We know pushing standard code minimum construction toward high performance is complicated.
Decouple walls from floor double wall construction.
Ways that you can decouple walls.
The same benefits are observed to the same extent on decoupled walls such as double stud walls.
There are a few ways that you can decouple walls and each way has its own pluses and minuses.
In her energy smart details article architect rachel wagner discusses double stud wall construction.
Room within a room.
Learn more about double stud walls here.
Room within a room.
This method is achieved through building two separate stud walls with a small space between the two sides.
The gap between the inner and outer walls that the window and door openings need to bridge.
Ways to decouple a wall.
Here she explains its trickiest part.
This is also one of the ways to build what is referred to as a room inside a room.
The most effective form of decoupling that can be achieved is by building a room within a room.
The first example on the left is a single double wall hybrid construction.
Learn more about double stud walls here.
The double stud wall simplified low cost high performance simplify.
So studs on floor and ceiling eing supported by wall frames.
Sound isolation clips and resilient channels.
By an enormous margin pound for pound the best wall that you can build is a visco elastically e g.
The double wall has been used to build energy efficient homes for a long time.
The inner leaf walls and ceiling are built on this slab and never come into contact with the outer leaf.
High performance builder dan kolbert s ideal wall is a double stud approach filled with dense pack cellulose insulation.
The external wall frame floor and ceiing outer leaf are all touching.
There are three ways to decouple a wall the most effective way is the double stud wall.
It is a 2 6 wall with drywall insulation and sheathing.
Then a thick layer of rigid foam and an outer layer of sheathing.
The inner leaf would need to have its own slab or floating floor.
In this article he uses photographs and a detailed illustration to showcase how his team builds the vapor open double stud wall assembly beginning with the exterior wall framing all the way to the ridge and then turning to the interior walls.
While there are many ways to do it the basic premise is to build one structural wall typically the inside wall build a second wall around it and fill the space between with insulation.
Table choosing the right decoupling system for low frequency performance.