QuietBrace Sound Deadening Material

If sound deadning is your primary objective I would glue it. It will bond to the sub-base of the plywood. Creates more mass which is one key element in supressing noise.

 

Zig-zagging coverage of brown carpenter's glue, Liquid Nails, etc, all work well.

 

Remove all screws from quietbrace,if any, after gluing and from track after ballasting.

 

 

 

 

I'm in the process of re doing my lay out and replaced all the pink foam with quiet brace. I used liquid nails (projects)to attach it to the plywood. I also used lightweight patch and paint spackling in the seams for a smooth transition from one piece to another.  Quiet brace took two coats of latex to get a good basic color to use for future detailing. I also in a few place had to use some screws to hold it down. This was mostly at a few of the seems. Probably just me but, I wasn't satisfied with those areas bowing up. Other than it being nasty until it's painted I have had no problems and in reference to sound I know it's made a difference for me.

If I were redoing a layout today I would glue Quietbrace over 1/2" plywood and glue 1/2" construction foam on top of the Quietbrace. I like the foam surface for ease of groundscapeing and placing stuff.

 

 Too late now [[Feb '10 build] on foam.

Thanks for all your help fellows.

 

Paul

Pro: Quietbrace does an excellent job of cutting noise and it's cheap at less than $8 for a 4'x8' sheet.

 

Con: You'll get the black finish on your hands and finger nails and it's not easy to remove.

Hi Bill

You're right, but get latex,tray and roller and slop cheap paint all over the uncut 'Brace, both sides, while on sawhorses. I helped a guy do it recently for sheathing a backyard Playhouse--nicer for fabrication and installation.

 

How is that attic layout coming along?

Well, Dewey, I'm still wrestling with the track plan. Once I decide on that then I can begin to wire, landscape, etc.

I'm not pleased with the layout as it is (see pics). I would like two separate lines so a freight train and a passenger train can pass each other. There is some room to ex span the table top; I'm just having trouble visualizing how it might look. I may take out the 2 switches and use them on the long side for a siding. And I might add an elevated track line, too.

Any ideas?

Hi all

 

I posted this in another section but thought I would try here as well. Is this a form of Quiet Brace? I was told by a HD employee this is a soundboard. Just wanted to check to see if anyone here knew. It sure looks like it. I found homasote but if this is the same and much cheaper, I may go with this. Thanks

I appears to be the same as Quiet Brace. As noted above, when I used it a few years back on a Grand Daughters outdoor playhouse, I latex painted it with a roller to cover the impregnated tar surface.

 

Bill:

Can you mount a track behind the round skylight tube to extend a mainline all the way around your "L" shaped layout?? A single tunnel portal and mountainside could work on at least the lower portion of the tube.

I think I found out what this is. I don't think this is Quiet Brace. Its a high Density Roofing Fiberboard. Its called CELOTEX™ STRUCTODEK® High density Roofing Board. Its doesnt mention anything about sound deadening. 

Quiet Brace is clearly labeled on one side and sells for about $8/sheet. And Dewey is right; you'll want to paint it so that the tar doesn't rub off on your hands and clothes.

OK. Thanks. Just want to make sure before I buy it. 

Thanks everybody for the input.  I've learned alot so far and yes the stuff is messy.

 

I will definitely paint it.  One fellow suggested a Latex paint (2 coats).  Anyone else had any luck with another kind of paint, or is Latex the way to go ?

 

Corvettte (Paul) 

Cheapest latex from WalMart works like a charm. Two coats.

Is having "more" any better? I asking if anyone has experimented with double layering sheets of quietbrace? If you have, what results in toning down sound did you get? Was the quieting from two sheets noticeably different from that of just a single sheet?

I wanted to know if i was thinking about adding a foam top layer above the qb, do i still paint the black tar top of qb? Or should i leave it as is. Will the foam adhesive work on that black tar top and glue the foam top? Thnx.

I live just south of Pittsburgh, PA in Washington, PA Zip code 15301. Can anyone direct me where I can buy Quietbrace. The Home Depot and Lowes here do not carry it.

 

Thanks!

 

Dave

The Celotex Soundstop and "regular" Celotex (tar impregnated) are available here in Phoenix , but Homasote and Quietbrace are not. The Soundstop is a buck or so cheaper, but is a lot less dense and a lot more crumbly than the regular Celotex sheathing. I went with the regular black Celotex over 5mm Luan. There is no tar smell and the blade buildup is negligible when cutting it, BTW.

 

 

 

The 4x8 section is 5 mm Luan with 1/2" Celotex, the rest of the benches have 1/2" ply with Celotex roadbed

I'm in Mesa, where did you get the Celotex?  And how is it with FasTrack noise?  In a couple of years I hope to start my layout, and I was planning on FasTrack (Since that's what I have.).  I did make a under the bed layout with FasTrack screwed to 1/2 plywood, and boy is it loud!  Can't hear the locomotive sounds over it, and that's going at typical speeds (Not prototypical speeds, toy train speeds.).  I have a loop just sitting on my carpeted floor, and it's not as loud, but still enough my wife comes in from the other room and says it's too loud when she trying to get the baby to sleep.  Does using solid rail track like Atlas or GG really reduce that much sound when compared to FT or Realtrax?

Question: (hopefully not too silly) Would  quietbrace dampen or trap  the sound to any extent if it was glued to bottom (the underside) of the plywood table?  Thanks

Philip

Would someone weigh in on the unanswered question by borderman01 and the last post from oldwiseman. 

The only way to be able to answer that question is if someone actually did glue the quietbrace to the underside of the plywood. I SERIOUSLY doubt that anyone here has spent the time or effort to do that. I'm sure you could hear various opinions, but the only way to know is to try it.

 

How quiet do want need our trains to be? Real trains make noise.... a lot of noise. Our models usually have sound systems that are relatively loud, so how much noise are you trying to eliminate?

Hi Laidoffsick,

 

If stuff is screwed or nailed to the plywood, the entire table becomes a sound board.

 

That then becomes a huge speaker.  If just the trains are heard, but not there reverberation throughout the whole table, that would be ok.

 

Corvettte

Oh I hear ya Corvette, no pun intended lol We pulled all the screws after the glue dried that holds the homasote to the plywood. I did my switching layout the same way. The spikes that we used to hold the track down, only penetrate the homasote, NOT the plywood.

 

I was only responding to the post 187 made. I don't have any issues with sound on either of our layouts. 

Hi Laidoffsick,

From your ever so slightly testy reply I can tell you sense something is wrong. I must confess I am an alien from the world of HOn3 and I am here to suck up all your knowledge about Quietbrace. My world knows nothing of Quietbrace. You O Gaugers on the other hand are the experts. Don't harm me as I gather data. I'm a 73 year old Grandpa and I come in peace. Why do I need quiet? I want to hear my wind and crickets sound track and the men talking in the mine and the tree falling near the lumber camp. Merry Christmas Blayne 

Blayne-

 

As for the painting, that is to make it cleaner to deal with.  If paint will stick to it, I see no reason why you can't find an adhesive that would as well.  But as I'm sure you know, some adhesives will melt the foam, so you will have to test some.

 

About putting it on the bottom of the plywood, the engineer in me can't think of a way that would help.  The sound of the track is due to vibrations.  Like stated above, when track is screwed to the plywood, the vibrations are transferred to the wood, and the sheets become like a speaker, making it louder.  By putting the QuietBrace (QB) between the track and plywood, you reduce the vibration doing to the wood, as QB is made to not transmit the vibrations.  By putting it on the bottom, the vibrations have already gone to the wood from the track and so will be loud.  The QB will not suck the vibrations out of the wood, therefore gluing it to the bottom will be a waste of time and materials.

Sinclair,

Well let the conversation begin. All the components for my 24x13 empire are in the basement. I just finished the drop ceiling and let the benchwork begin. This layout has yards at both end of the U and lots of mountains in between. I am intrigued by Dewey's first 2 posts in this thread. The glued plywood/ Quietbrace/foam sandwich with my HOn3 flex track glued down seems like it would give me adequate dampening and I would have the foam on top for scenery. All non yard track will be on splines. The splines will be laminated hardboard. I am going to then fill in all the open space with foam/ cast rock and ground cover. It is my intention to create a barrier of "either foam" between all the splines and whatever scenery is running up to the roadbed so as to decouple the train vibrations from the pink foam scenery. I can use very thin "either foam" and that would resist any white glue bonding agent I used on the ground cover. I think then I could then tint the 1/16 inch edge of the white "either foam" to match the roadbed/scenery interface. I  am convinced from all the studies I see that the final bonding of the roadbed and the ground cover is the knife to the heart of all the work we do in sound deadening. It is at this point that we really create the drumhead.  Comments please. Blayne

 

The major use of quieting is done for hollow rail track with open plastic bases, like Lionel FasTrack and MTH RealTrax.  Those that use "open" track (aka no built in base so there is air between the ties), which flex track will be, do not generally have sound issues.  Might be best for you to start your own thread in the 2-rail sub forum where those guys hang out.

Thanks, to all