? Regarding Homasote:

I have little doubt Atlas is pretty quiet with just something like Flexbed.

 

When it comes to Mianne, the I-beams have an MDF core with hardwood edges. I still can't get past the price though, but that 's probably because I haven't reached the decision stage yet. The money itself is not the issue. It's the idea of buying something I know I can make myself, and I have the time and hardware. It would be so nice though to just assemble it in 2-3 days.

Lets talk about something I have never heard discussed.The ROOM itself.Most (not all) layouts are in our basements.Is your basement cold and echoey?Or is it warm and quiet?Much of the sound from the layout is broadcasted into the room.Do you have acoustic ceiling tiles?Do you have hard surface flooring such as concrete or ceramic tile,or is it carpeted?Are the walls finished and insulated,or open block or concrete? ALL these things will have a HUGE impact on what kind of sound you are getting from the layout.

In addition to homasote and cork roadbed, one of the things I found helped with the sound in the room was adding skirting around the bottom of the layout.  

 

I used landscape cloth, inexpensive, looks good, but importantly it helps reduce the noise from reflections from all the hard surfaces in the basement.  I have drywall ceiling, walls, and a epoxy painted cement floor - all hard surfaces that reflect sound.  The skirting soften the room, as I think Dennis mentioned, kind of like drapes or carpet in a room reduce the noise.

OK so the Homasote is cut and ready to be attached. My son helped me and he has less patience than I do. I could not convince his to make a bunch of shallow cuts instead of trying to cut all the way through in 2 or 3 cuts. Needless to say I have some pretty crappy looking edges. Not sure how I will deal with that, maybe some molding to hide the edges? Also because of the ragged edges some of the pieces don't butt up against each other very well. But back to the attachment. It was suggested in an earlier reply to just screw it down and leave the screws in place, without using glue. I like this idea but won't the screws just transmit the noise thus reducing the effectiveness of the Homasote?

Oh and Scot, thanks for your kind thoughts. Next month will be my 5 year anniversary of the transplant. With God's blessings the kidney continues to function better than all expectations.

Best of luck on your upcoming checkup!

Glue it, screw it, and then remove the screws. Thats the best option. Don't worry about the edges, they will/can be covered with scenery or fascia board depending on where they are at. Also don't forget to tape the joints, to keep water and such out when doing scenery. Regular masking tape will do the trick.

Good morning Strogey

 

The screws holding the Homasote will not transmit the noise, you have to fasten it down, the screws or nails holding the track down could transmit the noise if they contact the plywood under the Homasote. The track is the noise and the Homasote absorbs the noise. Think of it as a rubber engine mount in your car.

 

Clem

PeterA.....
If you live in greater Phoenix area go to heldt lumber on 7th Street they stock homasote and will cut in half if needed to transport last time I bought a sheet think it was $30.

Heldt Lumber Co Inc
5712 N 7th St, Phoenix, AZ
Tuesday 7:00 am – 4:00 pm
602-277-3378
$oo

As to Jim Barretts article haven't read it but. Posters statement saying homasote no longer warranted am guessing due to cheaper products available?
Personally I have tried cork roadbed on plywood couldn't stand the noise! installed homasote and can hear the trains and hold a conversation with someone next to me and hear them quite easily.  Personally at today's pricing of engines cost of homasote is chump change.
Only my opinion but unless your strictly all flat top a 4x8 sheet cut for roadbed track width goes a very long ways  I have used 5 sheets total on my layout at today's pricing that equates to $150

$oo

And I can't say this enough.

 

Don't go to Home Depot for Homasote!  Visit your local lumber yard.   My local yard sells 4x8 sheets for $17.

 

Not to mention really good plywood that is much higher quality then HD for a lot less.   Plus my local yard does FREE delivery.   

Homosote is great stuff. The only issue I had with it was on my HO layout, it did not like moisture or humidity. When I went to ballast it the water distorted the material so bad that the track height was compromised. So on the next usage I sealed it with some tan wall paint from ACO hardware or ACE. This kept the moisture out.

Cutting is somewhat messy, today I use cork and it requires a lot less work.

Basically, Jim says he's not sure Homasote and others are worth the cost. He says he's seen quite a few layouts that were pretty quiet and they didn’t use Homasote or any other sound-deadening material. He went on to say he thinks the best way to reduce noise is by putting joists closer together, such as the 16˝ he uses now. I'm not sure how that helps other than maybe reducing the size of the echo chambers beneath the layout.

 

Admittedly, in the big scheme of things, Homasote probably isn't that expensive. If I cover both levels of my 12x13 horseshoe layout and 3x10 extension with Homasote, I think I'm looking at 8 sheets and that should be around $250. However, if $10 sheets of something else with save me $20 a sheet or if the newer rubber roadbed will work just as well, why not give them a try? It will cost me $10 for a test, so that is what I plan to do. I'll be testing on a hard surface floor too, so it will be that much quieter when I move to the carpeted bedroom later.

 

It's possible that when joist spacing was 24", we had was cork roadbed, Homasote was cheaper and there weren't many alternatives, Homasote was the best way to go. I don't believe McCormick-Stillman uses Homasote and it is quiet, but I'll find out for sure on my next visit.

My sheets of Homasote just arrived this morning and are now sitting in the basement.  I know how loud my basement was before so once it is installed and I have ran a few trains I will let you know the test results.

A 4x8 sheet of Homasote goes a long way. Even if you were to spend $25-$30 a sheet, it's really not that much compared to everything else on your O Gauge RR. With the price of the track, switches, buildings, cars, and engines these days......it's a very minimal expense  considering the benefits of using it.

 

 Good call Rich, I always thought of skirting for appearance only, but I agree that the material will absorb sound. Good call.

I love homosote. It definitely quiets things down and holds screws nicely. It's such a pain to cut. On a recent addition to the layout, I used some homosote that was available and then used inexpensive ceiling tiles. They are really easy to work with and if track needed to be screwed down, I used longer screws that reached the underlying plywood. I put it in areas that did not have much track and areas that I would not be climbing on the layout. The back side of the tiles was a brown color so that saved me some time as a first coat of ground cover.

 

Ed Kaz

All this talk about Homosote when there are alternatives as well.

Quietbrace

Celotex Soundstop

Ceiling tiles

all eat sound like candy, because they are Designed to Do That.

Homosote is too but is a much much older product. Time changes things.

Quietbrace and Soundstop are both better at absorbing sound and cost less.

Ceiling tiles are more money but you can catch them on blowout and they are much smaller to handle.

Thanks for the reply. I'm still a ways away from starting full construction, so don't worry about the delay. If I needed a quicker reply, I would have posted again or emailed.

 

I've pretty much decided I'm going to go with plywood covered by some sort of sound deadening board, though I doubt it will be Homasote simply because it's hard to find here. In a month or so, I'll be building a 4x5 test module for a small oval to try out up to 3 different brands of track (Atlas, GarGraves and ScaleTrax). I'm going to start by covering the benchwork with 1/2" plywood, 1/2" Blue Ridge (or something like it), the thin foam that comes in rolls and the track. If I find anything of significance, I'll be sure to post them.

I did something similar on my layout.  I decided to use all Atlas track because of the appearance and solid rail.  This track is not as noisy as tubular or hollow rail in my opinion.  I experimented with cork and different brands of foam style roadbeds and felt the Woodland Scenics was the best combo of sound deadening and cost.  It hasn't mattered which subsurface I have under it.  I have a combo of plywood or MDF and both are quiet with this roadbed and Atlas track.

 

Art    

I have OSD topped with Soundstop, fastback and realtrax loops. I run at less than 45 smph most of the time and the noise level is very acceptable. Any track systems with out the plastic roadbed would be extremely quiet, atlas or scaletrax solid rails would be almost silent.