I have (I think) 10 or 11 joist bays in a utility area in my basement. The joist bays are pretty populated with duct runs, power+data, PEX plumbing, etc with some of those running perpendicular across the bottom of the joists, making a hard lid almost impossible. Besides, I like having access to everything in this area (below the kitchen).

However, it’s a bit noisy (both ways) whether the kitchen traffic coming down or the utility room (furnace, my ‘mini shop’) sound going up.

I am thinking about insulating the top 3rd (up against the T&G d.fir sheeting of the kitchen floor) to help attenuate sound a bit. Joists are true 2×10. The bays are maybe 12ft long each (some shorter) so I don’t need a ton of product, but I am not certain I can work around everything in the joists with long rolls of fiberglass batts (w/o driving myself crazy and tearing the kraft paper constantly). I use roxul a lot and I like that idea, but I notice that when it’s uncovered it can dust a bit and would drop fibers and things over the years.

Any other ideas? Denim batts (seems like that would dust as well over time). Maybe just small sections of kraft-backed R13 pink fluff and some staples to keep it up? Again, I got a feeling I’ll be going crazy trying to work around everything.

Thanks
S