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Does anyone have any experience with the Owens Corning basement finishing system?

http://basement.owenscorning.com/" target="_blank

They claim 95% sound insulation among other things. I am not a huge fan of drop ceilings in general but willing to look into it for the other benefits.

Thanks!

No experience with the Corning 'system', but it looks to me like it's just a slick package for hiring a partnered contractor to update the wall and ceiling finishes in your basement using Corning products.

It looks to me like they're putting FRP panels on the walls and using a grid acoustic ceiling with (presumably Corning Polyester/Fiberglass) ceiling tiles to finish the ceiling.
Overall, these things install faster and should have a lower overall cost than drywall walls and ceilings. They are also easier to remove than drywall if you have to get back to the pipes or wires for maintenance. I'm used to seeing architects use these finishes in spaces where moisture is a problem or washdown will be expected such as basements, labs, vivariums and commercial kitchens. These finishes have a side benefit of sound absorption compared to standard drywall.

If you have the time and patience to learn, you can buy this stuff at Lowes or Home Depot and install it yourself. Don't plan on doing it in less than the 2 weeks that Corning is advertising. I don't know how many special tools are needed, but I know that pro contractors use things like laser levels to make sure they install the ceiling correctly. Unless you have some of those tools (and enough help), you will not get the finished quality that you'll get from a contractor.

My $.02

I am currently installing the Armstrong equivalent, I'll let you know how it goes. My wife picked out the Armstrong based on looks.

At work, we recently had to do some significant sound deadening to put a conference room next to a large mechanical room. Before we started, the noise floor in the room was around 72db concentrated at frequencies from 40hz to 200hz. The wall adjoining the mechanical room was concrete block covered with plaster...

The contractor built a 2x6 wall, six inches off the concrete block wall, used a 1/2" thick gasket material around all the sides that attached to concrete surfaces, filled the wall and the void with 'bass blocker' insulating material, covered the wall in sound deadening drywall which was essentially two layers of 3/8" sheet rock with a layer of goo and metal film in between. For ceiling treatment, the contractor used Armstrong Cirrus High-NRC tiles (something like 24db) and put 6 inches of insulation over the top of the ceiling tiles.

Net result - with all that, the noise floor is still about 45db - just a tiny bit high for a conference room - and it is still highly concentrated in low frequency noise. If someone sits on the wall opposite the adjoining the mechanical room (approximately 40 feet away) - they are visibly fatigued after about 20 minutes.

All that said - my friend that is a mastering engineer built his home studio as a room inside a room, with 2x6 walls, lined with multiple layers of the 'blue jean' insulation. For his bass traps, he built floor to ceiling 'curtains' of the blue jean insulation. These are 16" wide, are hung at an angle and overlap each other. They are spaced 2-3 inches from the wall so that the frequencies are absorbed and don't transmit to the wall behind them.

This is a lot of work... but I think the thick 'curtains' are a better, less expensive solution that the Owens corning solution. Check out ATS acoustics too.

Good luck

Ricko

The Armstrong ceiling turned into a nightmare. After I got the first room up my wife complained about the smell and began to be sick. Looking online it seems as this is a persistent problem. Evidently the manufacturing process changed chemicals a while back and the resulting odor is from a chemical matching the odor causing chemical in vomit. Fortunately the vendor took it all back and refunded the entire purchase price. Now I have to find something that looks a good but doesn't stink. I'm looking into Ceilume.