6 ways to soundproof your home
Some people like lots of hustle and bustle and noise, which is good if you live in city. However, I like peace and quiet but it can be difficult to get this at home.
Do you suffer with noisy neighbours? Perhaps they’re constantly playing loud music that keeps you up at night. If you live in a terraced or semi-detached house, you might be able to hear every step they make. This noise isn’t ideal, especially if it starts to affect how you sleep at night.
Thankfully, you don’t have to live with all of this intrusive noise if you don’t want to. There are ways you can soundproof your home if the noise is getting to you, and these fixes can usually be made yourself.
Here are a 6 ways to soundproof your home that you may want to try out.
Rearrange your furniture
The solution might be as simple as rearranging your furniture. If you play around with the interior design a little bit, you could place some large items of furniture in front of the wall where the noise is worst.
Bookcases are a really good way to do this, especially when they’re filled with books. It should absorb some of the sound coming through from next door. The more you can put in front of a wall, the better.
Hang heavy curtains
Do you get a lot of noise coming into your property from outside? This is often the case for people who live on a busy main road as the sounds of the traffic can come in through thin walls and windows.
There is a solution to this, though. You just need to hang some heavy curtains at your window that are made from good quality material. The most effective curtains for sound deadening are made from dense fabrics with multiple layers. Kilo serge is the best material to use as it is made from densely packed wool which creates micro air pockets which help absorb sound. Kilo Serge is commonly used for theatre stage curtains and recording studios.
If you can’t afford to spend a lot on specialist curtains, you could instead hang some blackout curtains, like the ones at Dunelm. These are thicker than regular curtains and will help to block out some of the loud noises from outside.
Apply soundproof material to the walls
If the noise from next door or outside is very loud, you might need to soundproof your home to another level. There are a few different materials that can be really useful for soundproofing rooms. You’ll be able to buy most of these from your local DIY store or online.
Most of these materials are easy to work with and installation should be easy enough. If you’re ever in doubt, there are plenty of great guides and how-tos online, especially on YouTube. If you don’t feel confident about doing such advance DIY, you could always hire a handyman or professional soundproofing firm to install all of the materials for you.
Seal as many gaps as possible
One of the main reasons sound gets through into rooms is because of gaps in walls and in between doors and windows. If there are noticeable gaps between the wall and frame of a door or window, these can be easily sealed by using weatherstripping tape. This tape allows the door or window to close but won’t let any air and sound through once they are shut. Rubber door stoppers can also be really effective in blocking sounds and they’ll also prevent your door from slamming shut in a draft.
Get some thicker carpets
Did you know that a lot of sounds and noise can come up through the floor? Some of the noise from your neighbours could be coming up through your floorboards and into your bedroom, making it quite hard to get to sleep at night.
The answer to this might be to add some thicker carpets to your floors. The thicker they are, the more fibres will be in them and it’s all of these little fibres that can do a lot when it comes to blocking out noise.
To make your carpets even more effective at blocking out noise, you can just add some soundproofing underlay. And then you will have two layers on your floors that are really good at preventing sounds from rising up through them.
Hang some rugs on the walls
Carpet isn’t just effective on your floors. If you were to carpet your entire room, then you would find that you can enjoy complete silence. Of course, not everyone will want to carpet their walls and ceilings – it’s not a great look for your interiors!
But there are ways you can use this theory. For instance, you could always hang some cool rugs or other aesthetically pleasing fabrics on some of your walls. Hanging rugs on walls is very popular in Middle Eastern cultures, so this will give your rooms a cool exotic vibe, especially if you’re aiming for a boho home.
If you’re starting to hate your noisy home, there are some ways to soundproof your home easily and quickly. Now you should be able to enjoy peace and quiet!
