How to Soundproof a Room in the Basement of a House
Basement rooms absorb sound from the upper floors in your home as well as noise from the street and yard. The small windows in the basement let in sound from traffic and neighbors, while sound from other people in the home filters through the doors and ceiling. Soundproofing a basement involves treating each portion of the room separately, including the floor and ceiling to keep noise from escaping to the other rooms in your house. The goal is to block or absorb sound waves from entering the basement. Ideally, soundproofing materials should be built into the home during construction or remodeling, but there are some measures you can take to blunt the noise in your existing basement. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Acoustical drapes
- Acoustical spray
- Acoustical barrier mats
- Heavy rugs
- Exterior door
Instructions
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Hang acoustical drapes over all the windows. Acoustical drapes are heavier than regular window drapes; hotels and motels use them to block outside noise and light from the guest rooms. Hang the drapes over any windows in the basement space, to block out noise from the street.
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Add more insulation to the ceiling. The ceiling allows noise to leave the basement and move to the upper floors, but also allows noise from the other floors to enter the basement room. Acoustical spray applied directly to the ceiling changes the shape of the sound waves and helps dilute the noise. The spray itself has the look and feel of a popcorn ceiling.
Other, more labor-intensive options are to place an acoustical barrier mat in the ceiling, which blocks noise, or install acoustical tiles in the ceiling.
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Lay heavy rugs on the upper floors. When someone walks on the upper floors, the sound carries through to the basement room. Adding rugs to the upper floor helps muffle or buffer the sounds. When combined with an acoustical spray, it effectively blocks out those noises.
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Use more rugs and carpeting on the basement floor. In addition to blocking noise from the upstairs, you also need to block noise emanating from the basement. Additional rugs and thick carpeting muffles noises and makes sound waves less noticeable.
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Change the basement door to an exterior door. Exterior doors feature a solid inner core, while interior doors generally are hollow. The density of the door blocks out more sounds from the upstairs, while also reducing the noise that escapes from the basement.
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Tips & Warnings
Covering doors and windows with thick blankets is a cheap way to block noise from getting into or leaving the basement.
Replacing the basement windows is the best way to block street or exterior noise, especially if the windows are older. Modern windows are double-paned or designed to block more sound waves than older windows do.
Repair Home recommends using absorbent materials such as drapes and rugs in at least 25 percent of the room, to effectively soundproof the space.
