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I am currently planning to build a room in the basement, splitting an area in half with a partition wall. My current issue, to which I did not find any answer, is regarding the fastening of the top plate to the joist with resilient channels in the way. The RC is the mounting point of the drywall to the ceiling.

I will be running the top plate parallel to a joist, thus perpendicular to resilient channels. Since it's just a partition wall, I am planning to screw directly through the ceiling drywall and into the joist.

Now, I want to know which would be the best solution to both make the work simple and avoid compromising the resilient channel. Here are some possible solutions:

  1. Screw through drywall, into joist, while avoiding drilling into RC and not tightening too much to avoid compressing the RC. Will this compromise the RC's sound dampening ? This is my desired solution.

Option 1

  1. Cut open the drywall on the length of the top plate, add shims until below the RC and screw into shims, into joist. This way, I ensure a small gap so the RC doesn't get compressed. Does this change anything ?

Option 2

  1. Option I want to avoid. Cut open the drywall the whole length of the top plate, cut the resilient channel overlapping the joist. Fasten top plate to the joist. Do I need to cut more of the RC to avoid too much overhang ? Do I need new RCs parallel to the top plate on both sides to keep vibration dampening ?

Will option 1 really change anything to the RC abilities ? Considering there are plenty of other walls built before the RC that are fastened to the joists in the basement, does one additional wall really change anything ? Are there alternatives ?

Scott
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Depends what the purpose of the resilient channel is, and if the wall is load bearing or not. If the wall partition is not load bearing, which I assume based on Joist direction, you can fasten the top plate to the resilient channel itself. This may be preferred especially if the resilient channel is serving as a component in an acoustic rated floor system or fire rating.

NICK
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