The Home Crowd

This is going on the short list of “Things I want”. Quiet Solution’s soundproof drywall boasts that one 5/8″ sheet is acoustically equal to (8) layers of standard 5/8″ drywall. Not many of us have the square footage to spare by packing in an additional 5 inches of drywall to the interior of your homes. Also, don’t count on any of your doors functioning properly to account for that. That would never happen of course, as it would be simpler just to construct a masonry wall, than build up a mountain of gypsum.

photo credit: djweitzner

Seeing as how the average interior wall has an STC (Sound Transmission Class) value of about 34, good enough to separate your family but still hear their conversations through the wall. Partition common walls separating apartments, townhomes and condos are required to have and STC of 50. Which is good enough to keep your business your own, yet still allows your neighbors to share their musical tastes with you….like it or not. Most of Quiet Solutions’ QuietRock products sport an STC of at least 50. They have an interactive sound example page at their website which allows you to experience the contrasting STC values as if a garage band was playing in the next room.

The best possible soundproofing solution they currently have has an STC value of 80, which is meant for home theaters and can be reached by adding two layers of their 1 3/8″ to a stud wall. This assembly, I imagine, when used in master bedroom applications, will bring upon the end of the phrase “Stop it! You’ll wake the kids!”

HGTV’s “I want that!” showcases the QuietRock product in the video below

There are other uses of course. Making your home feel solid and quiet and every sound in it’s place can be appreciated by everyone in your household. Finally get that media room/home theater you’ve always wanted? Now keep it ramped up way beyond bedtime. Oh, and those neighbors you have? You know the ones, the ones who, at best buy, go straight for the stereo demos and their accompanying volume knobs until products drop from the shelves, and your sanity drops from sight? Yeah, treat your exterior walls.

The downside of course for this product is the price. Prices start at 40$ (volume purchase) for a 4′x8′ sheet, and only go up from there with higher rated products. Standard drywall is of course, considerably less, but to gain a comparable STC rating using a combination of standard drywall, resilient channels and other various products would bring the project budget closer to what you would have spent by just ordering soundproof drywall.

- Quiet Solutions’ Website

Ever sit at home and watch any of the many home remodeling shows on cable where the homeowner is looking to turn a quick profit after sprucing up a very bland home? If you haven’t, it goes like this:

• The Buyer buys a home in poor condition at a price below market value (hopefully?).
• So called ‘expert’ comes in and brings up the “Wow” factor, by telling the owner/flipper things like “This $800 of new sod can raise the property value by $3000!!!” or “This $10,000 kitchen remodel should bring you back 20K, nice and easy!!!”
• The Owner, thrilled by their impending windfall, dishes out the cash necessary, usually just right before finding a ton of wood rot in the bathroom, which they have no choice but to fix, and not fitting into the remodeling budget. But all the other improvements should bump up the value to cover the little expenses, right?
• And the show ends, usually with owner getting realistic quotes from ‘actual’ professionals, and settling for a good deal less than their asking price.

Personally, I like the shows that follow the pros around a bit better. They do simple cosmetic fixes, and repair where necessary.

The reality of remodeling, however, is not as television friendly. Rarely do remodeling projects return more than 100% of the cost. What’s notable about the Cost vs. Value report (below) is that the returns on remodeling average 70-80%. Traditionally the best returns come from projects such as Kitchen and bathroom remodels, upgrading flooring, and cosmetic refinements such as exterior remodels and beautification. Then again, many of these projects are sales friendly. Ads for homes often have a short synopsis, and terms such as “granite countertops”, and “Hardwood flooring” make for quick selling points that pop out to potential buyers. If there’s a picture attached to an ad, then of course the exterior upgrades and carefully manicured landscaping will instantly draw interest.

But keep in mind, that’s only my opinion. What truly matters is numbers, research and statistics. Over the last few years, I’ve followed up with the Cost vs. Value report prepared in conjunction by Remodeling Magazine and Realtor magazine with the support of surveys completed by thousands of members of the National Association of Realtors, a market research firm, as well as an estimating software developer.

The most recent edition for 2007 has the figures given and comparisons to previous years, or the trends, so to speak.

Of projects that saw national cost recovery rates of more than 80 percent in 2007, only one — a minor kitchen remodel, with 83 percent of cost recovered — was a strictly interior job. The others were an upscale siding replacement using fiber cement materials (88.1 percent), a wood deck addition (85.4 percent), midrange vinyl siding replacement (83.2 percent), and upscale vinyl and midrange wood window replacements (81 percent and 81.2 percent, respectively).

On most projects, the value of remodeling trended down in 2007 compared with 2006. No project exceeded an 88 percent return. The likely culprits for the year-to-year drop: rising remodeling costs and slowing home appreciation brought on by the lackluster housing market in many areas.

The story was somewhat different in the Pacific region, however, where REALTORS® estimated cost recovery of more than 100 percent for six projects: a wood deck addition, a minor kitchen remodel, fiber-cement siding replacement, wood window replacement, and an upscale wood and vinyl window replacement.

What is there to learn from the Cost vs. Value report? Depends on what type of project your thinking of tackling. Maybe that home office works out great for you, and whichever line of work your in, so long as you’re sticking around for the foreseeable future. However if you build a home office with the intentions of Wow-ing a potential buyer, the numbers show that your remodeling dollars would be better spent elsewhere.

Remodeling Magazine’s Cost vs. Value 2007 report

Realtor Magazine’s Cost vs. Value 2007 article

Remodeling Magazine’s Cost vs. Value 2006 report

Unsightly speaker wires are just expected for those in apartments but it’s understood as it’s a temporary home. But FlatWire has another option for those tenants/homeowners looking to clean up the mess of wires without punch holes in your walls. And perhaps even that’s not an option sometimes. Perhaps you have shared walls between condo units you don’t wanna pierce, wall cavities full of spray foam insulation, or as in the case of many high rise apartments, a concrete wall.

(During Installation)

(After FlatWire is applied to walls, finished, and repainted over)

But what about folding the wires 90 degrees, just fold it upon itself. My big concern about this would be the heat generated by electrical cables as it is, but it seems to be directed at speakers, and low-voltage lighting, not providing the juice to that 500 watt home theater receiver, so I can’t imagine the paint or wallpaper bubbling itself off the wall. Seems like this may be useful for some of us, but just make sure you remember where you ran the FlatWire, so you don’t go and drive a nail through it years later while hanging a painting.

You can order it off their site, but it’s a little steep. 37$ for 25 feet of the speaker wire, or a home theater package for 250, plus their special adhesive, tape, labor (mudding, sanding, repainting or wallpapering if you choose)

Or you could just just run a wire, and paint over that. Sounds terrible, but you know you’ve seen it done before…

FlatWire (via Lifehacker)

Lifehacker also has a great post of “10 ways to get cables under control”, a how-to guide to keeping those cables under control and out of sight.

From Neatorama and This Old House online:

I’ve watched this time-lapse tear-down of a home in a previously submerged New Orleans suburban home probably about 5 times, and I only wish it was about 4 minutes longer. As it is, they tear down the owner’s home (which was probably full of more mold than the average college student’s fridge) and drop in a modest modular home.

It’s also future flood-proofed as the main structure of the home sits on top of a concrete bottom level which gives the owner an attached garage space, and likely a good amount of storage (which modulars aren’t necessarily known for).

Link