A guide to soundproofing your home
Monday, July 23rd, 2012The world today has an increasing amount of noise which seems to be all around us and this can be one of the main factors that cause increased stress levels. At work or going about our business in public, it is difficult to have any control over the hustle and bustle of sounds that surrounds us.
Putting in some earphones and playing music from your own personal soundtrack can help but sometimes all we yearn for a little bit of peace and quiet β especially when we finally reach our homes after a long day at work.
So whether it is noisy neighbours, living near a busy road or perhaps even just the racket being made by other members of you household, here are some tips to help you create a little haven of tranquillity for your own relaxation.
Carpets
One way to minimise the impact of sounds coming from other areas of your own living space is to have a floor covering that helps to absorb noise. If your room is above the main television room for instance, a great deal of sound can travel up through the ceiling and through the floor, especially in older properties where the space between a thin ceiling layer and the floorboard above can act as something of an amplification chamber.
A good carpet of relative thickness can work wonders in cutting down on this particular kind of sound leakage.
Windows
For other noise problems generated ‘outside the home’, such as the irritating hum (or roar) or nearby traffic or low flying aircraft, good quality well fitted double glazed windows from reputable vendors such as Safestyle UK are the only answer that will have any real effect.
Today there are many ranges of styles and designs to choose from. The fitting of new window units is a quick and mess-free procedure that causes minimal disruption.
Doors
It might sound obvious, but shutting the door to a room can reduce the level of sound coming in (or going out) by a great margin. Many people have ill fitting or badly hung doors and this can lead to greater noise penetration.
To make sure your doors are giving you the best advantage doesn’t necessarily mean you have to replace them. A badly hung door can refit its frame with just a little adjustment and carpeting or draught excluders around the base of the door will help buffer sound too.
If noisy neighbours are a problem, the first thing to do is to bring the matter up with them in a polite and delicate way. Often it will be the case that they didn’t realise they were causing a nuisance and will either moderate their behaviour or take simple steps such as closing windows or doors to solve the problem.
Walls
However, sometimes a neighbour might be unhelpful or the sound leakage may be through a partitioning wall. If this case you can always arrange for the fitting or a ‘false wall’ or simply some thicker sound absorbent plasterboard, which will often solve the problem. If you don’t have the budget for this, wall hangings such as old rugs can also be put to new use.