Soundproofing Your Property

People will choose to soundproof their home because of one of two reasons or both. Either you’ll want to keep the sound in, e.g. if you’ve a budding drummer or electric guitarist who’ll not want to annoy neighbours or you’ll want to keep noise out, e.g. the persistent barking of a neighbour’s dog or a family nearby who hold parties every other weekend.

Can I Do It Myself?

If you are a dab hand at DIY, it is perfectly possible for you to soundproof your home whereby you can completely eliminate or dramatically reduce the level of noise coming into or going out of your house. There are many sound proofing manufacturers who would be able to advise you on what you need to buy depending on the level of soundproofing you require or by knowing the specifics as to the reason you’re looking to soundproof your home in the first place. The more intensive and professional you need the soundproofing to be, however, the better it would be if you got in a professional soundproofing expert to carry out the job.

Determining Where The Emphasis Lies

Noise can creep in and out of every corner of your house so if you decide to undertake a soundproofing job or get a professional in to do it, one of the best ways of determining where your main areas of focus should be is to switch off all appliances in your home which are capable of creating sound then, over different times of the day, walk around the house to see where the most external sound can be heard. These tend to be the areas you’ll mostly be concentrating on.

The Main Areas To Focus On

The areas you should be considering when looking to soundproof your home are, in fact, the most obvious ones – windows, doors, walls, ceilings and floors. Here are some useful tips for dealing with each of these areas.

Windows

Double glazing can reduce noise over single pane windows by up to around 20%. And there are more expensive double glazing and soundproof specialised windows with acrylic frames and panes that have slightly more separation between the panes of the glass which enables them to reduce noise by up to 50%.

Walls

Adding more layers of drywall can improve sound resistance as can blowing in paper or foam insulation, in a similar fashion to cavity wall insulation which will certainly help reduce noise to and from your external walls. However, if these procedures seem a little too complex or invasive or if you are renting a property, there are materials you can get from any good soundproofing stockist which you can apply externally to your walls to make them more sound resistant.

Ceilings and Floors

Wherever it’s possible, it’s far better and easier to soundproof a floor over a ceiling. Obviously, if you’re trying to keep noise in or from a neighbouring dwelling directly above you, you’ll have to take the ‘ceiling route’. However, this will involve installing a false ceiling and perhaps inserting fibreglass insulation or soundproof tiling. Floors are far easier to soundproof as you can buy thicker, more sound resistant carpets or have specialised soundproof matting fitted.

Doors

Solid, thick wooden doors are best but it’s not just about the doors themselves. You need to ensure that jambs, thresholds and door heads are also airtight and special weather seals put around the door frames can make a remarkable difference on their own.

The extent and expense to which you decide to go will all depend on the reasons why you are considering soundproofing your home in the first place but there are plenty of specialists around who will be able to advise you based on your specific needs and, if it’s a really professional job you need doing, these are the people you should turn to.