Our surrounding environments are becoming noisier every passing day. Sirens, honking horns, noisy neighbors, car motors, and airplanes – all these make our lives excessively noisy. There is, however, one way in which you can block out these noises and enjoy some peace and quiet in the comfort of your own home, and that is soundproofing. Here are 7 Budget Friendly Ways to Soundproof Your Home:
There are many ways in which you can soundproof a home or particular room, including altering the existing structure of that space. For example, you can add an extra layer of ½-inch-thick drywall to your room’s already-existing walls and then reinforce it using a sound dampening compound (sound deadener filled with asphaltic mastic acoustical sheet material).
How to Soundproof
Another way would be to install resilient channels. One such example would be using the z-shaped metal strips, which are inserted into the walls and are used as a means of creating decoupled walls. That means separating the two sides of a wall to make it harder for sound to pass through the wall. The metal strips create a springy channel between the drywall and the added wall studs.
Another alternative is to use acoustic foam. It is a product that reduces the background noises, such as echoes and helps control the reverberation that any sound can make when they bounce from one wall to another. The acoustic foam is usually placed in all the sidings of the walls, depending on the room structure. These sound-deadening techniques (as well as the products involved) can be expensive, so you will need a sizable budget. Also, the work involved can be tedious and complicated, so hiring a professional might also be an option that would add to the costs involved.
If you’re looking to soundproof your home but want to avoid making dramatic changes to the structure or spending a lot of money, here are 7 budget-friendly options to consider:
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Use Rugs
If you want to quiet your apartment from the noises you’ve created yourself, rugs may be a good option for you. They, however, aren’t too effective in canceling out airborne noises from outside. A rug dampens indoor noises by absorbing some of the sound waves coming from your music player or TV. When the sound waves are absorbed, noise-limited as to how they bounce back and forth around the room in the form of an echo. Note that rugs absorb sounds well when their texture is irregular, namely in the form of a sheep, and even better when they are layered.
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Soundproof Curtains
Soundproof curtains will not cancel out all outdoor noise, but they can minimize the levels. They are made with a thick material, or a double-layered material to enable them to absorb as many sound waves as possible. Thanks to the multiple layers that most of the acoustic curtains have, echoes within your home are also substantially lessened.
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Add Bookshelves
Bookshelves act as extra drywall. The small spaces between the shelves and the wall provide some level of sound insulation. This insulation is complemented by the dense books you place on those shelves.
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Reorganize your Furniture
Some people are too obsessed with upscale noise-canceling solutions that they forget that a simple tweak in interior furniture organization can reduce the impact of noise in a room. For example, if you live next to a noisy neighbor, you can cancel out the noises coming from his/her room by placing the TV or a speaker against the wall you share with that neighbor. It will also help if you can get your bed as far away from the shared wall as possible.
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Wall Hangings
Soft wall hangings are superior-noise dampening materials which can be hung on shared walls or walls facing out towards noisy outside environments to help absorb sound waves. These soft wall hangings may include tapestries (which are a form of textile art used that embody a mixture of vibrant colors used to present a story), or even thick blankets.
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Soundproof the Door
If you live near a busy street or in a noisy neighborhood, adding weather stripping to the exterior door will go a long way in keeping outdoor noises where they belong- outdoors. These strips are mostly made of super soft peel-and-stick foam rubber, which can make them superior in muffling and sealing out sounds. Rubber weather stripping may come at different prices, depending on the quality of the strip, and the price varies whether you want to install it yourself or will seek professional assistance.
Another alternative would be to contract a siding contractor and do some renovations in the outside part of the building. By adding new and modern sidings, you can create a barrier that would stop the exterior noise from coming into the room or apartment.
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Use Plants
Plants are known to be a useful tool for noise absorption. Plant parts, like leaves, branches, wood, etc., due to their dynamic texture, are prone to absorb sound waves. When sound hits the surface of the wall, which is rigid, the sound bounces back and does not vibrate due to the solid surface. But, when it hits a rather flexible texture, the sound will vibrate and be transformed and deflected in other directions.
Conclusion
There are multiple techniques of how you can soundproof your home or your room. In this article, we have provided several techniques that are used most and are the most common. However, there are other techniques out there that can possibly fit your home or room better, as well as go with the interior design. Prior to doing, bear in mind that each of them comes with a special cost, and we encourage you to do some online research and calculate the different prices until you find the one that fits you best because obviously there are lots of options in the market.
Finding Help with Moving Professionals
We hope you found this blog on 7 Budget Friendly Ways to Soundproof Your Home useful. For more tips, check out this one blog of Moving Checklist for 2020.
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