Not as structural support, but laid on top of plywood.
I would lay the Cascade Rail Supply homasote roadbed on top of the tiles. I didn’t want to use a plastic/foam based product, but stick to wood/paper fiberous products.
Normally I would lay sheet homasote, then the CalScale product, but I can’t find Homasote within 100 miles of my SE US location.
Was wondering if anyone had experience using ceiling tiles on their layout. Or general thoughts.
Isn’t Homasote a similar composition to ceiling tiles? Why would you use both?
Overall sound deadening. I want sheet homasote on top of plywood, then roadbed. I could put cork roadbed over sheet homasote (if I could find it around here) but I went with the Cascade Rail Supply product.
They seem similar to me. Wondering if anyone had any direct experience to share.
Ceiling tiles are a lot less dense than Homasote and I doubt they would hold spikes or track nails.
Personally if I use sheet Homasote, it is for a rail yard where I don’t need cork and the track is essentially at ground level. If I use cork, it is over plywood or OSB. I’ve never installed cord roadbed over Homasote.
If this is strictly for sound deadening, have you tested it after ballast has been installed and glued in place? Most people comment that it’s after the ballast is secured with glue that they notice more of a sound issue.
My [2c] worth, why not? Maybe “glue” the tiles to the plywood with latex caulk, and then use the same caulk to glue down the road bed.
I would think that with the Casscade RS road bed, you could still use spikes to secure the track, or, if not, the caulk.
Mike.
I have tried ceiling tiles and have not yet ruled them out for further use. They are less dense than homasote. They do not take spikes at all. Even nails and brads. I use adhesive caulk so have no problems with that, but be aware that they do not “work” like homasote.
Cutting them creates dust of about the same annoyance level. I have no idea what they are made of - from a health perspective.
The nice thing about homasote is that if you can get a sheet of a workable size (I buy mine in 2’ x 4’ "handi-panels; my car is too small to deal with a 4’ x 8’ sheet even if I could find them) you can get fairly long pieces for tangents and curves. Ceiling tiles of the kind I get are small and thus more fussy even with their tongue and groove edges that fit together. By the way sometimes you can talk a store into making a deal on cracked or otherwise unsalable ceiling tiles. They seem somewhat prone to breakage at the store.
Dave Nelson
I assume hardened glued ballast will be noisier directly on plywood, creating more of a druming effect, than if there is a layer of homasote on top of the ply. Especially if I use a softer adhesive like caulk to affix the homasote (or ceiling tiles) to the ply and also the Cascade road bed to the homasote (or ceiling tiles).
Good point about the difference in overall density. I thought about that but I don’t know if less density would cause any problems in a material way. As long as the tiles are dense enough, that is the question.
I have used ceiling tiles on three layouts and I was pleased with the results. I never paid retail for them I got some from a broken package at the back of either Home Depot or Lowes. I also found some at a Habitat Re-store. They seemed to take pins (quiliting pins) to secure the track for n-scale. Of course I put the good side down. There are joints to fill in and they cause some dust when cutting but if i were to build another layout, I would use them again. Bottom line - cheap, easy to transport home and easy to work with.
Tiles from the 40’s through the early 90’s have a good chance of having some asbestos in them.
More modern tiles are usually a mixture of mineral wool, clay, perlite, and cellulose, mixed with starch and water.
I’d cut it out side, but on the commercial jobs like schools and such that I was on, the guys cut them inside, and seemed to be no big deal. They usually didn’t even wear masks.
Mike.
Put the Cascade roadbed directly on to the wood, no need for homasote under it.
Been doing it that way for 40 years now.
Sheldon
Really? I think not. MAYBE, commercial tiles in the 40’s thru the early 60’s, but likely not even many of them unless they were marketed as insulating.
Sheldon
You can’t find this at your local Home Depot? If you ask for homasote, that’s probably true. Ask them for “sound board” and they might have a stack of that. It’s the same stuff.
I had a similar problem locally (in Pennsylvania) when I asked for Masonite. All I got was a blank stare. They call it particle board or hard board.
Its called sound board or sound board 440. Not available within 100 miles. Actually, Florence KY is the closest.
Its a product for the northern climate, apparently.
I guess people in the South don’t build home theaters or other rooms where they want sound deadening - that’s more what’s it’s for vs insulating to keep the cold out.
There’s really little point to 2 layers of homasote if you are using the Cascade roadbed. That already provides the sound deadenign og homasote over the plywood, a second layer of homasote wouldn’t do a whole lot - to cut sound transmission you need density differences at the layers, not multiple layers of the same density. That’s the science of it - there have been a few articles done on the subject over the years. There will always be peopel who SAY “x sounds quiter than Y” but remember there are people who call themselves ‘audiphiles’ who think using 10 gauge speaker wire carefully crafted in an oxygen-free environment by nude virgins sounds better than plain copper 18 gauge speaker wire on their 50 watt stereo system. Or that suspending the speakers wires off the floor on little wooden pyramids keeps ‘vibration’ out of the electrical signal. Or replacing the knobs on their equipment with hand crafted exotic hardwood knobs improes the “ambience”. Or special directional Ethernet cables make their computer link sound better. The density change in stacked materials is actual science - it’s why a submarine can hide underneath a pocket of slightly cooler, dender water in the ocean, among other things.
I dilute my white glue for ballast with alcohol, because water with a drop of soap just does not work around here. One beneficial side effect is that the white glue dries somewhat rubery when diluted with alcohol NOT a rock hard mass of ballast and glue. ANd I use caulk to attach eash later - roedbed to the base, track to the roadbed. No nails to form sound conductors right through all the layers. So in the end, I have different density materials, connected by a somewhat flexible adhesive instead of solid sound conductors, and even though
I was thinking Cascade homasote, caulk, homasote, caulk, then plywood would give a sandwich of different densities. Replacing homasote with ceiling tile would provide yet a different density to the sandwich.
If I use screws or nails, that makes a hard transference of vibrations through and past the sandwich, where as the caulk would tend to isolate each layer, IMO.
Why the adversion to foam?
Nothing really. Seems like its lack of weight for movable layouts is the major advantage. I like other materials better.
Owens Corning 703 has owned the home theater market for years.
[quote user=“rrinker”]
remember there are people who call themselves ‘audiphiles’ who think using 10 gauge speaker wire carefully crafted in an oxygen-free environment by nude virgins sounds better than plain copper 18 gauge speaker wire on their 50 watt stereo system.
LOL! I’ve said that for years, but never quite so eloquently. I’m going to remember that quote. Back in the day I had a buddy who really drank the audiohile marketing Kool-Aid. Once I had him over to check out my then new system, which sounded very nice, with new high-end Paradigm tower speakers. After his glowing approval, I showed him the (temporary!) speaker wires, which were just made from dirty old used 24 gauge phone wire.
Sorry for the diversion, back to ceiling tiles…
Found a relatively local wholesale lumber dealer who has 440 soundboard in stock. Comes in standard 4 x 8 sizes but they don’t offer cutting services. So I’ll buy a few 2x4 smooth ceiling tiles and see how it goes.