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.