A room is the best place to enjoy a peaceful and quiet environment. But what if the peace is disturbed by the loud music or sound from outside? That’s why soundproofing a room has become a necessary step to achieve.
According to the report of the World Health Organization, exposure to noise pollution has become one of the leading causes of health problems. Long-term exposure to noise can result in hearing loss, tinnitus, cardiovascular disease, and so on.
It means that soundproofing a room is not only about getting some peace and quiet. It’s also about protecting your health from the harmful effects of noise pollution. However, the process of soundproofing a room can be quite tricky and expensive.
But when it comes to the results, it is definitely worth the investment. So how you can do that? That’s why you need to read this complete article. Because in this article I have shared a step-by-step guide on how to soundproof a room.
Also, I have provided some sound-absorbing accessories. That will help you to further improve the acoustic environment of your room.
So Let’s Get Started!
Table of Contents
How To Soundproof A Room: 7 Simple Steps!
Well if consider a Room which can be a small size or maybe big but the below suggestions or tips are the major reasons which can really help you to soundproof the room.
It’s all about the game of minimizing the echoes and noise and if you can surely focus on the below suggestions I am sure you are up to the point.
1. Soundproof the Door
The largest area in the room is the Door which covers most of the space and easy to pass through Sound waves.
If we talk about the closed room without a window then obviously Door is the one to focus as the primary source to soundproof a room.
Your Room is made of very strong high-density concrete materials walls, so there are fewer chances that soundwaves will pass through but the door is the weakening point.
Hence our focus is to stop coming in the outside noise and prevent them as much as we can from the door itself.
Well, I am sure you can not replace the Door with a new one but there are few things you can do with that such as
- Filling the cracks or holes around the door with insulating sealant.
- The other large area where gaps will remain at the bottom of the door, make sure to setup weatherstripping which fills all the space.
- If possible place acoustic curtains around the Door.
All the above things are easy to do in some small steps and will not create a burden to your hard-earned pocket money.
To learn more about the 7 ultimate ways on how to SoundProof a Door make sure to check out our detailed guide.
If you are having a Garage and getting a lot of noise from its Door Opener then you better start using the quiet door opener as that also make yours as well as your neighbor in peace.
2. Soundproof The Window
The second-largest area after the Door which requires immediate attention is the window, well it is smaller in size but major to fix on priority.
Make sure to have your window fully soundproof by filing every small gap or cracks like door around the corners.
Make sure to have a double-glazed window which increases its capacity to stop the noise coming in and use the weatherstripping around the corners of the window for airtight.
As if air or sunlight can pass through, it is easy for soundwaves to coming in, so focus on filling those gaps as soon as possible.
Windows are also the primary source of reflection of the soundwaves where it absorbs only 5% and reflects back around 95% of the soundwaves.
So if possible then cover them with SoundProof Curtains or maybe Acoustic curtains to get a better treat against unwanted noise.
Or the other best alternative is if you don’t need that window then can block that with bookshelves or a couch forever which is a simple and easy solution which not going to cost you.
To learn more in detail, make sure to check out how to soundproof a window for ultimate suggestions.
3. Install The Carpet On The Floor
To soundproof a door is more focused to prevent outside noise from coming in or maybe in a closed room or music room to coming out from the studio.
But what if something passes through then the second objective is to absorb or deadening the soundwaves as much as you can and another major point to focus on is the floor.
Soundwaves initiated from any source strike to the hard surface and reflect back around the different corners of the wall and of course to the hard tiles kind of floor.
So you can minimize this by setting up carpet on the floor which must of like thick rough and its job is not only to feel smooth under the leg but to do a lot with absorbing the soundwaves.
Well if you heard about the reflection coefficient then such carpets are having around 60% ability to absorb the soundwaves and the rest 40% will reflect back so it is a good and effective way to minimize noise.
You can have such carpets before or after the door as it helps better to absorb the incoming soundwaves as early as possible.
Make sure to have the carpet of good quality which must be thick in size and efficient enough to absorb the soundwaves and minimize the echoes.
If you have laminated flooring then you must use underlayment to reduce the impact noise and absorb the moisture or vapor. Here is the suggested best soundproof underlayment which fits your budget.
4. Hang Soundproof Curtains
SoundProof curtains are the very easy and most decorative solution to prevent soundwaves to bounce back or pass through different sources but how?
Because they work well with every possible problem in our case you can set up such curtains around the door or cover it from top to bottom.
In another way can have around the window, which helps to stop most of the soundwaves reflections.
As we discussed, the major reasons are Door and Window and if you can help them to stop the noise at the first point it will be quite easy at other ends to work with other kinds of stuff.
Curtain’s main job is to absorb the soundwaves not to prevent them which help to minimize echoes or reflection of the soundwaves.
There are various factors to look for such as
- The size of the curtains must be cover your whole area top to bottom.
- The material of the Curtains must be thick and very well insulated.
To learn more about the type of Curtains and their best quality advice make sure to check our exclusive guide on SoundProof Curtains Best Review.
5. Install Soundproof Foam
I have seen many people who really care about the quality of the sound or highly suffered from traffic noise or unwanted chattering and they install SoundProof or acoustic foams around the wall area of the room.
We have learned, curtains which is thin in size as compared to Foam and not that much efficient enough for medium or high-frequency soundwaves.
To have the proper sound deadening or absorbing solution through acoustic foams, here I am talking about Acoustic foams, not conventional foam.
Foams could be of different types and their job is to deal with low to high-frequency waves such as
- Flat acoustic foams
- EggCrate Acoustic foams
- Pyramid Acoustic Foams
- Grid Acoustic Foams
In addition to that, it is advisable to cover your wall or ceiling corners using the Bass Trap foams which are quite effective to handle the low-frequency waves.
This solution also looks very impressive as it is available in varieties of colors and very easy to stick around the walls using simple sticky taps.
You can have these foams on top of the walls or ceiling or even around the door wherever you feel best as its main job is to stop the reflection of the sound waves
To learn more about the types of SoundProof Foams and which one is suitable for what kind of noises make sure to check the detailed guide on Is really SoundProof Foams works?
6. Fill Holes And Cracks
You can go with Doors, Windows, floor or even ceiling fixes but does this makes any sense until you stop the way to soundwaves coming in.
Yes, I am talking about small gaps and cracks around the corner of the walls or beneath the door or with lack in airtight around the window or maybe any other sie.
If light or air can pass through, it is for sure soundwaves and if once come in then your already installed foams or carpet or any other thing will not gonna work that very effectively.
Close the light of the room and cover every single corner of the room with possible solutions and check the areas where lights coming in most probably around the door.
Make sure to fix those holes with insulated sealant as available in the market for a few bucks and keep checking the other part as well.
Do not fill them with any temporary solution, if your plan is to soundproof the room with every possible aspect.
If the door or window is broken then hopefully need to replace them or make them more cover with soundproof foams or curtains.
7. Have Sound Absorbing Furniture
Congrats! you have done your job almost everywhere but at last, advise to put some accessories which really help to absorb the soundwaves.
This is what you have observed, that if you are in an empty room and clap for a moment, it got a bit louder because the soundwaves reflected back from all the corners.
But what if you have some accessories such as sofas, couch or bookshelves it won’t that much why? because such soft things have the ability to absorb the soundwaves.
Hence make sure to have sofas, couches or cushions, or classic bookshelves that may be near the door or the area from where the soundwaves coming possibility.
You can have some decorative things in your house made of soft and floppy things like matin, carpet, etc whatever is possible which makes room fill.
In overall, everything will work best unless you have hard stuff less in the room and more sort of soft things.
Well, the Room is also vulnerable to the noise coming from the bathroom so it is highly suggested they fix it as soon as possible and here is a quick 6 step guide on how to fix the bathroom noise.
Wrap Up On How To Soundproof A Room
SoundProofing a Room is not that challenging if you can set up your space with suggested solutions.
All the above tips are helpful only if you want an affordable solution at a budget price that will be easy to implement and immediate to action.
But if you are struggling with a strong noise and willing to have a solid solution for your space then you can go for a Room within a Room.
Well, this is not easy to set up but yes the rule of science applies where if you can cover your room with others and create a vacuum in between the two walls can really help to minimize the soundwaves.
I do not suggest this unless you really need this as it is very expensive and not required for a common house room unless you want to make a studio in it.
Let me know your opinion on have you ever tried to SoundProofing a Room or not and if yes what you have done so it can help our reader to get a better idea on that.
FAQ: 7 Easy Steps To Soundproof A Room
Soundproofing a room requires much knowledge and experience. That’s why many people just like you have lots of questions. That can be solved easily. So I have added some of them in this article to provide appropriate answers.
Q1. How much does soundproofing a room cost?
Ans: It all depends on your needs and the methods you use. For example, if you need to soundproof a room for music recording, the cost can be quite high. But if you’re just looking to reduce noise pollution in your home, the cost can be quite low. But on average, it will cost you around $1,000 to $10,000.
Q2. What is the effective and easiest way to soundproof a room?
Ans: The most effective and easiest way to soundproof a room is to use soundproof panels against the walls. These are usually made of heavy fabrics such as lead or vinyl and are very effective in absorbing noise.
Q3. How much sound can be absorbed by common objects in a House?
Ans. The sound absorption of common objects varies greatly. For example, a carpet can absorb up to 70% of incident sound while a bare concrete floor only absorbs around 10%.