Rubber Blocks for Bridging wall tops

tmix · Post by **tmix** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:39 pm

I know that coupling walls together is bad for acoustics transferring through double wall structures.
I have a few places along a 33 foot double wall (at third points) I was considering bridging the top of the inner wall (9 ft tall) to the outer shell wall (10 ft tall) with some thicker pieces of neoprene (3/4 to 1" thick). It would be primarily to help while putting up the ceiling joist, but I thought about leaving them to firm up the wall a little. I was going to put a small cross stud between 2 outer wall studs and tie it across to the top of the inner wall by some 4 inch by 12 inch pieces of rubber.

Was is ya'lls gut feel about this?

Thanks for your input.

Tom

Post by **sharward** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:21 am

Perhaps you are describing what anti sway braces do. It's difficult to viualize without a photograph or an illustration.

tmix · Post by **tmix** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:28 am

Sharward,
My drawing skills are poor, but I will try to draw up something and post it.

Thanks!

Tom

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:05 pm

If you are only planning on using them to brace the walls during construction, I'd just use 2x4s or something like that. If your construction is done properly, once you get your ceiling joists up, it should be more than solid enough. If it isn't, I'd be afraid that something else is not quite right with your construction.

In my case, the walls were a little wobbly until the joists were nailed down. After that, it feels like they were set in concrete! No movement at all. And that is before I've put up any drywall which will make the whole structure even stiffer.

len

tmix · Post by **tmix** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:49 am

Cool
That is what I need to hear.

Thanks
Tom

Post by **sharward** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:19 am

If what you want to do is stabilize your joists so that they don't wobble, Len's assurances notwithstanding, perhaps you'll consider using some of these metal braces:

From scalpshifter's thread

I think they're more stable than just nailing/screwing through the top plate or toenailing. You get the benefit of nails/screws on two separate axis, which appears to offer more stability.

In any event, I do not recommend bridging inner and outer frames with anything besides a bona fide resilient brace that's engineered for the purpose. Concocting something home-grown is risky: it may not be approved for use by your building department and it may actually cause your leaves to fuse, which defeats the purpose of going through all the effort to decouple them in the first place.

--Keith