You want to do what?
When someone has a noise problem and doesn’t know what, why, who, or how they begin scouring the internet looking for “soundproofing”. I have been getting a lot of calls lately from these people. They explain to me that they want sound that is being made within the room to stay in the room or they want to keep sound out of their space. We commonly begin talking about the room and the type of noise that we are dealing with in each particular situation.
A lot of people ask for pricing on “soundproofing foam”, sound absorbing foam, or sound proofing panels. They are sure that foam is the ticket because people have seen “egg crate” foam or other similar products as finish wall treatments in recording studios, on TV shows and in movies. This misconception is incredibly common – so if you are reading this thinking to yourself, “Well, self, doesn’t foam stop sound? Isn’t foam used for soundproofing a room? Everyone knows that, right?” Unfortunately I have to tell you that you are wrong. Foam does not stop sound, foam absorbs echo. Don’t feel bad. There are lots and lots of people out there that share this idea.
There are two sides of the acoustical coin, if you will. There are products that absorb echo within a room and there are products that will block or stop a sound. (There are some panels that will do both. These are generally called composites, but if I get into that now, things will be confusing so I am going to keep it simple.)
You Can’t Build an Aquarium With Sponges
I came up with an analogy that I have found useful in helping people understand this whole idea in a very generic way. Imagine you are building an aquarium. You want to keep the water in, right? I know I do, at least. What do you think will be more effective, glass panels and seals or pillows and sponges? Sound acts very similar to water when you are trying to control it. If you used sponges as the walls, they would fill with water and let all of it through to the other side. Now if, instead, you used thick glass and good seals, that would keep the water in place. Acoustical materials made from soft, squishy things like sponges are going to absorb. Dense, heavy, air-tight glass will block. That is the basics right there. Now you can impress all your friends by knowing this. Let’s dive more into the specifics.
Absorbing
Products that are designed and intended to absorb echo within a room are soft, light, fluffy products. They will generally feel soft to the touch. They are designed to soften up the surfaces within a room and reduce the echo in that space.
I like analogies, I think they help people visualize and relate to an idea, so here goes another one. Let’s say you are finishing a room in your basement. You have installed the studs that will frame the wall and you are to the point where you are ready for sheetrock. Instead of using sheetrock, though, you decide you are going to put up some 2″ thick “egg crate” foam on the studs. Keep in mind this foam has almost no mass or density, it is mostly air. After you’ve got this installed, you tell one of your helpers to go stand on the opposite side of the wall and begin talking. You will be able to clearly hear each other as if there were no wall in front of you.
Blocking
Products that are designed to block sound from entering or leaving a space are almost always found inside the wall construction. These products are heavy, dense, cumbersome, or designed to decouple the wall so that one side of the wall doesn’t have hard surface contact with the either.
Remember that last analogy? The one in your basement? Let’s go back there. Now, instead of foam this time, you decide it would be a better option to use 9 layers of 5/8″ sheetrock on either side of the wall. Nine layers on the inside, nine layers on the outside. You send your help to the other side again and have them start talking. I would be willing to bet that you can not hear much of what they are saying because you have added so much mass into that wall.
Echo...Echo..….Echo….…..Echo…...…..Echo
You guessed it, I’ve got another analogy! Let’s head to the gym. It’s currently under construction because they are adding some real nice racquetball courts. Let’s check them out. The room is made out of concrete and is the size of a standard racquetball court – 20′ wide x 40′ long x 20′ tall. The walls of this room are two-feet thick. You clap your hands in the room and the echo seems to go on forever. Let’s have some fun in here. You have, in your hands 100 new super bouncy balls of varying colors. (You must have really big hands.) You throw them in every direction and they keep bouncing and bouncing everywhere through the room. After a few minutes, they eventually stop bouncing and hopefully you remembered to wear your helmet or you may be dealing with a big headache. Now imagine that you brought some 2″ thick foam with you. You line the walls, ceiling and floor. After that is done, you throw the same 100 super bouncy balls. This time when they hit the wall/ceiling/floor they don’t bounce. The energy from the ball was absorbed into the room, more specifically, the foam. A sound wave inside this room is just like that super bouncy ball. It will reflect, or “bounce”, of any hard surface but will be absorbed by a soft surface.
Now what?
If you made it this far, I congratulate you for making it through my fairly crude examples. My intent was to help paint a picture to help you understand more clearly the general differences between absorbing and blocking sound (soundproofing). I’m sure there are lots and lots of people out there that are excessively smarter than I am who are shaking their heads because I did not touch on the technical side of things – explaining wavelength and frequency, etc. I don’t care. I am trying to simplify things to give those non-technical individuals a basis to begin educating themselves on their noise problem(s).
Of course, you aren’t going to be an expert in acoustics now. This is a start. For your next step, I would recommend finding an expert or at least someone who knows the specific products that you can use for your specific situation.
So, before talking with that person, I would have these questions answered:
- Are you looking to block sound or absorb echo?
- What are the dimensions of and surfaces in your room?
- What is the room used for, what types of sound(s) are you looking to block/absorb?
(a high pitch-squeaky sound, voices, low frequency-bass type sound, all of the above) - What are your ideas as to the best way to treat the room, where to put product, or how to approach the situation?
I know this is not an all encompassing list, so I will not feel bad when you leave me a comment that I forgot something. In fact, I encourage it.
Here are few sound absorbing products:
- Fabric wrapped acoustical panels
- Sonex Classic acoustical foam panels
- Wallmate stretch wall system
Here are few sound blocking products:
- Soundbreak XP soundproof sheetrock
- Mass loaded vinyl barrier also known as MLVB
- RSIC-1 Clips resilient sound isolation clips
Helpful blog, bookmarked the website with hopes to read more!
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Thank you very much for that post about this subject, it absolutely was worthwhile.
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nice blog.Thank you so much, this has been a big help.
I need some creative, inexpensive solutions to my busy hair salon. Any ideas? I
Maria,
Good morning and thank you for the E-mail. I would be happy to help put together a low-cost and creative way to help the busy salon, it shouldn’t be any problem at all to figure out something that works. I do, however, need to get some more information about the situation to really be able to help. I would assume that this is a fairly large room that is made up of hard surfaces and you are looking to “take the edge” off of the space so that it doesn’t get so loud.
Assuming this is the case, I will need some information about the room itself. Either exact or fairly close measurements of the height, width and length of the room as well as a list of the surfaces that make up the room. Floor, walls, ceiling, etc. A few digital pictures (even those taken and sent via cell phone camera) are REALLY great. If you have partial or half walls, or if the space is broken up in some way, we can discuss that together if you would like. Also, if you are trying to work with an existing or desired aesthetic, that can help me as well. If the panels or product NEEDS to be a specific color or something, run that by me as well.
Based on the quick description of the “inexpensive” goal, my first suggestion is the Echo Eliminator panels which are a very economical option. These panels are made from recycled cotton fiber and kind of resemble a one-inch thick piece of felt. They come in 2’x4’ panels and are usually installed on to the walls or ceiling with construction adhesive, but we can grommet them for a less-permanent type of installation. They are in-stock in nine different colors and will ship via UPS in just a few days.
The next two questions are very standard. (1.) How many panels do I need and (2.) Where should they be installed?
The question of how many panels to install is simple and very complicated at the same time. The complexity stems from the fact that the “proper” acoustic of a room is EXTREMELY relative to the room itself, the use of the room, the occupants preferences, the clientele, etc. Different rooms have different uses. Some are just fine being relatively loud and some need to be very quiet. So, there is no “easy” answer to this question. I have, however worked with enough acoustical software as well as real-life situations to comfortably apply my “cubic volume x 3% = square footage to install” equation.
Height x width x depth = cubic volume of the room
Cubic volume x .03 = square footage to install.
Where the panels are going to go is an easy one – wherever you would like. Generally speaking you can install the panels on the walls or the ceiling in any pattern to get the same general reduction of the ambient (background) noise level in the room. Sound travels at 1,126 feet per second so by the time you’ve clapped your hands three times, the first clap has reflected off of the walls, ceiling and floor a few hundred times. Sound simply travels too fast for the exact location of the material to make any real difference. If you think that the panels will look best on the walls – great, go for it! If you feel that the panels will really hide if installed on the ceiling? Sweet, ceiling it is. If you are considering hanging the panels as baffles (hanging from the ceiling like a flag), watch out for fire-suppression sprinkler heads and effects on the lighting.
I have posted a couple times on the blog about Hair Salons, you can read these articles to see if they help you out at all, too.
-Dealing With a Noisy Hair Salon
-Salon Noise Problem
Let me know what additional questions you have.
-Ted
Thanks for the info! I love the way you teach us newbies the beginning steps toward doing what’s right with sound problems. What I’m trying to do is build an 8×8 sound proof and sound absorbing recording booth in my apartment. I know an apartment is not the ideal scenerio, but it’s all I have to work with now (the 8 ft. ceilin is too low and other issues). Eventually I’ll get a home, but for now, I really need to keep the outside noise outside and keep intruments (like saxophone and vocals inside the booth). Again, it’s not ideal acoustically, but for now this is all I can do. Any suggestions?
Bob,
Good afternoon and thank you for posting the blog comment earlier this week. This may be a bit of a tricky situation for a few reasons but I will do my best to offer information that should help. In order to keep the neighbors from complaining, you are going to have to build a room within a room and float the whole thing on a layer or two of rubber so that this new “room” isn’t touching the floor. The tricky part becomes getting fresh air into the space. I would suggest using a 2×6 stud for the walls with a layer or two of 5/8” sheetrock (drywall) on the outside, some kind of thermal insulation on the inside and then two more layers of 5/8” sheetrock. Install a heavy, solid core door and be sure to use sealant to seal the rough opening to the studs. You are going to need to build some kind of lined duct or chamber to pull or push fresh air into the room as well as to return it to the rest of the air in the apartment. If this isn’t done correctly, it can quickly negate the walls ability to block sound.
I get a lot of calls from people that want to put up soundproofing foam or some other simple, cheap and easy product onto the walls of the space because they see egg-crate or pyramid foam on the walls of recording studios and on TV in “soundproof” rooms. Please understand that the only thing that foam (or other similar wall treatments) does is to absorb the reflective noise inside of the room – it does not block sound from entering or leaving the space. You are likely going to want and/or need some acoustical panels in the space so that you are not playing or singing in an echo chamber, but I wanted to approach the “cheap and easy” situation as it comes up quite often
Let me know what additional questions you have.
Ted
Extremely helpful, saved me alot of time and money! and it was in an easy to understand language! Thanks a ton! Great Blog
Glad to hear we could help! Thanks for stopping by.
I have a tricky question for you…my teenage daughter needs to wear a heart monitor because she is having episodes of irregular heart beats. Here’s the problem…she’s a teenager and refuses to wear the device because it produces a high-frequency sound (like a fax tone) when it is recording. She only gets the episodes when playing sports–like tennis, so I agree with her, it would be quite a distraction. Any ideas as to what I could place the device inside of (it’s about 4″ x 3″) to reduce the sound transmission? Thank you so much!
Hi Sue,
This is quite an interesting question! I’ve been here for almost 10 years now and haven’t had this request before.
I love new challenges and applications, though.
We may have something that will help out, but I will need more information from you.
-How large is this monitor?
-How/where does she wear it?
-Can you check with your doctor to see if we can wrap it while she’s playing sports?
In order to block to sound, we’re likely going to need to enclose the machine. Depending on the machine, it may need to breathe (air-cool itself) so the thing doesn’t overheat causing failure. I don’t know anything about heart monitors, so I may have additional questions after these, but this should get me going.
If any other readers have experience with heart monitors and the possibilities of enclosing them, please chime in. Thanks!
Hey Ted,
The heart event monitor is about 4″x3″ by 1/2″ thick. It clips on the waistband of her shorts and has two wires coming out of the top, which are attached to sensors placed on her chest. When she has an ‘episode’ she needs to depress a button on the front of the monitor so that the device will ‘record’. She will not wear this monitor permanently, just until they can record some episodes. It can be wrapped and does not produce any heat, as it is just ‘recording’ the heart’s electrical activity when the button is pressed. Thanks so much!
Hey Sue,
This is going to be a little tricky, but I would like to try to come up with something for you. The tricky part becomes the fact that in order to block/contain sound, the product that you use between the noise source and the ear needs to have as much mass and density as possible. I wouldn’t want to make this thing too heavy as that would also be distracting. I’m running through a list of potential products in my mind and considering that this thing is worn on the waist band. I am coming up with a loss… The products that I have that will do a decent job are heavy. The products that I have that are lighter are likely going to be quite uncomfortable if in contact with the skin…
Let me roll this one around a bit and I will do my best to get back to you quickly.
Thanks,
Ted
I live in a second floor apartment of a duplex. My neighbor plays the radio and tv at the same time in both the bedroom and living room creating an extremely loud and annoying echo in my apartment. I obviously cannot install anything in the walls or rip up the carpet, but I was wondering if there is anything I could use to absorb the echo to keep it out of my apartment.
Thanks
Chrissy
Hey Chrissy,
Your problem is a relatively difficult situation based on the circumstances and limitations. I will start by explaining that I fully understand that you are not looking for total and absolute silence and that you would be happy with any noise reduction at all – I get it. The difficulty is due to the fact, as I explained in the article, that there is a big difference between absorbing and blocking sound.
Absorbing the echo in your space will, in fact, make your space more comfortable will less echo. It will also make your space quieter, which may very well make the problem more noticeable. When you are sitting in a quiet listening environment it doesn’t take much for your ear to pick it up because there is very little other noise to distract you. If you want to try to get a few panels into your space, I would be happy to help you look into that option. In my opinion, though, unless the echo in your room is quite bad, this approach is not likely to make an audible difference.
In order to start to reduce the problem, even a little bit, it is going to require adding “something” to the ceiling/floor assembly. This means that you would have to pull the carpet, install underlayment and re-install the carpet on top of it. There is not a finish flooring that can be put down on top of your carpet that will help this situation – I’m sorry.
Noise problems within shared wall/floor situations usually require the most amount of work to resolve. Unfortunately, these are the situations where no construction is allowed by the person actually living in the space. The problem is best solved before it has become a problem – with the construction of the units.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Thanks,
Ted
Hi Ted, My company is contracting to do a home improvement for a customer which adds living space to the basement of a bi-level home. Currently the wood floor above transmits sound (walking etc.) to the basement below without interference. It also transmits heat from the basement to the level above (floors) without interference. When we install a ceiling in the basement, we will interfere with both transmission of sound and heat. The customer desired to deaden the sound transmission (from the floor above to the basement), with minimum heat transfer loss. They want the heat from the basement to convect and conduct up to the floor above. The basement ceiling currently consists of open (2×4) trusses which form the floor above. These ceiling trusses are approximately 24″ height. We will be installing a sheetrock or similar ceiling (on the bottom of these trusses) leaving a dead air space between ceiling and the (wood) floor above. What would be the best ceiling material for the basement to both stop sound, yet allow heat transfer to the floor above?
Hey Tom,
Unfortunately your customer is going to need to make a decision about which is more important to them – sound isolation or heat transfer. You cannot have one and not the other. If you want to stop sound, you’re going to stop heat transfer. If you want heat transfer, you’re going to have to live with a sound problem. That’s just the way things work, I’m sorry. Also, I am not really an expert in thermal conductivity through a structure, so I am not going to be able to offer much help there.
I would suggest using the RSIC-1 clips or the RSIC-1 low-profile clips to float a ceiling off of the joists. I would absolutely still use a standard fiberglass or cotton-based insulation in the joist cavities. If this were my place, I would first use a bead of acoustical sealant on the subfloor (for the first floor) before I did anything, to make it airtight (since this approach is not going to allow for heat transfer anyway), so I would block as much sound as I could. I would finish the ceiling (below the RSIC-1 clips and hat channel) with two layers of 5/8″ sheetrock, use the same sealant around the perimeter of the new ceiling and finally tape, mud and paint.
If thermal conductivity is more important than sound transfer, I would simply leave the ceiling as it is because you can’t do both in this situation.
Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.
Thanks,
Ted
Noisy house HVAC blower mounted in closet next to living room. From your article I need absorbing material. Place it around unit as possible. What about the air intake side? Can I creat “louvers” of absorbing material? Say 2″ wide strips, half inch apart, placed at 45 angle to absorb noise from that side? Thanks.
Good morning Mark and thanks for the comment.
HVAC closets are frequently problematic because you have a relatively loud machine in a very small room surrounded by hard surfaces and a basically open doorway. When the machine is surrounded by hard surfaces, the sound coming out of the louvered door is not only the direct-line noise going out of the front of the machine, but the reflected noise pours out too.
I have had a lot of people start by installing an absorptive product on the walls to the sides and behind the machine simply to reduce the amphitheater-like effect that the closet has. This is often a very low cost, easy-to-install and relatively effective way to reduce the noise. The Echo Eliminator or Quiet Liner are usually the products of choice to do something like this. If you do not have a preference of what the product looks like and want to save a couple of bucks, I do have a fair amount of the Echo Eliminator on our discount/overstock/scratch-and-dent site.
The door, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult. Ideally we would want to install an air-tight, solid-core wood door and eliminate all of the gaps and cracks around and under the door. This is obviously not going to happen as the machine needs the airflow through the door to operate. There are a few things people have done in the past to eliminate the straight-line path from the inside to the outside of the closet. It is always better to install the absorptive panels first, take a step back, and re-assess the situation. If it is decided that you then need to reduce it further, let me know and we can run through your options then.
Thanks,
Ted
hi, there! I play drums at home and it has been troubling my neighbors and i often get complaints. I’ve a room at ground floor which has only one window and all other sides made of concrete walls. I come home from work at night, so i was looking for a room which is completely isolated to the outside world so that i can play the instrument at night without disturbing my neighbors. Please find me a solution which cost efficient too.
thank u!!!
Hello and thanks for the comment!
Unfortunately the situation that you are experiencing is INCREDIBLY difficult and will require a significant amount of work and modification to the construction to achieve “complete isolation from the outside world”, especially considering you are playing the drums.
To accomplish this, you are likely going to need to build a ‘room within a room’. Even with that, listeners in close proximity will be able to hear and feel the bass drum. There is not a cost-effective way to do this because of the type of pressure of the sound you are creating with the drums.
I would be happy to look into it with you, but just want you to know this is likely going to be a difficult and expensive problem to try to tackle.
Thanks,
Ted
My new ranch home has an open floor plan throughout and the living room area is full of echo. Our living room is 19′ x 24′ with a vaulted ceiling that is 8′ at lowest and 14′ at peak. On the short walls, 8′ is taken by window space on one wall, and 8′ open to another area on the other wall. On one of the long walls, 8′ is open to another area. We have a beautiful view so don’t want curtains on the window. The room is heavily carpeted and I am planning on purchasing a large fabric tapestry to hang. Wondering if any of your products placed behind the tapestry would add additional sound absorbsion. Any other suggestions? Thanks for the great blog!
Hey Joe,
Thanks for the comment.
I am contacted relatively frequently from people in similar situations where large, beautiful rooms (constructed with materials of generally hard surfaces) have sound/echo/reverberation problems. Unfortunately there is a direct relationship between the size (cubic volume) of a room and the surfaces that make up this space and echo or reverberation time that it has.
Very roughly, based on the dimensions that you provided, I would suggest starting with 150-200 square feet of absorptive material in the room. You could always start with the tapestry, take a step back, listen and re-assess the situation. The reduction in reverb is going to depend on the size and thickness of the fabric.
Regarding your question about backing the tapestry with a product to increase the absorption, that is going to depend significantly on the tapestry itself (physical properties) and the distance from the wall. I would also want to find out whether or not the addition of the fabric made any audible difference in the space.
If I were to line the back of the tapestry, I would install our Echo Eliminator cotton panels behind it.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I would also be curious to know how adding the tapestry affects the space.
Thanks,
Ted
Hi. I would like to find out how to keep sound out of a room. I have several family members staying with me right now and the kitchen is adjacent to my master bedroom. My husband is disabled and needs to get lots of rest and has not been able to since they’ve been here. The dimensions of my room are 17×33. There is one wall 33 long that is adjacent to the kitchen. Is there anyway I can just do something with that one wall to make any kind of difference? Thanks!
Good Morning Wendy,
Thanks for the comment.
Keeping sound out of a room really needs to be approached in a way specific to the room in question – there isn’t a standard way to approach all situations. So, before we start talking about how to treat this room, I would suggest putting a fairly constant noise source (like a radio) in the kitchen and going into the bedroom. Then critically listen to exactly where the sound is leaking through – and get back to me with that information. This is best done when the house is empty and relatively quiet. I would suggest focusing on the duct work (supply and return vents), the gaps and cracks around and under the door, and any outlet boxes on the common wall.
If it is the wall, itself, we do have quite a few products that will help reduce the sound coming directly through the wall – each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Almost all of these things are construction-grade products that work with sheetrock. This means that you will need to do a bit of construction to that wall to get some reduction. We do have a few panels that would help, but they are generally fairly expensive and you will need to cover the wall completely.
So, please let me know your findings about where the sound is leaking through and let me know if you have more questions.
Thanks,
Ted
Dear Sir,
We are manufacturer of acoustic (sound proof) enclosure for the diesel generator sets.
We need sound proofing foam / material for the reduction of the sound level of the machine built / Generator set fixed inside the enclosure.
You are requested to please advice which kind of foam you recommend for this use.
best regards
RAK
Hey Riaz,
Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately I can not make any recommendations until I have some more information from you.
Enclosures are always very problem, situation, and location specific. There isn’t a one-all, be-all liner for an enclosure.
I will need to know where you are located. What are the conditions that the products needed will face? I will also need to know more about the enclosures you are proposing to build. Where are these machines being used and what type of dB levels and frequencies will be predominant?
Thanks,
Ted
Hi, Ted! I love your blog, thanks for the very informative articles! So I need some help, can you please work this out with me? I live in a condo with thin walls/ceiling/floors and I´m bothered by both my downstairs and my upstairs neighbor (ha! Should I just move?
Anyway, I´ve been researching this soudproofing issue a lot and have already done some work to block sound from the outside to my bedroom but it just hasn´t help as much as I expected. My situation now is:
1) ceiling: my neighbor from above bothered me with both loud music/loud TV and impact noise. What I´ve done so far: I decoupled the ceiling with resilient sound clips, put some absorbing material in the air cavity (rockwool) and a layer of drywall (1/2″ thick) with MLV (a bit thicker than 1/16″) bonded to it. We tried really hard not to let the drywall touch the walls and sealed the perimeter with acoustical caulk. Seems like it worked pretty well since it muffled the sound quite a bit but I still can hear voices and both TV and music, so I´m thinking about adding another layer of drywall with green glue this time. The impact noise was just somewhat better, as I expected, but it´s good enough not to wake me up anymore very early in the mornings and I guess green glue will help a bit more so I think I´ll just have to deal with whatever is left of it;
2) floor: my downstairs neighbor bothers me with very loud TV untill late at night and I really thought this would be the easiest problem to address. However, it seems like it´s my biggest problem now! What I´ve done: over my old tile finished floor, I laid 2 layers of 1/16″ MLV (I didn´t let the seams of the second layer meet the seams of the first one) and then finished the floor with wood laminate. I didn´t have the chance to seal the perimeter with acoustical caulk prior to installation of the baseboard, but if you think that´s an important step I´m willing to remove them, caulk the perimeter and reinstall them.
Ok, so what is my problem now? The thing is the TV from my downstairs neighbour is still VERY audiable. It´s still loud and I can still tell what program he´s watching down there, even though it´s not as loud as before. It seems to me that I´m dealing with flanking noise mostly in two walls, the one behind my bed and the one by the side of the bed I sleep (I believe his TV is right in the corner of these two walls since sound is a lot louder on both of them than on the other walls of the room). Is decoupling these walls mandatory in order to stop this annoying sound of his TV from getting into my bedroom?? I actually do have the room to decouple the wall behind my bed, but not the one beside it – so how do I treat that one? Also, do you think that treating these two walls only will significantly help me or do I need to treat the whole room? This is driving me crazy, specially now that I´ve spent money and put a lot of effort into soundproofing… Could you please, please help me?? Thank you very much for your time and attention! Best regards, Renata
Hey Renata,
It sounds like you have gone to some fairly extensive lengths to soundproof your condo. I am so sorry to hear you are still having problems. Where are you located? It might be worth having a local acoustical consultant in your area make some recommendation on what to do next. If you can clearly make out voices and determine what TV show your neighbor is watching, there may be some fairly complex structural issues. I would hate to see you throw more time and money into this problem and not make enough of a difference.
I would be happy to help you find someone local that may be able to visit your place and make some recommendations, if you would like. The unfortunate part about some situations is that it’s impossible to help people try to fix the sound problems because I’m not there.
Let me know if I can help out in any way,
Ted
I share a common wall in a condo with a family with three children who are constantly jumping and running down the stairs and across the floor. It is driving us crazy. Our couch is on the common wall and we can feel the vibration. Is there anything I can do that would cut down the BOOMs we hear periodically throughout the day? I realize impact noise is the hardest to alleviate. I was thinking of green glue and another piece of drywall and rearranging our living room to put the tv on that wall and the couch all the way across the room.
Hey Sherry,
Thanks for the comment. I am sorry to hear about your situation! You are exactly correct in your mention of the fact that impact noise is the most difficult to alleviate. This is because of the massive amount of energy that is travelling through the structure. In order to reduce the boom that you are hearing, you really need to try to stop the energy at the point of impact.
Picture the difference between these three different situations:
Once that energy is into the structure, everything touching that structure is subject to that energy via hard-surface vibration energy transmission. Depending on the severity of the problem and the engineering of the structure, you might get some reduction by installing Green Glue and an additional layer of sheetrock over your existing wall. Or a layer of SoundBreak XP. You could also reduce the amount of vibration that you are feeling in the floor by getting some of the Acoustik underlayment down under your finish floor. The amount of reduction is going to be very much based on those two things, the severity of the problem and the structure itself.
Please let me know if you have any more questions,
Ted
Thanks for the analogies. They are very helpful. We often run into similar problems when dealing with outdoor noise in the landscape. People think that plants absorb noise but they do not. Leaves rustling in the wind can mask noise, as can water fountains, however as you’ve pointed out with the sponge idea, leaves just let noise pass right through. There are some interesting psychological examples where plants (and other structures) can make noises seem less loud by hiding the noise source (eg air conditioner or busy street) from view.
I have a vacuum pump motor inside a machine shop. Its measurements are 13.5″ high 16″ wide and 39″ long. This motor is very load and run hot. Any suggestions on how to “block” the noise and having enough air flow?
Hey Howard,
Thanks for the comment.
Motors that run hot can be tricky to try to quiet down, but it’s absolutely something that is possible. The “best” approach is going to depend on not only the amount of sound that you need to block (how quiet you need the end result to be) as well as the amount of air that the machine needs to stay cool enough to operate.
I will make a few assumption here. If I am completely off base, let me know so that I can alter my recommendation. If you would like to send pictures of the pump, I would be happy to have a look.
These are my assumptions:
The real variable that I have found throughout the years is the frequency (pitch) of the noise being generated and that is going to have a significant impact on what type of treatment you will need to build or use to get this where it needs to be.
One common approach would be to put an absorptive panel or two (usually the cotton Echo Eliminator panels) on the wall or walls behind the machine and put two (if it’s in a corner) or three (if it’s along a wall) free-standing walls right in front of the machine, making sure that the height of the walls is no less than 2x the height of the noise source. In this case, 27-30″ tall would be ideal. I would then suggest putting some absorptive panels on the back side of the walls. For the free-standing wall construction, I would suggest the heaviest board-type material you can find. MDF, plywood with sheetrock glued/screwed to it, etc. The heavier the better.
This is usually the preferred way to start, because it allows for all of the heat being generated by the machine to escape upward.
Full enclosures, sometimes power-vented, are also a possibility and will always outperform a wall-type enclosure. They do have their own challenges, though. I have also seen instances where people have used plywood, four eye bolts and aircraft cable to hang a ceiling-type panel over the machine so that the sound, as it travels from the machine toward the ceiling, would hit the ceiling panel. The noise-source side of the ceiling should be treated with the cotton panels as well. This can often be left a few inches or a few feet above the top of the walls, which will allow the heat to escape on all sides.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks,
Ted
Hey Ted, read through a lot of your comments and analogies and found them very helpful. However I’m still rather flustered at what to do with the situation I have. The deal is that I have a practice room for my rock band on the second level of a semi detached house. The practice room is at the opposite end of my house in relation to theirs and has two concrete walls leading two the outside and two hollow walls leading to the hallway and then onto the separating wall between our houses. The thing is I want to find some way of reducing but not eliminating the sound coming out of that room into their house (they are actually quite understanding about the noise, but still, its very loud and I really want to get the decibel level down a bit!). I’m also on a budget, so the cheaper I can manage this the better! looking forward to hearing what advice you have to offer!
Hey Reuben,
Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately I will need some more information to start to help you. I don’t have a clear enough understanding of the house/construction/layout. These are some questions to help me understand the space better:
Regarding being on a budget, the lowest cost way to start soundproofing the walls (which may only be part of the issue) would be to pull the trim and add two or three layers of sheetrock to your existing wall. I would also suggest sealing the gap between the door jamb and the rough opening and sealing the door to be as air tight as possible. I would also screw and/or glue a few layers of sheetrock to the back side of the door to make it heavier and add more mass. We have quite a few different types of products to increase the STC rating of not only the walls and ceilings for this space, but also for the floor and door itself.
It is important to note that if you are rocking out at 120 dB in this room, you are more likely to introduce a physical vibration into the structure and that you may have sound going up and over the wall as well as down, through the floor, and under the wall. It is very important to note that if you have a kick drum and/or a bass guitar in the space, that these frequencies (50 Hz as an example) are likely the most problematic or bothersome due to the the fact that they could be a 22.5′ long wavelenth.
Sorry I don’t have a better answer or set of answers for you, but unfortunately there are too many variables at this point.
Please let me know if you have more questions. Thanks,
Ted
Thanks Ted, after doing a bit more reading from other sources, Sheetrock was going to be my first plan of action!. What do you mean by “pulling the trim”, do you mean i should take off the skirting board?
Now to answer your questions:
A. Yes were playing an acoustic kit, with electric guitars a bass and vocals, all turned up loud enough to be heard over the drums.
B. My kitchen is under the practice room, it’s quite a large room with a tiled floor. Also, it is on ground floor with nothing beneath it.
C. It is a heavy wooden door with no panels, that leads into a small alcove before you get into the main body of the practice room. (we normally stuff two heavy mattresses which fit tightly into this alcove when we’re playing and it helps quite a bit!)
D. The only venting system we have is a little vent on on the side of the wall that leads directly to the outside.
E. As for lighting, all we have is one light on a cord coming down from the center of the ceiling.
Hope gives you more information to work on Ted, and thank you very much for what you’ve wrote so far. It’s already helped me loads!
Hey Reuben, sorry for the delay in my response. Situations like yours can be quite difficult because of the amount of variables and options that you are going to have.
I usually use the race car analogy. There is not one way to build a race car. Different types of racing, drivers, conditions, mechanical abilities, timelines, budget, etc are all going to influence the “best” car for you. The studio or room would be like the car, with the same number of variables and possible conditions. I don’t mean to be dodging the question at all – I just want you to know that there are a lot of ways this could be done, and this is just one of them.
The trim is very likely the “skirting board”, the wooden piece on the bottom of the wall that covers the bottom of the drywall and the edge of the room. If you’re going to re-drywall the room, you will need to pull that off before the drywall goes in. You would then replace it when you were done.
Here is a home studio/practice room testimonial you can look at for some more inspiration.
Let me know if you have more questions. Thanks,
Ted
Hello Ted,
I have a boiler that is making a lot of noise. It is placed inside a wooden cabinet with a wooden door for maintenance. There is an air slot inside the cabinet.
I want to put some sound barrier/absorption material inside the cabinet and also cover the air slot with this material. I understand that if i use sound barrier material the noise will reflect and stay in the cabine, if there are no air slot anymore. I do not really understand why i can’t use an absorption material to lower the sound from inside the cabinet or can i? If a big part of the the sound energy will be changed in to heat energy in the absorption material, would this not lower the the sound outside the cabinet? Or am i mistaken?
Kristof,
Good afternoon and thanks for the question. First, I would be careful covering up the air slot in the cabinet around the boiler. The machine likely needs this airflow to combust the fuel and/or to breathe and not build up as much heat.
By putting a loud machine in a box, the sound pressure made by that machine will, in fact, build up and continue to build up and often times the resulting noise can be louder than the machine itself. Introducing the absorptive surface, in this case, would likely help to reduce the amount of sound making its way out of the vent. I would suggest trying the 1″ or 2″ Quiet Liner on the walls of the box and stepping back to try and gauge/determine the difference and go from there.
Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks,
Ted
Thank you for the article. We are living in an apartment and are looking either to take the edge off of our bird’s noises, preferably would be to prevent neighbors from hearing or mostly hearing him, as well absorbing as much as possible. I’m fairly certain using both options would be best, but would small nails be able to support them? All we’re able to do here is use nails that are able to support picture frames.
Apartment situations are difficult because, as I mentioned in the article, blocking sound is done in the construction and assembly of the wall. Unless you can add a layer or two of drywall, you are not going to be able to block much more sound.
I am unsure of what you mean by your question, “would small nails be able to support them?”, as I am not sure what them you are referring to. Small nails would do a fine job holding up some of our foam panels, but those panels are only going to absorb the echo within the room – they will not block sound.
Thanks,
Ted
Hi Ted –
Great article! – I stumbled upon it today while trying to solve my own sound problem. I need to reduce the amount of sound that reaches my bedroom from the main part of my house.
My house is set up in two “parts” seperated roughly by the front entry (about 10 feet by 10 feet). The entertaining space (open floorplan) is to one side of the entry and the sleeping space is to the other side. All of the bedrooms flow off of one very long and straight hallway that starts at the entry and ends at my room. The hallway is about 40 feet long, is 4 feet wide, and has 9 foot ceilings. The walls and ceiling are covered in 5/8 thick sheetrock and the floor is covered in 18 inch ceramic tile. There is no art or carpet in the hallway.
From my bedroom at the far end of the hallway, I can clearly hear everything being discussed in and around the front entry and the nearby living room. I feel like all of the sound from that part of the house is funnelled into my bedroom. This is true even when my bedroom door is closed. I don’t have a solid core bedroom door. We have lots of people frequenting the house during the day and lots of conversations happening in the front entry. This can cause it to be quite “noisy” in my bedroom during the day. This would not generally be an issue, but my wife sleeps during the day (she works nights) and all of the noise causes her to not be able to sleep withouth interruptions. I’m looking for a fix that will reduce the amount of noice that reaches my bedroom so my wife can sleep when she needs to.
I’ve read many of the posts before mine and am still a bit perplexed. I believe the problem is the long hallway, but I’d like your thoughts. Reducing the amount of conversations at the front of the house is not really an option. Please help.
Raj
Raj,
Thanks for the question. There are a few ways you can address this problem. The “best” is going to depend on what you want to do. You can try a low-cost, relatively easy approach first and see what that does, or you can take the necessary steps to eliminate and fix the problem.
Begin by thinking about the problem like this – imagine that wherever people are that this area is filled with water, from floor to ceiling. That water is going to flow and fill up the hallway. Once the hallway is filled with water, how is that water going to get into the bedroom? That is where the sound leaks in.
The low-cost, relatively easy approach would be to install a door seal kit onto the existing door that you have. This will help reduce the amount of air space that you have connecting the bedroom with the hallway. The parts would be attached to the door stop and the automatic door bottom to the bottom of the door. This would cost you roughly $200-250.
If you want to properly fix the problem, I would suggest replacing your hollow core door with the heaviest, solid core door that you can find. Install it as you would install one of our soundproof doors would be installed. (A PDF of the soundproof door installation instructions will help, specifically page 10. We also have a video on how to install a soundproof door that may be helpful) After that is in, then install the heavy duty door seal kit onto the new, solid core door.
Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks,
Ted
I am building a motorized lift for the lecturn of a pulpit for our church. It has a small actutator about 18″ long and 1 1/2″ in diameter with a built-in electric motor which does the lifting. I can easily connect the end of the actuator to the pulpit and the lecturn. However, a solid connection transmits the sound to the lecturn which acts like a loudspeaker. There is enough space to put something about 4″x4″ by 2″ at each end. I was thinking of some sort of sound absorbing block that I could machine to size. It should be able to support 20 or 30 pounds. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
In addition, I would like to wrap some sound absorbing material around the outside of the acutuator. Or perhaps, it could be covered with some material which hardens in place. There is about 1/2″ of space around the actuator.
Thanks,
Dale
Hi Dale,
Thanks for the comment. This is a very unique situation. The difficulty here is that the motor and the arm NEED to be screwed into the wood simply to hold it in place. Those fasteners are going to transmit vibration due to the hard surface contact. The only way to FIX the problem and eliminate the transfer of vibration is to decouple the moving parts from the wood. I have a few ideas, but it could get a bit tricky.
Depending on how much height you have to work with, I would suggest either our RSIC DC04X2 decouple clip or ND Neoprene Mounts. These would both allow you to attach everything together while eliminating the hard connection by adding in something to isolate the vibration.
Thanks,
Ted
Hi Ted, I hava a 6 month old puppy with separation anxiety who barks a lot . I rent an apartment/condo. One wall is brick and I share it with my neighbor. I am really working hard at trying to come up with solutions to deal with puppy’s anxiety but so It’s quite a process. I got this puppy while already living here. As a cute young puppy – I saw no signs of this anxiety. My neighbor is writing a book and home all the time. This is a recipe for MAJOR annoyance…that is building. Since I rent, I do not have control over constructing the wall that is between us. Any ideas to block his high pitched barking? I need some kind of solution. My lease isn’t up for 8 months. SOS !
Hey Karen,
Sorry to hear that your puppy isn’t happy when you aren’t there. This is a really difficult situation to try to fix because of the fact that blocking sound typically means construction. Whether it is done when the walls are initially put up, or altering the assembly of the wall later on – such as your case. The only way to increase the amount of sound blocked by the wall is to modify it. Since you are not allowed to do any sort of construction, this is where the problem lies.
There are a few “non-invasive” solutions that do not involve construction, but they will be a significant amount of money depending on the size of the wall. The first would be an acoustical quilted curtain – basically a really, really heavy curtain. The second is Coat of Silence paint, which you would need to be able to paint your apartment to apply it. Wall-mounted panels like foam or cotton will only absorb the echo within the room – those types of products will not block sound.
Please let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks,
Ted
I think that these practices may work in my situation. My next door neighbor moved from the country to the city. I think he is used to dogs barking loudly at all hours of the night. I however am not. I’m a very light sleeper and have trouble falling to sleep. My bedroom window is only 5 ft from were the dog(s) like to run to and bark. My bedroom is a 10ftx10ft room with 2 windows. What would you suggest to block out as much of the noise as possible? I don’t want to have to remove walls/sheet rock, due to possibility of having to move out. Is there anything that I could hang on the walls? Would sealing the windows shut with a some type of material like wood help at all? I don’t mind losing the windows… Would putting any material in the attic above the room help? I’m open to anything that doesn’t cost too much. thanks for the blog.
Hello and thanks for your question. I assume that you have spoken to your neighbor and asked him to bring the dogs into the house at night? Also, there are city ordinances that you may want to explore and bring to his attention.
Regarding treating your space, there are a few options that you may want to explore. If this were my situation, having seen quite a few instances of significant reduction, I would have our climate seal windows fabricated and install them on my two bedroom windows.
These are acrylic plastic windows that snap into place with magnets – very similar to the seal on a refrigerator or freezer door. They are virtually invisible when installed. The pricing depends significantly on the size(s) of the window(s) that you have and I would be happy to provide you with a quote if you would like. I would also strongly suggest turning on a small fan to create a bit of background noise (aka white noise) to make your sleeping area a bit louder, but in a comfortable way.
If the climate seal window inserts do not offer the reduction that you need, you may want to relocate your bedroom to the other side of the house, if possible. Further steps to reduce the sound transmission could start to get relatively involved.
Please let me know if you have more questions. Thanks,
Ted
We have recently bought a Boss Solo TV Sound System which I believe has a mini subwoofer build in. The Boss is placed on the top of our TV unit (nothing is attached to the wall) and we never play TV/Boss loudly. However, next door neighbour has been logging on our door saying that she can hear the bass sound through the wall.
Please advise us what we can do? Boss is a 12.2 x 20.8 x 3 inches single small unit, not a powerful sound system like a home cinema. We are thinking about to put a sizable sound proof panels on the wall behind TV unit which is at 2m x 1.5m (we are thinking to cover 2m x 2m of the wall – like a high bed head so panel is well cover the wall immediately behind TV/Boss, but not cover the whole wall which is a much large area) and install two corner bass traps on each side corner of room. Would this solution work?
Many thanks in advance.
Hello and thanks for the question.
This is a very difficult type of problem to try to fix because of the proximity of the subwoofer and because of the type of pressure these speakers produce. It is not surprising at all that you are getting complaints from a neighbor due to the bothersome low frequency noises (and vibration energy) that can physically shake the structure. Making the necessary changes to the structure would be very involved and quite likely, very expensive. I would suggest either turning the subwoofer off or way down and/or investing in some very good quality wireless headphones.
Thanks,
Ted
Our church auditorium has 1/8″ wood paneling. We’d like to take it down and just have painted sheetrock. Do we need to worry about more echoing in the auditorium taking down the paneling?
Thanks!
Hey Christian,
Thanks for the comment.
I would assume that the reflection of the 1/8″ wood paneling and the painted sheetrock surface are VERY similar. You may notice a bit more echo once the wood paneling is removed, but it shouldn’t be a drastic increase in echo. This is, of course, dependent on the wood, if there are any gaps, cracks and especially if there is an air space behind it.
Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks,
Ted
Hi there,
I have a question regarding soundproofing.
I have built a gym in one of the rooms in my flat, and my problem is that when i punch the boxing speedball, my neighbourg at the flat underneath me can actually hear it. The wall is actually made of 1 layer of bricks, and each brick measures 215 × 102.5 × 65 mm. So what happens is, when i use it, the noise created isn’t only noise of created by the speedball but also noise cause by the vibrations traveling down the wall and into his flat. Now when installing a speedball bracket to the wall, the screws hang within the brick wall.
So my question is, what would be the best way to stop them from hearing the noise coming from the speedball hitting the platform, and after that, what would be the best way of stopping the vibrations traveling down the wall? Using which materials for what? (wall, floor).
The room is about, 130 sq ft, or 12 sq meters, and has windows.
Hey Clive,
Thanks for the question.
If the vibration and impact energy is being transmitted into the wall and being carried down through the structure as a vibration, you are likely going to need to move the equipment. There are not any kind of isolators that I know of that would allow direct wall mounting that would reduce enough energy from the impact to make a difference downstairs.
This could very well be a very site-specific problem that will need to take into account quite a few things. Because I am not there to have a look, there is only so much I can do to help. The first thing that comes to mind would be to build some kind of wooden, free-standing structure and put the entire contraption onto a rubber isolator or series of spring isolators. This would allow the structure to move independent of the structure and the vibration and impact energy would have a more difficult time getting to the structure.
Sorry I don’t have a better suggestion, there are simply too many variables and limitations to your situation to be able to suggest a particular product to fix the problem.
Thanks,
Ted
I am doing a science project on blocking (not absorbing) sounds. I have a guitar amplifier that will be plugged into a computer to produce a sound. Do you have any suggestions of how i can cover the amplifier from all sides in the different materials i want to use and maybe some suggestions of cheap materials that are easy to apply. And im not sure if the sound comes out all sides of the amp.
btw thanks for the easy to understand article it was very useful
Link to the amplifier i’m not sure if it contains the size of the amp: http://www.amazon.com/Line-Spider-IV-15-Amplifier/dp/B002GYWBIM
If you have any other advice or suggestion i would be glad to hear them.
Shane,
Thanks for the comment. Here is what I would do:
The first thing is that your barrier has to be air tight. I would first build a box out of plywood, put it straight over the amp, and turn it on. Take three measurements with this setup and average those. Then I would add some weather stripping to the bottom of the box and repeat the test three times. After that I would add a layer of 5/8″ sheetrock glued to the outside of the box. Make sure you keep your cuts straight and seal all of the seams. You could also build a larger box out of 3/4″ MDF board and use both covers. Build this second box so that is leaves 1-2 inches of air in between the plywood and sheetrock box.
Three things to remember:
Good luck on the science project. I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Thanks,
Ted
I’ve got a question. I live in a 4th floor apartment and there’s a Jacuzzi across the courtyard with a pump that makes a constant, very, very high frequency sound when in operation. Unfortunately the sound from it reverberates across the courtyard and is quite noticeable in my apartment. I’ve been talking to the maintenance here and trying to come up with an *easy* way to rectify the problem. I’m sure there’s some newfangled whisper quiet jacuzzi pump that would fix it, I don’t believe they’ll be replacing it anytime soon. (I’ve been down that road)
Anyway, the other day, the maintenance guy allowed me to see the Jacuzzi jump itself (it’s behind a locked gate). It turns out there’s an outlet pvc pipe coming from the pump, and this outlet pipe is responsible for blowing a bunch of air out that is sucked in by the pump during its operation. Alas, out of this pipe, along with a powerful stream of air came a very powerful high frequency whine.
I considered this good news, because the source of this noise is isolated and relatively small in size — a 4-5 inch diameter, downward pointing outlet pipe made of pvc. Because the source is isolated in this way, it seems to me it should be fairly straightforward to build an aparatus to dampen the sound. Indeed, I was able to cup my hands a few inches underneath the pipe (again, the opening of this pipe points downward, toward the ground), while being careful of course not to block the airflow, and the noise decreased *greatly*. So much so that I doubt I would be able to hear it from my apartment.
In lieu of hiring someone to stand there with their hands cupped a few inches under a pvc pipe,
this leads me to my main question –
Do you have any suggestions on what would be an effective apparatus for dampening this sound? Such an apparatus should have a few characteristics:
It mustn’t block airflow from the pipe.
It should be resistant to the elements. This is southern california, so we don’t get snow and it hardly ever freezes, but it does rain occasionally.
It should be fairly simple and fairly inexpensive.
Also see this image, I draw out what I’m talking about. Hopefully it clarifies things:
http://imgur.com/DpO1K3T
Basically, I’m proposing an aparatus that sits underneath the pipe and dampens the sound, similar to how my cupped hands do this. This is just an idea, though… I was hoping I could get some advice from someone that has experience in the area of sound reduction.
Thanks much!
Just to follow up, would a 4 or 5 inch duct silencer / duct muffler be appropriate for this?
Thanks.
I do not think that a duct silencer would be the best solution for this type of situation.
Is there any chance you could take and share a photograph of this, please? A picture of the situation would be a great help to me. I do, however, have two ideas.
The first would be to put 6-8″ of sand on the ground below the pipe. Even building a box out of plywood and filling it with sand would likely reduce the amount of sound reflecting off of the ground and filling the court yard.
The other idea would be to use an exterior grade plywood and build a three-sided, free-standing structure around the pipe. I would probably start by building it using three walls with the potential to add a roof section later, if needed. This structure could be built around the exhaust so that the sound and air that escape are contained by the structure. This could EASILY be lined with an exterior rated absorptive surface if the plywood does not offer enough reduction. Here are a few images I quickly threw together to illustrate the idea: (It was a lot faster for me to make this pipe using flat-surfaces rather than a rounded pipe)
I recently had a sprinkler system installed with a water pump. The water pump is so loud that it is waking us up when it starts up at 3 am. What sound proofing or sound absorbing material should I use. The pump is located outside.
Most people that have irrigation pumps like this will build a plywood “dog house” around them simply for aesthetic reasons. This enclosure can be built with commonly and regionally sourced building materials, like plywood. I have even seen enclosures where the cement-board (like that used for bathtub surrounds) is used to line the inside of the walls simply to make them heavier.
If you build something like this and you still have a problem, I would be happy to help you find something that we could supply that would reduce the sound further. Since you will need some kind of structure/enclosure anyway, I would suggest starting with that and then reassessing the situation.
What very interesting and informative information. I would like advice on further sound insulation in my ground floor flat. I have had a suspended and isolated ceiling installed with material laid in the space between old ceiling and new one. This has sorted noise from tv, talking, music and has had a significant effect on heat retention. However impact noise, footfall is still a problem. The flat is rented out and as I have a good relationship with the owners I am wondering what could be done from upstairs, whether it would be necessary to lift existing floor and insulate between joists or if just putting some sort of underlay down would work. I have access to the stairs in an outside cupboard, would it be worth removing the plasterboard and filling the spaces between the treads, if so with what? Many thanks, Hermione
Hermione,
Thanks for the question. The only product that I would install in a situation like this would be the 3/8″ thick (9.5mm) Acoustik.
This is a rubber-based underlayment that would need to go down onto the floor upstairs and then covered with a finish floor. This would help soften the footfall before that energy got into the structure. After that energy shakes the structure, everything that touches it shakes as well – which is why filling a cavity (stud-wall, air space in a ceiling, etc) with insulation may help to stop a BIT of airborne sound but doesn’t reduce impact energy at all.
Let me know if that would work for you or if you have any more questions. Thanks,
Ted
Hey,
I have a unique problem. Our office has a very quiet area. There is a large multifunction printer that was recently installed in the quiet area. People are annoyed and we want to reduce the noise levels in that area. The printer is enclosed by walls on two sides (behind and right) but is open in the front obviously and on the left.
Short of putting a smaller printer in that area is there something that i can stick to the walls to reduce the noise. I can install another wall on the left but have to leave the front open for people to walk in grab their print jobs. The space is not big enough to put the unit in a enclosure.
Sound blocking will probably direct all the sound to come out from the front side which is open and sound absorption will only absorb echoes
Is there another solution in this case?
Chetan,
Thanks for the question.
There are a few ways to treat something like this. I would probably start by putting a panel (or series of panels) onto the walls around and behind the machine. You can often get a decent amount of reduction simply by removing the reflective surfaces behind the noise source. This is also the least costly and least intrusive first step. I would probably suggest waiting to build the new wall until you’ve installed the panels and assessed the reduction.
If you happen to have a few photos of the space, it may help me (and others) visualize the problem.
Thanks,
Ted
Love the info on this site. I have a great room with high ceilings, lots of windows with no curtains, granite counters, and tile floors. It echos a lot. Would it help if I put sound absorbing foam of some sort on top of the kitchen cabinets near the ceiling that would be out of sight? There is nowhere to put panels on the walls or the ceiling. What would you recommend?
Ruth,
Thanks for the question, glad to hear you are enjoying the info here.
I have had a few people put product on the top, unseen side of kitchen cabinetry and it will absolutely absorb some of the sound in the room. Unfortunately, these areas are usually relatively large rooms which require more square footage of panels than will fit on the tops of the cabinets. If there are no wall/ceiling spaces available, and floor treatments are not an option for cleaning reasons, it causes a problem. In order to absorb sound, you need to cover a reflective surface with an absorptive surface.
So, absorptive panels will work, but depending on the amount of space you have to put them in “hidden” places, you may not hear much of a difference.
Ted,
We are upgrading our older home built in the fifties. We have a narrow hallway with three bedrooms and one bathroom door coming off the hallway. It is the standard “ranch” house design. I recently replaced the hallow doors with solid doors to help cut down on the sound between rooms. When the new doors were installed the contractor left a gap between the rough opening and the door of approximately 1/2 inch all the way around. He then filled the gap with foam all the way around. I could swear the noise problem is worse instead of better with the solid doors! What can we do? My contractor says if he pulls out the new doors and closes the rough opening down to a quarter inch with wood, the sound problem will be the same. He says the foam is a better buffer than wood. Any ideas?
Your question about the installation of the door is a good one. In your situation, though, I don’t know if it is exactly the correct question to be asking.
As I have mentioned in this article, as well as quite a few other comments, sound always uses the path of least resistance first – a lot like water. Even if you followed the installation instructions from our Studio 3D soundproof doors and used the backer-rod and acoustical sealant to eliminate sound transmission between the door jamb and the rough opening, without adding some kind of gasket/sealing system to the door, you are not going to eliminate the biggest path of least resistance which is the air gap(s) under and around your door. If you can fill one of these rooms with water, how is that water going to get from the room into the hallway? This is also where the sound will get out.
So, sealing the jamb-to-rough opening joint/gap will absolutely be beneficial, but in this case, an adjustable door seal kit and/or some simple weather-stripping to make the door more of an air-tight assembly when it is closed is likely a more important idea to consider.
Thanks,
Ted