sound-proofing

[Anonymous]

Has anyone done sound-proofing on a bedroom to keep out the ambient noise for the rest of the house. It looks like this is somewhat different that sound-proofing a music or TV room, where the goal is to keep the noise you make in that room. I've looked at some of the options online, but it's a little overwhelming. We have a very light sleeper and the room is next to the hallway and stairs -- anyone walking in the hallway or up/down the stairs wakes the sleeper up.

[Anonymous]

Get a white noise machine. Much cheaper.

[Anonymous]

This can get very expensive very quickly to do after the fact. You also have to identify whether the issue is airborne noise or impact noise (noise transfer/vibrations traveling through structure of the house). It’s sounds like you might have both but that impact noise from foot traffic on the stairs is the culprit. White noise machines can help mask ambient airborne noise (barking, conversations etc), but may not be as effective with staircase impact noise. If you aren’t prepared to pull up floor boards, you can try fixing squeaky steps and sound absorber material on stairs along with soundproofing wall adjacent to staircase and white noise machine.

[Anonymous]

Very interested in the responses as we have a similar issue, plus the kids share a wall and you can hear everything. I’ll be reading to one kid and can hear exactly what my DH is reading in the other room. We use white noise at night for one but the other hates it. We are replacing our doors to solid core but have considered whether we can rebuild the wall between their room with more insulation. We’ve also thought about adding another layer of padding under the carpet (we have tall ceilings).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This can get very expensive very quickly to do after the fact. You also have to identify whether the issue is airborne noise or impact noise (noise transfer/vibrations traveling through structure of the house). It’s sounds like you might have both but that impact noise from foot traffic on the stairs is the culprit. White noise machines can help mask ambient airborne noise (barking, conversations etc), but may not be as effective with staircase impact noise. If you aren’t prepared to pull up floor boards, you can try fixing squeaky steps and sound absorber material on stairs along with soundproofing wall adjacent to staircase and white noise machine.

This is so interesting. My kid can hear me padding through the kitchen and it drives me crazy. I haven’t even made coffee and they know I’m up. How can you reduce impact noise? Or are some people more sensitive to them?

[Anonymous]

A lot of people don’t realize how poorly their doors are installed and how much room is between floor and bottom of door. Solid door helps.

You could add spray foam between studs, would require a little touch up once contractor is finished.

There is sound reducing/fabric artwork/panels.

Carpet

Extra layer of drywall gapped off existing drywall

Heavy drapes

There are severally different options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people don’t realize how poorly their doors are installed and how much room is between floor and bottom of door. Solid door helps.

You could add spray foam between studs, would require a little touch up once contractor is finished.

There is sound reducing/fabric artwork/panels.

Carpet

Extra layer of drywall gapped off existing drywall

Heavy drapes

There are severally different options

We have hardwoods throughout our first floor and our kids say they can hear everything including conversations when they are in the basement. Are rugs our only option?

[Anonymous]

I am interested also. I can hear kids in the basement from a second floor bedroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can get very expensive very quickly to do after the fact. You also have to identify whether the issue is airborne noise or impact noise (noise transfer/vibrations traveling through structure of the house). It’s sounds like you might have both but that impact noise from foot traffic on the stairs is the culprit. White noise machines can help mask ambient airborne noise (barking, conversations etc), but may not be as effective with staircase impact noise. If you aren’t prepared to pull up floor boards, you can try fixing squeaky steps and sound absorber material on stairs along with soundproofing wall adjacent to staircase and white noise machine.

This is so interesting. My kid can hear me padding through the kitchen and it drives me crazy. I haven’t even made coffee and they know I’m up. How can you reduce impact noise? Or are some people more sensitive to them?

The easiest way to address soundproofing is before the floors are finished. You need to separate the joists (the parallel rows of lumber you see when floors are exposed) that support the subfloor (big sheets of plywood that lay on top of the joist to create the base for your flooring). You install joist isolators to create space between the subfloor and support joists to reduce sound transmission. You also would fill in that area with sound absorbing insulation material.

Unless you are going to tear up your floors you, you just have to try different things to see if it helps. If you do not want carpet you can still make sure you are limiting sound issues. You might also have sound traveling through your HVAC ductwork. You might upgrade your hollow core doors or close the gap between floor and door with a new threshold or door sweep.

You can search around, but unless you are a musician or do some sort of sound related business out of your house soundproofing quotes are going to be high and not worth it.

[Anonymous]

There is a drywall specifically made to help reduce sound transmission. Equal to ten layers of normal drywall. I think you can special order it from HD. It’s an American made product, not the notorious chinese drywall.

[Anonymous]

We hired a handyman and added 2nd drywall placed 16 inches from the original wall. Filled it with acoustic insulation that is hung on metal bars. Work like a charm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can get very expensive very quickly to do after the fact. You also have to identify whether the issue is airborne noise or impact noise (noise transfer/vibrations traveling through structure of the house). It’s sounds like you might have both but that impact noise from foot traffic on the stairs is the culprit. White noise machines can help mask ambient airborne noise (barking, conversations etc), but may not be as effective with staircase impact noise. If you aren’t prepared to pull up floor boards, you can try fixing squeaky steps and sound absorber material on stairs along with soundproofing wall adjacent to staircase and white noise machine.

This is so interesting. My kid can hear me padding through the kitchen and it drives me crazy. I haven’t even made coffee and they know I’m up. How can you reduce impact noise? Or are some people more sensitive to them?

The easiest way to address soundproofing is before the floors are finished. You need to separate the joists (the parallel rows of lumber you see when floors are exposed) that support the subfloor (big sheets of plywood that lay on top of the joist to create the base for your flooring). You install joist isolators to create space between the subfloor and support joists to reduce sound transmission. You also would fill in that area with sound absorbing insulation material.

Unless you are going to tear up your floors you, you just have to try different things to see if it helps. If you do not want carpet you can still make sure you are limiting sound issues. You might also have sound traveling through your HVAC ductwork. You might upgrade your hollow core doors or close the gap between floor and door with a new threshold or door sweep.

You can search around, but unless you are a musician or do some sort of sound related business out of your house soundproofing quotes are going to be high and not worth it.

Thank you. We are ripping up carpet in the hallway and replacing the carpet in bedrooms and I am going to look into this. We used to live in a 100 year old home. It had its issues (mostly, age) but it was solid. Our new home (built in 00s) feels like cardboard in comparison

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people don’t realize how poorly their doors are installed and how much room is between floor and bottom of door. Solid door helps.

You could add spray foam between studs, would require a little touch up once contractor is finished.

There is sound reducing/fabric artwork/panels.

Carpet

Extra layer of drywall gapped off existing drywall

Heavy drapes

There are severally different options

Most houses, especially older ones retrofitted with hvac, need a gap at the bottom of interior doors for purposes of air circulation.

Solid doors do help, as well as carpet with a thick pad, but I found that it is really hard to dampen sound up a stairwell, especially if there is an open landing at the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hired a handyman and added 2nd drywall placed 16 inches from the original wall. Filled it with acoustic insulation that is hung on metal bars. Work like a charm.

Could you say who did that for you?