If you're a drummer who's downsizing and turning his apartment into a studio, you'll probably need to invest in some serious soundproofing solutions. But what about all of us regular folk who just want to block out the sound from a neighbor's TV or the street below? Well, you don't need to resort to gluing egg cartons to the wall. Everything from your furniture placement to your choice of rugs can help keep outside sounds out and inside sounds in.
The result from these tips will be minimal, but every bit helps, right? Especially when your neighbor sings like a cat in heat and your landlord won't let you cover the walls in foam.
Fill in Holes and Cracks
If you've got a noisy street below your apartment, check out the wall that faces that side of the building. Any air leaks are also going to be sound leaks. Check around windows and doors, but also look for gaps between your drywall and power outlets. Fix any offending leaks with caulk or weatherstripping.
Seal Off Your Door
If you're irritated by the noise in the hallway outside your apartment, the door is definitely the first place to look for a solution. Even if your corridors are indoors, install weather-stripping to help keep noise out. Also, an unobtrusive door sweep attached to the bottom of the door will help with soundproofing.
Hang a Fabric Wall
If you're hating the late-night music from a next-door neighbor, attack your shared wall. Not with a broomstick, but with fabric. Hang curtains or a gorgeous fabric on the offending wall—wall-to-wall will work best, but even a decorative fabric panel will help—to cushion the noise.
Move Your Big Furniture Around
If you're not down with the curtain-wall look, try moving your furniture layout around to get the same effect. A big, upholstered couch on your shared wall can help absorb some noise too.
Get a Big, Shaggy Rug
If the sound is coming from the apartment below, a big, plush rug might be all you need to keep the peace (and quiet). The bigger, the better; just make sure it's thick with plenty of sound-absorbing fibers. Layering rugs is also a great solution, especially if you already have wall-to-wall carpet.
(Images: Flickr user limonada under license from Creative Commons, Flickr user Helmers under license from Creative Commons)
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Great tips! However there was one side that you didn't cover - ABOVE! I've got neighbors that have very heavy feet in the apartment above me. Any suggestions for sound from above?
Sound proof paint! Strange but true!
http://www.hytechsales.com/prod150.html
And it's eco friendly :)
-Tara
You are confusing Soundproofing and Acoustic Treatment. Soundproofing is about reducing the sound transmitted through walls/floors etc. Acoustic Treatment is about controlling the behaviour of sound in a room (e.g. making a room less echo-ey).
Your first two pieces of advice are correct. The amount of sound transmitted through a wall is largely determined by the weakest link. Cracks around windows and doors offer very little resistance to sound and therefore reduce the wall's overall sound reduction abilities a lot. Finding and filling in gaps can make a big difference, just make sure you find and fill all of them or you will get only small improvements. If you are using weather stripping try to use it around the entire window frame, not just where the gap is biggest.
Hanging fabric will do little to control sound transmission. It is exactly the same as wearing a woollen hat pull down over your ears. To get a 6dB reduction is sound transmission the mass of the wall needs to be doubled. 6dB is noticeable but not very much. Compared to the mass of the wall the fabric is insignificant.
Likewise the carpet and rugs will have little impact on the sound transmission. Except when they soften the impact of hard soled shoes on the floor. This will reduce the amount of sound being transmitted to your neighbour below but have no impact on your soundproofing.
@J Martin: Buy your neighbours above you a rug.
@Tara: That 'sound proof' paint is not soundproof. Is may make a room slightly less echo-ey but will do little to reduce sound transmission.
If you have people below you the sollution is simple and you said it yourself, layered carpets/rugs. However you can take this one all out and buy asphalt-sounddampening materials or just heavy sounddampening inlays for cars etc. Very easy and cheap with great results. Most rooms can easily loose 5cm of height.
I have tried this "wall to wall" curtains, and I must say it did not help much. Maybe two layers will help, atleast if theres a window there you might want to have open most of the time. Buy the tickest curtains you can find, and have them go all the way from the ceiling to the floor.
Positioning of your bed might make a difference, If you have that choise atleast. Sleep with your head in the end of the bed most covered from the rest of the room. Behind your wardrobe for instance.
At last: Talk with your neighbour. Dampening both sides of the wall will double the effect, and you can be noisy aswell :) Another tip is to position loudspeakers away from neighbours. Have his speakers facing away from your room aswell, or try out different setups for best effect.
Taryn, just wanted to say that you're a hilarious writer. Never stop.
Noisy neighbors. Yeah. Over the labor day weekend, as my landlord and I stood on our shared balcony regarding the party animals in the yard next door, we discussed the pros and cons of rocket-propelled grenades. Maybe I'll try caulking first.
i also have trouble with noise. any suggestions for street noise in a 5th-story end unit? the fan from the commercial building next door is an endless drone. biggest issue is that the apartment windows are not paned, but have jalousies. hate jalousies.
Has anyone tried wall flats for soundproofing? Has this worked?
http://www.designpublic.com/shop/inhabit/7899
Sometimes with noise it is all about location, location, location. Renting an apartment near a college campus with lots of geeky guys wanting to crank up their electronic noise makers can be a problem. Renting near a bunch of old folks can be peaceful... until the cops show up because YOU are now the loud one.
Moving furniture around can help in some cases. I use to get lots of noise in my living room from the elevator lobby outside my home. A set of freestanding kitchen cabinets (I needed the extra storage space) and a book shelf between me and the noise made a huge difference. Of course not everyone can go to that extreme but be creative in what you can place between yourself and the source of noise.
You can further improve the hack "Seal Off Your Door", I did this and more to my condo door. I added MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) you can order with adhesive on one side which makes it easy to apply.
However, now you are left with an ugly door. I
solved this problem with tin ceiling tiles, now the door looks great and reduces noise also.
I outline the steps on my blog:
http://soundproofingwithdave.com/2007/06/soundproofing-exterior-door.html
Pay attention to what Iain says in his Sept 20th posts, people. 99% of antidotal information about noise control is bogus and a waste of time and money. Also carefully check what product vendors say. Many of their claims are not accurate or are misleading. In general, to reduce noise intrusion, leaks are the easiest to fix so make the perimeter air tight, water tight and light tight (just to be sure. This applies to utility outlets also). Next, add mass to reduce noise transmission through partitions and add thick, soft, open-cell materials inside walls, floors and living spaces to reduce echo amplifications. The opposite is not true. Fuzzy stuff on walls and ceilings does not reduce noise transmission and hard stuff does very little to absorb sound. Careful research on the Internet can lead to valid answers to noise problems, but will also lead to a lot of bogus info. Noise control is not intuitive, but follows certain principles of physics. In acoustic math 1+1=4, 5+5=8 and 90+90=93.