Home is a sanctuary of calmness and noise! You can simultaneously have a noisy party and a study room in the same building. But for you to accomplish this, you need to soundproof your home.
What are the best soundproofing ideas for the home in 2023? And why should you want to soundproof your home?
This article explains simple and cheap ways to soundproof a home. Let’s get started. And, if you wonder how much it costs to soundproof a garage, I encourage you to read this article.
Why Do People Soundproof Their Homes?
You have your reasons you are looking for soundproofing ideas for the home. However, here are the reasons some want to keep their home quiet.
- You live in a noisy environment: If your home is near high traffic road with motorists hooting as loud as they can or near the airport, the noise can be irritating. Your neighbors could also play loud music or hold wild parties every weekend.
- You want a quiet home office space: If you work from home, you may want a quiet home office space to conduct your business activities away from the living room. Many homeowners often soundproof their basements to create a suitable workspace.
- You want to set up a music practice room: If you want to block noise from drums or musical instruments in the garage or next room, you may want to soundproof your home.
- Different children’s personalities: If one kid loves a quiet place to study, while the other loves playing music or video games at night, you may need to soundproof their rooms to separate one from the other.
You may want to soundproof your home for many reasons, but these are the ones I could think about.
Best Soundproof Ideas For Home
Now, let’s dive into what you can use to soundproof your room and suitable techniques. Some ideas require investments, while others are simple tweaks to your home arrangements.
Soundproof Ideas For Home: Focus On The Floor
The floor is a solid surface that can transmit sound waves. Here are some suggestions for soundproofing your home floor.
1- Use Soft Materials On Your Furniture
Sound waves or energy cause vibrations when they hit objects in a room. Hard objects amplify sound by reflection or reverberation. So, if your furniture is hardwood or metal, the sound from outside or inside will seem louder, causing serious discomfort.
However, if your furniture is covered with soft materials or foams, it will absorb the sound waves, thus reducing the noise.
So, take a long look at your chairs and couches; if you think they are worn out, you can add more soft sound absorbing materials.
2- Use Heavy Carpets And Rugs
If a metallic plate falls on a naked tiled floor and another one falls on a carpeted floor, which one will produce more sound? Of course, the one on the tiled floor will produce more sound.
So, you can use heavy carpets and soundproof rugs on the floor to absorb impact sound. Children playing in the living room can cause disturbing noise if the floor is not soundproof.
You can enhance the carpet or rug’s performance by installing mass-loaded vinyl on the floor before applying carpets and rugs. This soundproofing idea is ideal if you have not tiled your floor or if you have a wooden floor.
Since the mass-loaded vinyl is heavy, it will reinforce the carpets and rugs’ sound absorption abilities.
3- Focus on the doors
Sound waves will likely enter the house through the doors. You can do several things with your doors to enhance their soundproofing abilities.
Here are some soundproofing ideas for your home doors
- Replace the hollow doors: since most wooden doors are made of hollow materials, they allow impact sound to pass through. You can replace your door with one made from solid or soundproof materials (fiber doors), thus blocking soundproof noise.
- Use door sweeps: Door sweeps seal the space between the bottom of your door and the floor when you close it. This material prevents airborne sound that wants to slip into the room below the doors.
- Install weatherstripping: Since sound is like water, it passes through any opening around the door. Weatherstripping is a material you can use to cover gaps or spaces around the door.
Sound Ideas For Homes: The Walls
Impact noise passing through the walls can also cause a disturbance in your home. So, you should focus on the walls to soundproof your home. But how do you go about it?
1- Install Acoustic Panels
Acoustic panels are wooden frames fitted with foams that absorb all noise frequencies. When installed on the wall, they block outside noise and reduce echoes in your home. You can separate two rooms and not hear what is said on the other side.
If your home has a lot of residents, acoustic panels will help keep the sound from one room to the other. And since they come in different sizes and colors, you can choose one that compliments your room decor.
The best part is you can place them on the walls like picture frames, thus ideal if you don’t want to install permanent solutions.
2- Decouple The Wall
If you have heard of decoupling, you may dismiss it as a sophisticated soundproofing idea. However, it is a simple method, and I will explain it briefly.
Wall decoupling means creating a wall within a wall. Your home already has a wall plate, but you can create a second wall from the inside.
How do you do it? You fit joists or studs along the walls you want to soundproof, 16 to 24 inches from each other. To absorb the sound, you can fill the spaces between the joist with fiberglass, Rockwool, or old mattresses.
Some homeowners use sound and thermal insulators in these spaces, then screw resilient channels across the joists before fixing drywalls.
You can use single drywall to create the second wall or double-layered panels.
3- Double Layered Drywalls
Here is how to install double-layer drywall for your home.
- You will need green glue soundproofing compound to spread evenly on the second ⅝-inch drywall and lay it on the first.
- The result is a heavy soundproof wall that absorbs and blocks noise from outside.
Wall decoupling is the best way to separate one room from the other in your home, especially if you want to block the noise from one room from disturbing other family members or neighbors.
4- Rearrange The Furniture
You can also block sound from the wall using your furniture. For example, you move your bookshelf or seats to the wall where the sound comes from.
A fully-furnished bookshelf will increase the wall mass, thus blocking outside noise from affecting your peace.
5- Seal Holes Or Gaps In The Wall
As we mentioned earlier, sound waves can pass through gaps easily. So, examine if your wall has holes or gaps in electric sockets and seal them with acoustic sealant.
If the house has metal electric sockets, you can replace them with rubber ones or cover them with sound-absorbing seals.
6- Hang Tapestries And Paintings
Do you love art? You can remove the painting you have in the garage and hang them on the wall.
Hanging tapestries and paintings is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to soundproof your wall without buying acoustic products.
7- Paint The Wall
You can paint your walls with soundproofing paint. Acoustic paints are thick and cover holes and gaps in the wall.
They absorb echoes and sound reflections depending on the number of coats you apply.
Soundproof Ideas For The Home: Pay Attention To The Windows
Sound can pass through your home’s windows, especially if your neighbors are having a loud party. Let’s consider practical things you can do to soundproof your windows.
1- Invest In Soundproof Curtains
The internet can provide you with the best soundproof curtains for windows. These curtains have soundproof and thermal insulation materials that will absorb sound reflections.
Since they are soft and thick, they prevent sound reflection in a room. You can also use them on the walls.
2- Use Seals
Windows often have spaces that can allow outside noise in the home.
But you can seal these gaps using acoustic seals to help block unwanted noise.
Soundproofing Ideas For Home: Focus On The Ceiling
You have a ceiling if your home has an upstairs and a basement. Sound or noise from the upper rooms can penetrate the ceiling to the lower rooms.
How do you soundproof your home ceiling? If you have an unfinished ceiling, you can fill it with sound insulators, resilient channels, and drywalls. You can follow the same procedure of wall decoupling to soundproof your ceiling.
These materials block impact and airborne noise from reaching the lower rooms.
You can conduct a Zoom call in your home office in the basement without disturbance from children running up and down the staircase.
But if you already have a ceiling, you can suspend a second ceiling made of acoustic panels or tiles. Since these tiles come in different colors and designs, they can improve the aesthetics of your ceiling, making it look appealing.
And if you practice music or run a home theatre in the garage or basement, you may want to use double-layered drywall fixed with green glue compound.
The green glue compound creates tiny air packets between the double drywall layer, thus helping to cancel out noise from the ceiling.
Watch the video for ideas on how to soundproof an existing ceiling.
What to read next:
- How Much Does It Cost to Soundproof a Room for Drums?
- What is The Cheapest Way to Soundproof a Room?
- Does Soundproofing Work for Noisy Neighbours?
The Takeaway
You can soundproof your home by identifying areas or weak points where noise will likely get through. Generally, sound passes through the doors, walls, windows, and ceiling. Therefore, if you can soundproof these areas, you soundproof your room.
Remember, soundproofing protects you from outside noise, but it is also kind to your neighbors from sound within. You will enjoy a serene environment, and your neighbors will be pleased to have you in the neighborhood.