How to soundproof a room
Reduce noise and create your own relaxing sanctuary
Excess noise isn’t just irritating, it can cause stress and prevent you sleeping, so you’ll want to do as much as you can to reduce it. In this guide, we outline some of the ways you can take action to reduce the amount of noise entering or leaving your home.
Soundproofing a room:
Where is the sound coming from?
Before you start work on soundproofing your room there are 3 important factors to consider that can help you focus your efforts.
Sound source
This is where the sound you are looking to reduce is coming from. Is it coming from traffic noise outside? Is it the noise of neighbours through a party wall? Or is it the sound of a TV in the room next door?
Entry point
Next up, you need to consider where the sound is entering the space you’re looking to soundproof. Is it coming through your windows? Through the ceiling above? Or through a shared wall?
Reflection points
Lastly, you’ll want to consider where the sound is being reflected when it enters the room. Sound will reverberate off hard surfaces and will be adsorbed by softer surfaces such as rugs and curtains.
Draught seals
Small gaps in your windows can allow cold air and sounds to leak into your home. Draught seals can be easily fitted to your windows to help reduce the amount of sound and heat that can enter through these gaps.
Replace frame sealant
Similar to window seals, the sealant around your windows can break down over time. This can create gaps between the window frame and wall which will in turn allow sound into your room. You can replace this sealant to help reduce the amount of sound entering your home around the edge of the window frame.
Replace your windows
If the above options haven’t worked, or you have older single glazed windows, you may want to consider installing newer double glazed windows. Although these can be expensive, they will help with noise reduction while also helping to reduce the amount of heat escaping your home.
Fit curtains
Softer materials such as curtains can help absorb sounds that enter your home. If you’re looking to reduce the amount of noise that enters through windows, we recommend installing curtains alongside blinds.
Reducing sound through shared walls
Around 23% of homes in the UK are detached, which means the large majority of us will be sharing at least one wall with a neighbour. Noise travelling through shared walls can be incredibly stressful. Luckily, there are things you can do to help reduce it.
Internal stud wall with insulation
You can reduce the noise coming through a shared wall by increasing the amount of mass sound needs to travel through before it reaches you. This involves building a stud wall in front of the existing wall and adding insulation that will absorb some of the sound travelling through the brick wall before it reaches your home.
This method can be effective but it's important to consider that it will also lead to a reduction in the size of the room you install it in.
Use large pieces of furniture
If you’re unable to build a stud wall or you don’t want to take such a large measure, you can also use furniture to dampen the sound from a shared wall. Working in a similar way to a stud wall, large pieces of furniture placed against the wall can provide mass which will absorb some of the sound. A large bookcase full of books is a particularly effective sound blocker.
Consider furniture placement
You should also consider where you've placed your furniture. If you are looking to reduce the impact of noise in your bedroom, move your bed as far away from the shared wall as possible. Instead, use this wall for your wardrobes. Similarly, consider mounting your TV on the shared wall and move your sofa to the other side of the room. Although this is a small change, creating some distance from the source of the sound can really reduce its impact.
Insulate internal stud walls
Insulation doesn't just help keep your home warm, it will also add mass to a wall to reduce sound transmission. To reduce the transfer of sound between rooms, consider adding insulation to internal stud walls.
Insulate ceilings and floors
As well as internal walls, sound can also travel through the voids between ceilings and floors. If you want to reduce this noise transfer, look to install insulation in these areas.
Acoustic panels
Acoustic panels are built from sound absorbing materials which are designed to reduce the amount of noise that leaves a room. This makes them ideal for home cinemas, game rooms and home gyms. They are easy to install and have a stylish look that will enhance the overall aesthetic of the room you fit them in.
Add draught excluders to internal doors
Draught excluders are a relatively inexpensive solution to sound travel between rooms.
If your doors have been poorly fitted or have moved since they were installed, there may be gaps underneath that can not only allow drafts to travel through them, but also noise. Draught excluders are fitted to your doors to seal some of these gaps and prevent sound and heat transfer. They are easy to fit and have the added benefit of helping to keep your home warm.
Other ways to reduce sound
Choose soft furnishings
Harder surfaces will reverberate sounds and softer surfaces will absorb them. As a result, if you want to reduce the amount of noise in your home it’s important to add soft furnishings where you can.
From placing a large rug on a laminate floor, swapping out hard floors for carpet or choosing cushioned instead of hard chairs, these will all add extra places where sound will be absorbed rather than reflected.
Plant trees and shrubs outside
Trees, plants and hedges are excellent sound absorbers. If you’re looking to reduce the amount of sound that can reach your home from external sources such as traffic noise, look to plant trees and bushes around your home.
The benefit of this may not be as noticeable as some of the other methods listed here, but lots of small changes can add up to a larger, noticeable reduction in noise.
That concludes our guide to soundproofing your home. As you can see there’s a multitude of different things you can try to help reduce the impact of noise in your home.
