Whether your teenagers enjoy playing music at a decibel level that makes your ears vibrate, or an aging relative needs to jack up the TV volume to hear a favorite show, or a youngster needs to practice a particularly loud instrument...and hasn’t improved much..., you may decide that soundproofing is the only way you can all coexist. If you should find that this has become necessary in your home, you don’t have to drain your money-market account for a contractor. Instead, you can do it yourself and save a bundle.

Absorption vs. Reduction

In order to effectively reduce or eliminate the noise in your home, you must first understand the difference between sound absorption and sound reduction. Each of these two types of soundproofing utilizes its own techniques for handling unwanted noise that stems from inside or outside the home.

• Sound Absorption – This approach to noise reduction involves changing the character of the sound waves by ridding a room of the echoing that’s intrinsic to its design, rather than addressing noise that penetrates your home from the outdoors. Acoustical ceiling tile, interior walls, soundboard, carpeted floors and upholstered furniture are typically used for this type of soundproofing. It’s important to keep in mind that absorbing and completely eliminating sound are two different things and, as such, the materials that are used will need to be different.

• Sound Reduction – If you’re interested in completely blocking sound, so that it doesn’t get into or out of the room that you’re planning to isolate, then you’ll need to utilize sound reduction techniques. Since this is soundproofing on a grander scale, different materials must be used, which call into play both mass and space. For instance, building heavy-duty walls that incorporate large air spaces and dampening to the best of your ability can effectively block all noise from entering or exiting a room.

The only way to truly soundproof your home is to arm yourself with information regarding the types of techniques that will need to be used in order to achieve specific results. There are three critical elements that play a strong role in the reduction or elimination of noise within your home: space, mass and dampening. What you’ll ultimately use to reach your goal will depend upon the level of soundproofing that you’re aiming for and how much time, effort and cash you’re willing to put into the process.

Space – The amount of soundproofing that will be provided is in direct contrast to the amount of space that’s used to buffer the sound. In other words, the more space there is, the more the noise is diminished. Whether it’s within walls, floors, ceilings or windowpanes, the effect is the same.

Mass – The principle of mass as a form of soundproofing relies on the thickness of walls, rather than the space between them. The thicker the mass is between any two walls, the more effective the soundproofing. In a nutshell, if the buffering material is heavy, the noise can be completely eliminated. The thinner the wall becomes (the less mass that’s used as a filler between them), the more likely you are to hear noise coming from an outside source.

Dampening – This technique deals entirely with vibration and how it can be neutralized in order to reduce sound. Typically, this type of approach addresses acoustical problems – that is, echoing – within a room. If you were to make a glass ring by tapping on it with a fork, for example, you could make it stop simply by taking the glass in your hand. Dampening has the same effect on the acoustics within the interior of a room.

Soundproofing a Wall

If you’re planning to soundproof your home and are considering different types of elements for the outside covering, you may wish to consider using stucco, brick or stone surfacing. These are excellent buffers against noise and utilize the mass technique of soundproofing quite well. Here again, the more thickly these materials are layered, the more effective the noise reduction will be within the home.

In the interior of the home, sheetrock is an excellent soundproofing material, and also utilizes the mass technique. The necessary materials for applying sheetrock include silicone caulking, sheetrock and either screws or nails – screws being the better of the two, since you don’t have to make as many holes in the structure of the wall. It’s best to buy a large amount of caulking, since you’ll be using a lot of it between the layers of sheetrock. Since this is one of the least expensive elements that you’ll need, the basic premise is that too much is better than not enough.

Before putting the sheetrock into position, apply a good amount of caulking to each of the studs and, after putting the sheetrock in place, secure it with screws. After the first layer has been locked into place, repeat the process by applying more caulking and another slab of sheetrock, once again using the screws to lock it into position.

The dampener in this process is the silicone caulking, which inhibits the transfer of vibration and is quite effective without being costly. Two layers of sheetrock should be all that’s necessary in order to adequately block the room from sound, which means that if one layer was already in place, you can simply add a second layer in order to ensure superior soundproofing.

Noise Reduction for Ceilings

The soundproofing of a ceiling can be approached in a couple of different ways, depending upon whether or not a room exists above the one that’s being soundproofed. If, for instance, the intention is to soundproof a ceiling that has no room above it – such as in the case of a one-story home or the second floor of a two-story home – then you probably won’t have to do much of anything, since the nature of the home’s construction will do most of the job. If, on the other hand, you’re planning to soundproof a room that has an actively used room above it – e.g., if the work is being done on the first floor of a two-story home – then more planning will need to go into the project.

Supposing that your goal is to reduce or eliminate the sound from an upper room, a variety of soundproofing materials may need to be used – especially if you want to eliminate the sound of footsteps from above. One of the best materials that can be used for soundproofing a ceiling is a resilient channel, which is simply a z-shaped piece of steel that will retard the vibration or noise through the overhead structure. These can be purchased through a soundproofing company and, while this may be pricier than some other forms of soundproofing, the cost will be greatly reduced by doing the work yourself.

* It’s important to note that, while a resilient channel is an effective method for blocking ceiling noise, it also provides solid soundproofing for walls that have significant noise on the other side, such as passing trains or loud music – even if it’s coming from a live band.

Buffering Sound from Floors

There’s not a lot of work involved in soundproofing a floor. All that’s really needed is the temporary removal of the carpeting and padding, followed by a layer of vinyl barrier foam composite laid on the sub-flooring – with the foam side facing down – after which a silicone adhesive is used to seal any creases. Once this has been accomplished, simply relay the padding and carpeting.

Eliminating Window Noise

In order to completely soundproof a room, then it’s necessary to block the incoming – or outgoing – noise from the windows, as well. In fact, failing to soundproof the windows in such a room will render the rest of your efforts ineffective. Laminated glass with tight seals, as well as double glass layering is the only effective way to soundproof a window. Although some companies claim that plastic coverings will do the job – specifically, those which employ either Velcro or magnets to hold the plastic in position – this is nothing more than a myth. At best, it might reduce the amount of noise that comes in from the outside, but it certainly can’t be considered a true soundproofing technique. Why? Simply because it doesn’t utilize the mass or space methods, and the seals are usually inadequate for keeping out noise. In fact, the only benefit that you might derive from this type of covering is a degree of insulation from the elements. As far as soundproofing is concerned, though, you can expect as little as a 5% reduction of noise.

Soundproofing Tips

• If you live near an airport or in a high air-traffic location, you can help to reduce the sound by adding extra layers of roofing material – if you happen to have an asphalt roof.

• Although standard insulation material tends to reduce the effects of soundproofing (due to the filling up of space, which would have helped to buffer the noise), one effective method for providing insulation while reducing sound is using spray-on silicone insulation.

• For those who are building a new home, try to avoid having doorways directly across from each other along hallways and corridors. One of the reasons that sound travels so well throughout the house is that sound waves are carried on the air currents, and having doorways aligned in this way will provide a greater environment for drafts, which will, in turn, provide the opportunity for more noise to travel around the house.

• Rooms which are furnished with a great deal of non-absorbent material, such as wood, metal, plastic and stone, tend to be the noisiest ones within your home. A general rule of thumb for helping to absorb noise is to make sure that at least 25% of the room is filled with absorbent material, such as upholstery, carpeting, cloth wall hangings or draperies. In fact, the more of these things that are used, the more the noise will be reduced.

• When using cloth wall hangings or plain fabric wallpaper, polyester is the best material for deterring noise by absorbing sound vibration.

• Since cork is composed of approximately 50% air, placing cork tiles on the walls of the room will significantly decrease the amount of noise that can enter or exit the room, and can even have wallpaper applied to its surface in order to spice up the appearance.

• A great deal of noise can come in from door jambs. The best defense against this is to install a solid wood door with a good seal and weather-stripping. In addition, be sure that you either have a door sweep or that the threshold has a tight fit.

• Indoor/Outdoor carpeting can be attached to walls in order to provide soundproofing. You don’t have to use expensive carpeting – even the cheap stuff will do – and it’s easy to apply with mastic. The added benefit of being easy to clean adds to the pluses of using this type of material.

• Soundproofing a basement is easy and inexpensive. Since the cement foundation absorbs the bulk of the noise, all you’ll need to do is take steps to soundproof the ceiling.

• Foam doesn’t block sound – it simply reduces the reverberation (or echo) of sound within a room.

Soundproofing Myths

• Applying Egg crate to a wall will provide soundproofing. Not only will this not provide adequate soundproofing, but it may actually provide the opposite effect, resulting in enhanced sound.

• Sheets of foam rubber that are attached to a wall will eliminate sound. The problem with this concept is that common foam rubber actually costs about the same as many legitimate soundproofing materials, only it crumbles over time, which causes a mess and removes any soundproofing characteristics that may once have existed.

• You can soundproof a wall by nailing mattresses to its surface. In order for this to be effective, you’d need to make sure that all spaces were eliminated between them and thoroughly caulk the edges – even the tiniest gap would compromise the integrity of the soundproofing. Afterward, you’d face the possibility of mold – which would emit an odor – as well as the possibility of mice turning it into a rodent condo.

• Fiberglass insulation is a good soundproofing agent. You need to remember that this is meant for the purposes of insulating a room, and not for soundproofing and, as a result, does very little to block sound from entering or exiting a room.

• Plywood panels or particle boards that are nailed to the walls will soundproof a room. The fact of the matter is that wood will only help the sound to resonate, rather than provide soundproofing. Due to its non-absorbent surface, sound will bounce off of it and may actually increase the amount of noise within the room.

• Nailing carpeting to the wall will help to reduce noise. If you remember that sound absorption and sound reduction are two entirely difference concepts, then you’ll understand that, while the carpeting will help to absorb the sound (ridding yourself of echoing within the room), it does nothing to actually block the sound.

Depending upon your budget, you may be able to upgrade the types of materials that are used for soundproofing and, if that’s the case, then purchasing industrial strength materials may be a bit costlier, but will do a much better job of securing your home from unwanted noise. You’ll, of course, need to be wary of sales representatives who want you to buy items that are “hot sellers,” since products of these types tend to be advertised as sure-fire “quick fixes,” but are often problematic.