How to Soundproof Rooms in a House

If you want to get away from the noise of daily living, soundproofing a room can provide you with your peaceful sanctuary. There are a number of things you can do to make your room (or even your whole house) quieter. Building soundproofing into your home when it is under construction is the most effective way to soundproof it, but you can also add soundproofing after you are in your home.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Build Soundproofing Into Your Construction Plans

1. Design your home so door openings in hallways aren't directly opposite each other. When you're living in the house this will minimize sound transfer through open doors.
2. Increase the thickness of your interior walls (2 x 6 plates) and have the wall studs offset to reduce sound transfer through the walls. Attach the studs so they line up alternately between the front and back edges of the top and bottom plates.
3. Before the walls are closed up with drywall, put fiberglass batt insulation into the normally hollow interior walls.
4. Hang soundproof wall sheeting over the framing but under the drywall. These are available from most home supply stores or drywall contractors.
5. Double- or triple-paned vinyl windows provide good insulation, not only from heat and cold but also from noise.

Soundproofing After Your Home is Built

6. Add insulation to block noise after your home is built. One messy way is to remove one side of an existing wall, pack in fiberglass insulation and close the wall up again. A much easier way is to make a series of holes in the wall between the studs (usually near the ceiling). Blow cellulose insulation in through these holes (you could hire a contractor for this job or do it yourself with a rental machine). Then fix the holes in the drywall and refinish the wall.
7. Add soundproofing to your walls. Sound deadening wall coverings (prefinished or unfinished) are available from home stores or commercial paint and wallpaper suppliers. Another alternative, if you like the appearance, is cork tiles on a wall or around the room.
8. Put up a second wall inside (but not touching) the existing wall. "Sound isolation clips" will provide separation between the two walls while providing a means of fastening drywall. The air space between the walls will stop sound transmittal.
9. Consider painting with special paints that contain fibers and resins that will actually absorb sound waves and reduce sound within a room. These are easy-to-use latex paints; they are only special because of their sound-absorbing qualities.
10. Install carpets on the floor and drapes or shutters on the windows to absorb sound. Soft furniture will also make a room quieter, while solid doors (as opposed to standard hollow-core interior doors) will keep sound out of a room.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear safety glasses, gloves and long sleeves if you are going to be doing any insulating yourself.

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