One of the most common requests we receive, outside of custom panels, is to soundproof a room in the home or a commercial office space(s). “Soundproofing” shared wall(s) between two spaces that are having transfer issues is a completely logical assumption. However, shared walls are only one piece of a much more complex solution.
Everyone has their own personal threshold for what they consider acceptable sound transfer. Luckily there are solutions for the entire range of need.
Below we’d like to provide some tips and information to consider when determining the needs for your project.
Sound in a room is a lot like a jug of water – sound being the water. Any small hole or opening in the jug is going to let out water. The same thing applies to your individual space. If you take a minute and imagine filling your space up with water… where would it go? Probably under the door, through the HVAC vents; it would seep through the seams of your drywall, through the outlets, and eventually through every possible opening imaginable.
Every wall, ceiling, floor, door, outlet, ceiling light, AC vent or other penetration have an affect on sound transferring in or out of your space. The doors, windows, and vents in a room are the weakest points. However, these points work in tandem with the build of your walls, ceiling and floors, (ie, insulation, type and mass of material, etc).
Some of the best soundproofing techniques for walls, ceilings and floors are quite expensive and not practical for a room in a house or office space, and are best reserved for professional environments like studios, theaters, certain doctors offices, school classrooms and more. However you still have plenty of options that all work together that can produce an excellent result to help with the sound transfer in and out of your space.
We’re here to help you come up with the best solution for your needs. Every project is unique and requires a unique solution.
Not sure where to start?
Here is an example of a 10×10 room that you can use to apply the general rules to your own space.
Soundproof a 10 x 10 Room
- As mentioned above, we’ll first look at the door and all penetrations. Modifications could include a replacing a hollow door with a solid core door and apply better sealing around the bottom and sides.
- Widows may require another pane of glass, or replace a dual pane glass with a single piece of solid glass.
- If accessible, ductwork should include an inline sound dampening system, such as a baffle box or something similar.
- Sound deadening pads can be added to the inside of wall outlets and switches. The same can work for lights if they are on a j-box. Recessed lights are more difficult, but have many ways to being addressed.
- What is the ceiling made of? If you have a t-bar ceiling, as most offices do, most of your sound is going straight through the ceiling into the adjacent rooms. There are low and high end options depending on the level out soundproofing desired.
- Determine which walls are adjacent to the noise and determine a solution for those walls. If a room doesn’t have any insulation inside the walls, simply adding some blow in insulation is a good start.
- Adding more layers of drywall to walls and ceilings is by far the most effective way to reduce sound transfer, as long as its done in tandem with most of the other options listed. This is a more invasive approach and is essentially remodeling the room. The drywall will need finished and painted, and you’ll need to re-apply baseboards, door & window trim, and all the receptacles, switches and lighting. Adding drywall is expensive, so it’s important to weigh the cost to performance ratio.
Ultimately, your desired level of soundproofing will determine what methods should be used. Remember, you can always start with some of the easier, non-invasive options, and add more once you’ve assessed the performance of whats already been done.
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