making a room more soundproof - Axiom Message Boards

hi everyone,

I have posted this question a long time ago, but since we have tons of new board members, I was wondering if anyone else has any insight into this.

I'm moving into an apartment. I want to make my room a little bit soundproof from the other rooms, and other apartments. Any ideas of what I can do other than put carpet on the floors and walls?

Ravi:
There is much than can be done, but not within practical limits for most.
"Floating floors", additional walls/sheetrock with dead air between, sealing all openings and applying lead sheeting will all do the trick when applied together. But unless you want to get involved in $10,000 worth of materials and labor, think "heavy" carpeting, drapes, furniture, etc. They won't make much of a real-world difference, but the next steps are so much more involved that the simpler solutions are worth a try if you're desperate.

Keep in mind you're looking for isolation or barrier products, NOT diffusion materials:
http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/channel.htm

http://www.extremesoundproofing.com/

http://www.acoustics101.com/

http://www.allnoisecontrol.com/NoiseAbsorption.cfm

http://www.sonex-online.com/

Hi Ravi, Welcome back.

I've been following this forum since the "M" series was new, but didn't have much to say til now. Glad to see that you're back. You always had lots of good stuff to talk about!-A welcome re-addition!!

Anyway, glad you asked that question, I have a similar problem; living in a house but close to the neighbors. So I'll be watching this thread as closely as you will.

Again, Welcome Back!
Rich.

oh and congrats Ravi, that post put you +1000 on the forum - a slightly slower pace than some (yeah i'm talking about you Mark

).

Actually, I have slowed down quite a bit lately.

After the "Mother" post, I feel there isn't much more for me to say!

And, we all agree!

Matter of fact, we pretty much felt that way BEFORE the Mother post, too.

I'm Hurt.

Deeply, Seriously Wounded.

OK.... Better now!

i think its gonna be 'pick on mark' day..

your breath stinks...
your truck has 5 flat tires...
your daddy climbed a tree to be a branch manager...
and your momma dresses you funny..

now go put your dress back on and leave us alone!!

bigjohn

I'll have you know that as soon as I won the lottery, I was going to buy each of you a set of Halos and M80s.

Not Now.

No Way.

(Riding my Spider Bike towards home, leaving only the memory of the sound of the cards in my spokes....)

(sorry about the hijack, Ravi)

I still love ya Mark.

Now get busy buying lottery tickets.

Oh sure Mark, after I had to take out a mortgage to pay for mine, you give them away as presents.

Pardon me while I go put on my

>>oh and congrats Ravi, that post put you +1000 on the forum - a slightly slower pace than some

Yeah, and Mark almost reached +1000 with ONE post

Now I'm back to being Hurt.

Deeply, Seriously Wounded.

Speaking of Lotto winners. A guy won 112 million at the store up the street. Its off my list for buying tickets now. I mean what are the chances that store would hit twice.

In reply to:
Yeah, and Mark almost reached +1000 with ONE post

Well I'm sure Mark does have the most words on the forum with so few posts - and at the opposite end of the spectrum Peter has probably the most posts using the fewest words!

hey girls and boys,

thanks for the warm re-welcome. yeah, I haven't been around that much, but I missed this place

it seems no one has yet found a great solution that is cheap. I definitely will not invest in anything I can't take with me when I move a second time, because I'm moving into an apartment that, like my previous 7 or 8 places, will be temporary.

thanks again

p.s. i hadn't noticed i hit 1000 posts. shouldn't that put me from addict to something higher? i thought they changed that years ago....

In reply to:
it seems no one has yet found a great solution that is cheap. I definitely will not invest in anything I can't take with me when I move a second time, because I'm moving into an apartment that, like my previous 7 or 8 places, will be temporary.

Line the walls with fat people?

How do I know a few of the "husky" men here are going to pummel me for that one?

Bren R.

Bren,

i've already thought of that, but the point of moving out is to have my own space, or perhaps to share with one other person, hopefully not a fat man.

In reply to:
Line the walls with fat people

then you have to worry with the cost to keep feeding us to keep us fat.. cause, as we all know, our soundproofing ability goes away once we start to shrivel up and skew the fat to body mass ratio...

PLUS- you would have to put in a second bathroom!!

bigjohn

I recently discovered an inexpensive soundproofing. Take soundboard (mat type material in 4x8 sheets) available at your local homedepot for around 11.00 a sheet, and cut to desired panel size. Wrap in a tight weave twill fabric to seal (soundboard has an earthy odor to it). I put a thin sheet of masonite on the back of the panels to staple the fabric to and protect the corners of the soundboard. You can buy twill tight weave fabric in assorted colors and widths on the internet for about 5 or 6 dollars a yard. You should be able to get about 3 panels per sheet using about a yard of fabric each. Add some masonite and you will be in the 11 or 12 dollar per panel range for a 3x4 panel. You can hang these on the wall, put them in frames if you want to get fancy. I am going to try doing a raised panel treatment on the wall of my hometheater project, using trim and wainscote molding around the fabric covered panels. I figured I could make a few panels out of plywood and the rest out of sound board to have reflective and absorptive treatments where needed in the room.