Topic: Sound Proofing the Garage Gym

[Alexander Poptodorov]

Hi Everyone,
I live in the northwest Tampa area.  I live in a deed restricted community in a 3-car garage house.  The whole garage is my gym.  One large problem,., One very annoying neighbor on one side.   He is threatening to sue me if I don't stop dropping the weights.

I already do have 12X8',  2" thick rubber platform, and rubber plates. 

Had anyone had any experience with this?
Basically I boil it down to two things::   One I have to place a Vibration Decoupling mat for eliminating the vibration and Two: Sound dampening/absorbing material.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the material/procedure part and/or a legal advise to deal with this?
Your help will be greatly appreciate it.

Thank You All in Advance,
Alex Poptodorov

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Alex,

Welcome to the site. 

We are having some of the same trouble where I train now (Largo, FL) and I have had it repeatedly over the years. Check this article out: http://weightliftingexchange.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=361&Itemid=60

What is the noise ordinance in your neighborhood/city? If you aren't violating it, I don't believe there is anything for the neighbor to do but complain. I don't think he could sue if you aren't violating the ordinance and it would be very costly and time consuming to do so anyway. Now, if the community has special rules and stuff, he might be able to file a complaint with them and cause you some trouble but I don't know about that kind of thing.

[Alexander Poptodorov]

Chris, thank you so much.   
I checked the ordinance and I am not violating anything. 

Good news is I just received a phone call from one of my clients that does high end construction. 
He found those Vibration - decoupling mats that are actually made for industrial heavy machinery places.   
I will find out the details, but he said that that would take out if not all at least 80% of the ground transfer.  So if you have already couple of regular mats under it that should do the trick.
I will keep you posted as soon as I find out the cost and details.

Hey, by the way, is there anyone around the New Tampa, Tampa Palms, Wesley Chapel, and Zephyrhills areas that does weightlifting.  I have a warehouse set up by the Zephyrhills airport, it is about 1000sq ft. trainable space.  Has AC. 
Let me know Chris.


Thanks, Alex

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Alexander,

Please post back on the cost and effectiveness of those mats. I am very interested! Shelton Gilyard may be within range of you as he is somewhere in the Tampa area. Email the Florida LWC for contact info: The_Platform@floridaweightliftingfederation.com or if they don't have it or don't respond, let me know and I will email him personally for you.

Thanks

[Alexander Poptodorov]

Thanks a lot Chris.  I will let you guys know as soon as I hear.

Have you heard of the American Weightlifting program and website with Ivan Abadjiev?

http://americanweightlifting.org


In Health, Alex

[Dave Chiu]

Just claim it's your religion...

... and sue him first under one of those BS "hate-crime" laws!!

I had a good-in-many-ways neighbor once who gave me a hard time about O-lift sound, so I just trained around it (more spotting, less wt, more reps/set).

Actually, I have had an idea for a while about something called "bumper bags" -- basically a kind of robust pillow for minimizing shock (better for noise/structure/eqpt).

The reason to do it as a bag rather than a block of some sort is so that an imprecise drop will be less likely to bounce back off the edge of the top.

The question is what to make it out of (for best performance and enduring use)?

Also, I have found some bar mats (the ones of virgin rubber w/ drainage holes) to be better than any other kind of mat for shock absorbing. 

Maybe there's a way to use kicking bags (for martial arts), as they have for the Fingal Fingers in WSM.

How about using old tires as the main shock absorbing/spreading bushings?  You could put them in boxes w/ robust tops (w/ multi-ply of bar mat or carpet cover) and 2" of clearance on the sides.

The main point is to have a way to "silence" all the good lifts -- if there's only one or two big thumps from missed lifts per wkt, there's no reasonable complaint (plus you have a better incentive to lift well).

Best wishes!!

[Alexander Poptodorov]

That is a great idea.   My friend does strong man in Clearwater.  They have a actuall facility at a guys property.  They have all the stuff there.  I will ask him about the bags. 
check out that website for Vibration stopping mats. 
http://www.gretchken.com/anti_vibration_rubber_mats.htm

[Chris Betancourt]

You sure are lucky I'm an acoustics nut that now also is a weightlifting nut! Though most of the acoustics related stuff I know is for high-end listening rooms and cinemas, it can still be related to this. Heck, in our cinema we have a subwoofer system that can literally tremble the concrete second floor above throughout the entire house at full blast yet we were still able to reduce the sound levels outside the room by nearly 50-60dB!

Give me some more specifics of your garage; the construction materials of the floor and walls, any windows, distance from neighbor, floor plan of garage, and a budget.