I’m new to the off the floor concept and planning on building a layout. I do remember as a kid when we set up the trains on a sheet of plywood they were pretty noisy. I’ve asked around and several people mentioned Homosot as a good insulator. I visited their website and I noticed that the thinnest is 1/2", even on top of 3/8" ply, that should be pretty heavy and it is around $50 a sheet. Here are my questions:
If I go with Homosot will the standard lenght track screws work?
Does the Homosot hold screws well?
Are there other similar products?
What about 1" or 2" building foram insulation?
I’m open to suggestions, the layout is a few months away but I thought it better to plan?
First, you didn’t say what scale you were working with, my experience is mainly in HO. Homosote is a good sound insulator, it will deaden a lot of the noise from the trains running. It does hold track nails and screws well, they won’t need to penetrate the Homosote. Check around at places like Home Depot, it should be a lot cheaper. I’m not aware of similar products and have never used insulation as a layout base.
When we had our basement finished last year, the carpet folks offered me a length of yellow vinyl underlay left over from a commercial installation. This stuff is 1/4" thick, kind of spongey, and has a slight textile weave on the nether surface. I used latex caulk to fix it to my 5/8" plywood yard, and then placed my tracks and turnouts directly onto the material. I then used a mixture of sandy garden soil, plaster of paris, and mortar dyes to fashion the yard surface. I spritzed it all with a water/glue mixture to get it hardened.
I am pleased to say that it turned out well, and it is surprisingly quiet.
Straight foam board is noisy, gluing it atop plywood is better. I have not heard homasote, but it gets very good reviews. It is also very messy when you have to cut it, and it absorbs humidity like nobody’s business. You should seal all surfaces…and I can’t say what that will do to its sound-absorbing qualities.
My yard is 3/4 plywood with track HO track fastened directly to the board with the mainline being cork on 3/4 plywood. With sound off and running ~50-60 scale mph, they are not noisy, even quiet to silent. The room is 12 X 16 industrial carpet on the floor and masonite backboards so the room is not particularly sound deadening. It is finished with a 7.5 ft ceiling.
Most of the time, I run with sound on everything and sound and it works very well.
I have an old bachmann diesel that is Very noisy, but all of my new P2K and BLI locomotives are whisper quiet.
I’d say there are alot of factors that will go into determining how noisy a train might be.
Good luck and let us know how it goes, we’d like to know what scale you are thinking about too!
I have a supply of 1/2" & 5/8" plywood that I can use, so I’m trying to determine what’s best on top to deaden the sound. Right now I have a 2026, 2036 and 2046, the 2046 is the noisiest, but it is the biggest and heaviest too.
It will be in the basement of a raised ranch so you have the half above ground and half below. The room is a medium weight burba type pile carpet with a heavier weight padding since it is over concrete. The walls are sheetrock on the wall adjacent to the garage and the family room as well as above the cinderblock foundation on the outside walls. The cinderblock will be covered with wainscoat over some kind of insulation. The garage wall and family room wall will have wainscoat too. Ceiling is sheetrock, 7’5" high. That about describes the room.
Is that 2 or 3 rail? My son has Lionel directly on 3/4" plywood. You cannot carry on a conversation when it is running and it irritates my wife even when she is upstairs. So I really don’t have any suggestions there.
My 2 rail layout is also on 3/4" plywood but I use 1/4" Upson board (or upsonite) for the base. There are a few reasons for this.
It’s sound deadening is good however I have never compared it to homosote so I am not sure which one is better but I have heard that homosote is better in this area.
I handlay my own track and the ties stick to the upson board very well with just white glue.
It’s inexpensive although I can’t remember what I paid for it.
Sound Board is much cheaper than Homasote and might be available at a lumber yard in your area. Look in the insulation section for a 4x8 foot, 1/2 inch thick, brown colored sheet that should be less than $10. Sound Board is made from sugar cane and wood scraps, and does not swell up or disintegrate when wet like Homasote can. I fasten it down with carpet adhesive or plain latex caulk.
In thinking about your situation, especially with the CFO not liking the noise, my guess is that your problems will require more engineering than just roadbed, which I suspect could only deaden about 1/4 of the noise in a perfect world. Perhaps looking at this from the perspective of a theatre room or sound system room might help. Seems you have two problems, abating and containing.
As I think about it, I wonder if your secenery choices wouldn’t be a good place to start. Lots of trees, view blocks, tunnels and soft type scenery should have some good sound deadening qualities.
Thanks guys for your advice and thoughts. My wife, the CFO as Joe puts it, is not complaining but its on the carpeted floor right now so there’s not much track noise at all but I think it is better to have a plan.
I’m probably going to use mostly 3 rail tinplate and maybe some FastTrack or something like it down the road (unless I decide to stay “old school”).