Tips for Soundproofing Your Home.

Nowadays, work-from-home, study-from-home, etc. have become a global culture. We all need a quiet and peaceful environment during an online class or a video conference meeting. Road cacophony, chaos of pedestrians, and many other sounds create turbulent interruptions that affect concentration in work, study, or other aspects of life. Many of us think of making our house soundproof to escape such issues. Limiting external soundwaves within our periphery requires a lot of effort. Here, we share some exotic ideas to make your home soundproof. Our ideas will make your home a sanctuary of calmness, and all your work will be performed perfectly with magical concentration in a cost-effective, accessible, and efficient manner.

1. What is the Home Soundproofing System?

With soundproofing system implementation, we can reduce or control the entry or exit of sound waves within a room or house. Effective soundproof system implementation requires an understanding of different varieties of soundwave entries or exits from a room. It may be airborne noise such as voices, external music speakers, etc., or impact noise such as furniture moving, cluttering of construction works, people’s footstep sounds, etc.

To make a room soundproof, we use four basic techniques:

Sound wave absorption: To implement this technique, we should utilize different materials that can absorb sound waves and reduce their impact within the house.

Sound wave decoupling: In this system, we maintain physical separation between rooms and limit sound wave transmission.

Sound wave damping: With specific materials, we reduce the resonance power of sound waves with this technique.

Sound wave mass: In this process, we use heavy materials like heavy curtains, rugs, etc., to stop the entry of sound waves.

With the application of these principles, we can soundproof our rooms. Nowadays, various materials are available in online and offline stores where these principles are utilized to soundproof the house. Now we discuss various materials and pathways to soundproof our rooms.

Sound works in waveforms. When we speak, the wave goes from one end to another end of the wall. This wave continues until it dissipates. So, it’s not easy to make a house noise-free. Still, we have explored some budget-friendly ideas to reduce the cacophony and give you a peaceful environment for video conferences or podcasts.

2. Soundproofing Strategies for Our House

For various parts of our house, there are different soundproofing solutions for your peaceful working environment or a whisper-quiet night’s sleep.

A. Soundproofing the Wall

If you are thinking of soundproofing your home, you can start with the wall. You may add a green glue layer on the wall between the basic and final coat of the wall. With this layer of green glue, sound resonance will be dampened. This extra layer of color or drywall is lab-tested and is an efficient way to reduce the effectiveness of sound waves within the home.

If you want to soundproof your walls quickly, you may use sound-reducing wallpaper. It comes in peel-and-stick rolls. You can install it without any mechanic. These wallpapers will enhance the aesthetics of the room without any mechanical activities.

Wall-hanging soundproof panels have become very popular for their cheap but elegant aspects. These soundproofing panels are available on online and offline platforms in the form of bookshelves, wall-hanging showcase racks, etc.

Hanging tapestries are another way to reduce external chaos in the room. These are mainly made of plaster, quilts, rugs, etc. Hanging beautiful tapestries not only reduces the entry of sound but also enhances the looks of the room. It’s common nowadays where work-from-home is present. These tapestries dissipate noise quickly due to their hard surface with paintings of Lord Buddha, etc.

The ceiling-to-floor bookcase is another option to hit two birds with one arrow. A quick library is a passionate place to nurture our minds and knowledge. Nowadays, many people create ceiling-to-floor-length bookcases. They absorb a lot of sound and make the room soundproof at a nominal cost.

Soundproof paintings of stars, birds, or others make our rooms attractive. Many customers use soundproof or noise-reducing colors to paint their walls. These are called acoustic colorations, which absorb sounds quickly. This painting is done with water and consists of viscoelastic compounds. Due to such composition, this soundproof color helps reduce noise pollution.

B. Block Sounds with Window Insulation

Old windows are the source of sound because there are gaps between frames. To soundproof the house, you may swap out old windows. But with the old windows, you can use a double-framed soundproofing system.

Nowadays, window sound blockers are available in online and offline stores for old windows. Acoustical caulks are another option to seal the gaps between the window frames. Differently shaped sound-blockers are available in online and offline shops to reduce sound entry within the room.

Black-colored or densely colored curtains can help reduce noise pollution. These options work for old doors as well. With doors, you can soundproof your room prudently. Many customers implement all the options to secure a soundproof quiet home.

C. Soundproof Your Floors

Floor soundproofing is the most effective pathway to delimit the entry of both impact and airborne types of noise. Now we discuss different pathways to soundproof floors.

Carpets and Rugs: To provide you with a soundproof floor, insulated carpets and rugs are highly suggested. Within these specially designed carpets, there are thick pads of insulated cotton to provide soundproof effects. These carpets or rugs have specially designed felt and memory foams. These provide a great level of coziness to the users along with soundproofing quality. Due to insulation power, these carpets and rugs can keep cool air during summer and warm air during cold seasons. These types of rugs provide soundproofing features along with thermostatic aspects.

Even if you are not purchasing an insulated cotton pad, you can put an extra rug below your old one. These will work as the insulation pad and provide the same effects without investment.

Underlayment Materials: On the floor, you may provide a layer of corks, foams, or rubber. It will help you get a soundproof effect.

Floating Floor System: When creating the floating floor, a cushion layer is added to the previous floor. Then a new floor layer is added directly to the subfloor. It is a popular system to soundproof the home. Here, the decoupling principle is utilized to reduce sound transmission.

D. Ceiling Soundproofing System

Ceiling soundproofing is crucial when we want to make our workstations in a multi-storied building or apartment. Now there are some quick ways to soundproof your ceiling.

Ceiling Tiles Installation: Ceiling tiles installation is a great way to reduce the impact of sound magically. Acoustic tiles are available in online and offline stores. These are very impactful in reducing noise transmission. All the tiles can be designed aesthetically to enhance the beauty of the room according to your home’s internal decor.

Resilient Channel Implantation: Resilient channel implantation is a pocket-friendly way to reduce noise transmission within the room. These are metal channels connected with ceiling joints before the installation of drywall. As a result, it creates a decoupling arrangement and helps reduce noise.

Insulation and Mass Incorporation: Insulation and mass incorporation create a gap between the ceiling cavities and drywall. This mass mainly consists of insulated materials.

E. Door Soundproofing System

Door sweeps are the best way to reduce the entry of external noise inside the room. These door sweeps are made of plastic materials, rubber, or other insulated products. These sweeps are glued or nailed from the upper to lower edges of the door. It does not require any installation charge because it mostly comes with self-adhesive options. It may give you a taste of DIY, and for better options, you can use Velcro tapes to make it long-lasting.

Weatherstripping is another way to reduce the entry of sound within the room. These are mainly made of rubber. Felt is a well-known weatherstrip. It comes in a roll with self-adhesive options. It is the cheapest option to reduce noise and doesn’t require any installation charge.

Under-door draft blocker is the last way to delimit the entry of sound through the door. These are adhered to block the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor, ceiling, or wall.

F. White Noise Machine Incorporation

This machine is amazing when you desire a home sanctuary to give a magical finishing to your dream project. It’s a small, professionally designed machine that reduces sound quickly. This machine works by flattening the neutral shape of the sound wave instead of absorbing it. As a result, the dullness or sharpness of external sounds reduces quickly.

G. Don’t Forget to Soundproof Your Furniture

Plant fibers or wools are well-known for their sound-absorbing natures. They help to prevent sound sharpness as well as noise pollution. So, if you are an original silence lover, please put natural-fiber or wool-filled pillows on your bed, sofas, or other furniture. They will give you a comfortable feeling and reduce sound entry.

In the daytime, these pillows will beautify your room and help you relax during work-from-home gaps. But at night, you can place these pillows beside doors or windows to enjoy a whisper-quiet night and tight sleep.

3. What is the Cost of Home Soundproofing?

The cost of home soundproofing depends on the materials selected for soundproofing, the surface area of the house, the number of panels or units required in rooms, and the quality of all the materials. Presently, you find acoustic foam panels of 7 to 10 sets between the 2-5k range. For curtaining your rooms with black curtains, your expense will be between the 7-10k range according to the fabric quality of the curtain. From our experiences, we find that for 2-3 BHK, the cost is 30k to 1 lakh in India to make it completely soundproof.

At a Glance…

Making a house completely soundproof requires blockage in the ceiling, floor, door, windows, and all other gaps. Here we provide a complete scenario about different pathways, costing, and all other information. After soundproofing, you will get a peaceful home, quiet, and the best place to work.