the house I’ve still never seen the other guy  . And without ever even saying a word to me let alone mentioning noise issue waited for me leave on my weekly trips to Sacramento to help my mom out , and proceeded to storm over and demand my landlord kick me out ,and my land lord was milliseconds from cussing them out his daughter  interviened and tried to insure that what ever within reason could be done to not negatively effect them would be done but that I wasn’t getting kicked out and wasn’t going to be told I had to stop welding /metal work. They refused anything but me gone . Well they reported next that I was operating a welding shop as a welding business to the city and foolishly the daughter let the inspector on the property because the dumb inspector when she saw the garage inside tried telling me you Cant weld at home or use a garage in the manor I was - referencing all the steel I’d collected of a year from

scrap yards to use to make things FOR MYSELF.  So anyways 6 months later and her issuing me a fine for not having a hot works permit I’ve talked to both county and city fire inspectors and she issued me the fine which only applies if you have a business and both fire inspectors agree with me it’s perfectly fine to as a hobby  something ya don’t do every day . 

 

 

Any ways I went on a rant their I have done a ton of research and some  testing with decibel meter  different approaches to keeping sound from escaping to be able to bother neighbors and hopefully ya can avoid the drama . What worked best for me is I built a grinding room in the opposite side of the garage and used 2 layers of 5/8” sheet rock make with overlapping seams and I helped a buddy tear down sound booths from a business and got to keep a bunch of preassmbled 8’tall 4’ wide walls full of rock wool and attached  those walls   On the inside of the room and then added a layer of 1/4” dry wall . Now I bought all the 5/8” sheet rock over a month of daily visits to home depot and finding damaged pieces  and getting them marked down 80% or for free and the 1/4” I got for free off craigslist now the weak point to my room is the door so what I did after I got all large tools into the room was build a a wall in the shape of a L  ok it’s side and at the end of the L have those hanging strips ya see in Commercial freezers ok it’s side so sound would have to bounce off  a wall and through the flaps before even getting to the door which is the only thing I bough st full price and is a fire rated solid core that I hung with 1/16 or less gap around and has sound board /foam attached to it  And the ceiling is just the double 5/8” rock 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

A friend of mine sound proofed his "music room" using the old style egg cartons (not the Styrofoam ones) that he got for free from someone he knew in the egg business. He glued the bottoms to all the walls and you could just barely hear the music standing outside the room.

[Bugglejuice]

If you are looking to remodel, pink panther has an insulation that is flame retardant and sound insulating which would help a lot. Also look at your ceiling structure. Your anvil size and its mounting will have a big impact on this as well.

[jason0012]

I am having noise issues in my new building. It is all metal and rattles like a snare drum when grinding, forging or even welding. I am currently experimenting with welding curtains as noise baffles, in the hopes that I can at least isolate sound before it sets up reverb throughout the building...

[Frosty]

Insulation and sheathing the inside is the common way to handle the tin shed effect. Good old fashioned fiberglass and sheetrock will make a huge difference. Maybe not enough if you have close neighbors but it'll make a disk grinder on an I beam tolerable outside. 

If you need more, there are commercial products that are sound reducers and fire retardant/resistant off the shelf. You'll need to go to a real building supply, big boxes aren't likely to carry the high end stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Donal Harris]

Just be sure you don’t end up sacrificing yourself to keep the neighbors happy. The sound must go somewhere.

Have you spoken with your neighbors about it?  You could be worried about something they don’t see as a problem. 

[George N. M.]

I second the suggestion of talking with the neighbors before doing much mitigation work, even if you do not know them well.  I once had an elderly neighbor who I feared would be bothered by coal smoke and when I ran into her she told me that she loved smelling the smoke from the forge because it reminded her of when she was a girl and her family's kitchen range was coal burning.  You never know until you ask.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

Me too; I had a retired neighbor who told me she grew up with a coal furnace in the house and so the smell of coal smoke reminded her of her childhood.