It seems to be pet week here at AT, to round out the cat posts, here's one about birds:
Hi!
I live in an apartment with 1 large parrot, 2 medium sized parrots, and 2 parakeets and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as far as decorative soundproofing. I thought about putting a rug on the wall, but I don't think it would do much. I thought about buying those mattress-foam-tops and lining 2 of the walls they sit against with it and then covering that with long panels of drapery.
Anything would be helpful!
Hey Vanessa--
I think this is our first question about bird soundproofing specifically but we have posted on the issue of soundproofing in general. Check out Gregory's post on soundproofing windows and ATNY's post on soundproofing your ceiling and Home Tech had a post up about soundproof wallpaper. We'd like to applaud your sensitivity to how loud your birds could be and how that affects the neighboring apartments--too often it seems that people are oblivious to how loud they are (and how close they are to other people trying to sleep!).
Does anyone have experience with soundproofing for birds or pets? Anything that looks really good?
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Comments (7)
You could make an artistic statement at the same time you soundproof: purchase some homasote (aka "fiberboard" "sound barrier") from your local hardware or building supply store. cover it with medium-thickness batting (like you'd stuff a quilt with) by stretching the batting over the edges and stapling to the back. Then cover with some beautiful fabric that complements your decor. Attach with staples again. Cover the back of each piece of homasote you use with some felt to prevent scratching. Since homasote comes in large sheets, I suggest cutting it in to or three pieces to make a grouping on the wall. You could use all the same fabric or some variations. Hang with the hardware you'd use to hang a picture. Good luck! My baby's bedroom shares a wall with our laundry room, so when he graduates to a bed in a few weeks, I'll be making a headboard using this same technique.
Try covering some homasote (aka fiberboard or sound barrier) with beautiful fabric and hanging on your wall. Purchase the homasote boards at your local hardware/building supply store and cut them to an appropriate size for your wall. Do one or even a few to make an interesting grouping. Cover each piece with batting (like you'd use in quilting or upholstering, from a fabric store) by placing on the front of each board and stretching around the edges, securing to the back of the board with staples. Repeat this process with your chosen fabric. Be sure to pull is taught on each side. Hang with picture-hanging hardware. My almost-2-year-old will graduate to a bed soon and since his bed rests against a wall that is shared with our laundry room, I'm making a headboard for his bead using this same process. Good luck. And props for being considerate of your neighbors.
Cute bird!!!
There is company that make Acoustical Boards, you could wrap them in fabric of your liking and place them where you think you may need them. http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/acousti_board/acousti_board.htm
Sound absorbtion in any space is a wholistic approach, meaning you need to look at everything- ceilings, flooring and walls. Since this is a house and not an office space where you can put sound absorbing materials above the ceiling and carpet with padding on the floors..mabe placing the cages at a diagonal and the boards around the walls behind the cages.
Then placing area rugs below the cages for more absorbtion. Just some thoughts good luck..I personally would love to hear them..I get excited this time a year when the wild parrots (conurs) of Telegraph Hill fly into my neighborhood in the morning to eat the plums off the trees..they make quite a ruckus but I love love them.
I'm assuming that at night you put your birds in cages with a cover? That always kept mine quiet (they flew free during the day).
We have a cockatiel, and when we lived in an apartment we had her in a room where our biggest pieces of furniture were on the shared wall. Heavy wood pieces can help dampen the noise. :) But I love the idea of a nice rug or drapes hiding some sound proofing board. Good luck!
Ooh, I'd love to see more pics of your flock.
lol it's so funny, I totally didn't think of attaching a picture of my babies, they added one of a cockatiel since I didn't do it! :)
Thanks for all of the great ideas:) We have a couple of blanket/quilts that my, I guess, girlfriend-in-law had made for us- parrot themed too... they're up on the wall, but I don't think it's doing much. We do cover our birds at night, usually 8pm- so it's still 2 hours before "quiet hours" would begin at our complex. No one's complained, yet lol and I think it's just a crapload of paranoia.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i67/dunklekatze/collageofdudes.jpg
I had a little yellow parakeet that was tame when I moved to North Carolina, then my husband went insane over the little guy. We bought him a friend, a green parakeet... they ended up buying a baby Sun Conure. We moved BACK to California months later, ended up finding our Severe Macaw on Craigslist (we got VERY lucky!) and adopted Chili and Static from a local animal hospital.
We ended up letting my Aunt take in our Macaw since jealousy issues had come up with the two new ones coming in- the screaming was <I>really</I> bad. We visit her multiple times a month, bring new toys and treats just about every time, and the best part is, I can always take her back. Hoorah for family:)