Soundproofing Walls - Some Practical Tips

In today’s type of living in the city, one cannot avoid the many things that, once are over their limits, can sometimes constitute as already harmful, like sound. Unless you live just under an overhead railway, or by the side of a noisy factory nearby, you simply need to endure them as best as you can. However, there might be ways to reduce outside noise by soundproofing walls of your house.

Muffling outside sound might not be the perfect method of eliminating the irritating noise that can sometimes disrupt not just the proverbial peace and quiet in your residential area. It can be such a nuisance that can distract and sometimes literally interrupt doing what you need to do.

Some suggested ways

The first on the list is what they call extra drywall. This is simply trying to deaden the extra vibrations with heavy or dense materials that stops noise or dampen its intensity. Some resort to heavy ways like using bricks and stones in retrofitting their walls.

However, it simply is impractical to re-do your interior walls with such materials. An easier strategy might be to add a second layer of drywall to build a thicker sound-deadening barrier between your walls and the noisemaker.

You also need not to drywall everything in your house. The baby’s room or the library might need such a refinement. Also, you need to refinish your new drywall and probably needs to redirect or do all over again the electrical switches and other outlets.

Caulk sandwich /mass loaded vinyl

For extra defense, you can separate the two layers so f drywall with a 3/8-inch thick beads of acoustical caulk. The caulk deadens the vibrations that try to travel from one layer of our drywall to the other. With the caulk, it can stop them cold.

Mass-loaded vinyl (MLV) is a flexible material made especially for noise control. It comes in 4-foot wide rolls. It is made to hand on walls or install on floors to help reduce sounds. You can have it sandwiched between layers of drywall to reduce sound transmission through the walls.

Sound leak plugs

Much like water or air, sound can leak through in cracks and openings, much like water or air. To arrest the leaking sound, you can use acoustical caulk to plug holes and gaps where they can get through.

You can use it in ceiling fixtures, switch boxes, receptacle boxes, and door casings. You can also add sweeps to the bottoms of doors and weather stripping door frames.

Acoustic panels

These panels absorb sound before they are bounced off the walls and ceilings. They are designed to improve the sound inside a room, like home theaters, and also are helpful in reducing transmission of sound through the walls.

Usually made of porous polypropylene, these panels come in a variety of sizes and thickness. Most of the types used for homes are covered in fabrics. The panels attached with clips of Velcro and are easy to install. Soundproofing walls can be a challenge to your ingenuity in fighting off these unneeded sounds.

Wall Insulation - All-time Necessity

Insulation keeps homes cool in summer and warm in winter. Like the other parts of your home, it is important to insulate the exterior walls to have a comfortable and energy-efficient home. If you have an older home without any insulation in the exterior walls, you need to add wall insulation.

It is important to install insulation to the exterior walls of the house because of the movement of heat in either summer or winter. In winter, heat moves through exterior walls to the outdoors. In summer, heat moves from the outdoors through the exterior walls to the house interior.

When there is insulation in your exterior walls, the work of your HVAC system will lessen and your home becomes more comfortable. Homes with no insulation on their walls would need to install one to maximize their savings on energy.

Air sealing

Insulation works best when the air around it is not moving. Exterior walls are regularly used and penetrated by electrical wirings and outlets, including gaps in the top, bottom and sides of the walls. This is where the leaks of warm air come inside or out of the house.

Aside from increasing heating and cooling costs, these air leaks can introduce water vapor into the walls, with potential of condensation and damage. Blown-in and batt insulation cannot stop air leakage.

Air leaks will then have to be sealed with caulk or foam before you can install insulation. If the penetrations and gaps are not accessible for air sealing, you need to install dense pack insulation (cellulose or fiberglass) or you will need blown-in foam insulation to achieve the level of air sealing needed.

Insulation levels

The insulation levels are specified b y R-values that measure the insulation’s ability to resist heat flow. With higher T-value, the better is the thermal performance of the insulation used.

The amount of wall insulation you need to add depends on the size of your walls (usually 2” X 4”) and the type of insulation that you and your contractor have decided to install. In general, exterior wall should be insulated to at least R-13.

The house

Most of the homes built before 1972 usually have no insulation in the walls. Homeowners then would not know that their homes have empty walls. In winter time, insulated walls will serve to hold the heat in and prevent warmth from escaping.

After insulation, the walls will not feel ice-cold and there is significantly less condensation and mold to form. Insulation makes a big difference in the comfort level inside the home.

On the other end, during summer, insulation will reduce the amount of heat coming in through the walls and help contain the cool atmosphere inside the house. The sun tends to bake the south and west –facing walls of the house. These heated walls tend to radiate heat even after the sun is out. Insulated, the heat entering the house is reduced.

Wall insulation is important if you want you and your family is comfortable inside your house at any time of the year, because it seals off both heat and cold.

Roof Insulation - Radiant Heat Prevention

Among the many parts of the house that need insulation, the roof is one of the more important places. Roof insulation has many other uses on top of stopping radiant heat from the sun. It can preserve the energy and amend the more comfort with less overall costs on utilities.

This insulation also renders better thermal protection in colder situation in winter. (The insulation preserves the convection heat inside.) With proper installation, it also decrease the chances for thermal moisture condensation that can create problems like molds, mildew, rot and dripping.

Types

There are two different types of insulation materials for the roof. There is the reflective insulation material and bulk insulation material in forms like blankets, blown-in cellulose, sprayed foam and rigid boards.

Most in homes, commercial buildings, and metal structure unite both of materials in the form of foil and bulk insulation. This is to create insulation system. In hotter and colder condition insulation roof using reflective insulation materials is good for better control of unwanted temperature gain or loss, including moisture penetration.

Reflective insulation

The materials for reflective insulating system are made from two different layers of aluminum foils sandwiched with the inner layer of foam, plastic bubble sheet or fiberglass. It reflects about 97% of radiant heat from the roof surface and prevents the heat from coming inside.

The basic idea is actually reflecting back the heat into the outer atmosphere instead of permitting it to get the attic heated.

This system is best in summer when it reflects back the heat from the sun. This is because of the use of aluminum. In retrofit conditions, having a radiant barrier below the attic surface can lower the cooling costs, especially in long and hot summers. 

Bulk insulation

This is composed of blankets or batts insulation materials made of from fiber glass, cotton, sheep’s wool or mineral wool. This works well against the rising flow of warm air, thereby trapping heat from penetrating inside or outside.

The rigid foam has little advantage over the blankets because it does not compress or absorb the moisture. It also has higher insulation characteristic with longer life. The sprayed polyurethane foam is ideal for insulating metal walls and roofs to seal the air and moisture leaks, and controlling condensation as well.

Wood-frame home roofing

Making a total insulation system using reflective and bulk insulation materials is also ideal for most homes in any condition. In attics that are unheated, bulk insulation materials can be used on the floor while the reflective under the roof to reflect inside heat.

In heated attics, the same insulation can be applied over the roof surface to get the relief from radiant heat. Most of home roofs has enough room between the rafters to allow two inches of airspace for air circulation under the roof. 

The space allows the moisture and vapor to penetrate direct inside the house. The reflective insulation will act as a vapor barrier as well here. Roof insulation can be helpful in many conditions. Not only does it lower the energy consumption, it provides greater comfort levels.