How to Soundproof A Room Cheaply – In 12 Ways Effectively
Hello and welcome to the only guide you will ever need to finish soundproofing the room you are wanting to for so long, all by yourself.
We understand how neighbours yelling, dogs barking, honking of cars, ambient noises can cause irritation, sleepless nights, and disruption of peace inside your peaceful home. In many contemporary houses sounds transferring from room to room is a very common issue.
To find a solution to this problem you must first understand how sound transmission occurs. The sound waves are basically a type of vibration. So to soundproof a room you are looking for ways to make barriers to prevent vibrations from entering or leaving the room.
When sound hits these barriers in the form of ceiling walls and floors, it creates vibrations in those barriers. When you try to soundproof a room keep in mind that you’re simply trying to make sure that sound doesn’t cause the barriers to vibrate.
Even though acoustic panel a room costs a lot of money, there are some simple ways that you can follow to learn how to soundproof a room cheaply with little to no money. All you need is a little bit of effort and steps listed below.
Table of Contents:=>
- 12 Ways to Soundproof A Room Cheaply:
- 1. Use of heavy furniture
- 2. Putting rugs or carpeting the floor
- 3. Using Soundproof Curtains
- 4. Sealing door and window gaps
- 5. Acoustic insulation pad
- 6. White noise machine
- 7. Blankets
- 8. Green glue noise proofing sealant
- 9. Double Drywall
- 10. Sound damping paint
- 11. Using cheap foams for soundproofing
- 12. DIY acoustic panels
12 Ways to Soundproof A Room Cheaply:
1. Use of heavy furniture
This may sound surprising to you. But this is probably the cheapest way to soundproof your room. Place heavy furniture in the room that you are trying to soundproof.
In this method, the furniture will add some mass to your room. This results in the absorption of the sound vibration and Dampens it drastically. In simple words, the more furniture you have in your room the less the noise and echo will be created. As empty rooms tend to create more echo and things sound a bit louder.
But keep in mind to place the heaviest furniture you have in the room because lightweight ones don’t have much mass.
2. Putting rugs or carpeting the floor
To completely insulate yourself from the outside sound you must find a way to eliminate sound coming from the neighbours living below you. And there’s no cheaper way to that than to use rugs or carpets. Applying thick area rugs reduces the incoming sound and echo created inside the room by a significant amount.
Most of our modern-day floors are made out of concrete. Though they are very good material for long-lasting construction integrity, they are also extremely good sound transmitters. As most of the noise coming from a floor is collision noise or impact noise, treating it with heavy carpeting is a very successful solution.
Rugs and carpets are made up of synthetic fibres and dense wool’s which are very absorbent when it comes to vibration.
Because of the regulations, which you must follow while living in a rented apartment, it is advised to go for rugs. So you don’t have to go to the landlord for permission and if you ever think about changing the place you can take your rugs with you when you shift.
3. Using Soundproof Curtains
There are numerous “soundproof curtains” found on the market today. Even though they don’t absolutely block all the noises, they do soften the sound and absorb some of it.
The best thing about soundproof curtain is that it is cheap and it can be used not only as a means of soundproofing your room but also as a decor to make the room look even more beautiful and stylish.
4. Sealing door and window gaps
When it comes to soundproof a room there’s something we always overlook door and window gaps. This is the first place everyone should start because it’s the most obvious reason and most damaging when it comes to outside noise.
If there’s a gap through which air can pass through it is advised to seal it off as soon as possible. There are many ways to seal these gaps. The cheapest and simplest of them are listed below.
Caulk
It is one of the easiest ways to fill the window or door gap. You can install it just by dragging the nozzle over the gaps But keep in mind that it is relatively messy and lasts only up to a few years. After that, you go back to the way it was before.
Self-stick plaster
Self-stick plasters are the easiest of the bunch. Even though last only a few years you can install it right away without any hustle.
Weatherstripping
It is advised to go for weatherstrip if you are willing to spend a good amount of time fixing the problem. Because of something as simple as using weatherstrip over the gap can eventually get a bit tiresome, but will last for decades. And unlike caulking, these aren’t permanent. So you can rip it off whenever you feel the need to.
5. Acoustic insulation pad
Carpets and rugs might be a good solution for floor sound insulation but acoustic insulation pad takes it up another notch. You can apply acoustic insulation pads directly on top of the floor. The great thing about it is if you already have a carpet, you can just put the pad between the carpet and the floor to get a better yield of soundproofing.
This pad does not block incoming noise of any kind but reduces the echo and improves the quality of the inside the room.
6. White noise machine
You might be confused and ask yourself a noise creating machine to reduce noise? The answer is a big YES.
White noise machines are becoming popular day by day. As it turns out people feel much more relaxed with a white noise machine running in the room. It basically generates sounds of a unique frequency range that helps to conceal the other incoming disturbance.
7. Blankets
Most of us blankets in our house. So that means this soundproofing method is absolutely free.
First, you need to make sure where the noise is coming from. If it’s coming from the wall, just hand or nail one of your blankets on that wall. If it’s coming from the door side fill the gap or cover the door with a blanket and that’s pretty much it.
You’ll be surprised by how effective this simple solution is.
8. Green glue noise proofing sealant
This is one of the easiest and cheapest methods to soundproofing a room without breaking the wall. You can use this method if you’re living in an apartment where you’re unable to make any alterations to the walls because of the landlord’s ruling. Green glue noise proofing sealant is what we recommend because it not only is very easy and efficient when it comes to soundproofing but also lasts years after it is applied.
After sealing the gap form windows or doors there’s something that almost everyone misses and that is electrical outlets. Unscrew the cover and you’ll most likely see a significant gap from where noise can come from. So all you have to do is fill this gap with noise proofing sealant and you’re done.
You can also green glue between the floor and baseboard if you see any sort of gap. By following these steps you can use green glue to reduce the noise by a couple of decibels easily.
9. Double Drywall
A popular way of soundproofing a room is to use a double layer of drywall. A crucial tip is that you should always use two different kinds of drywall to reduce the maximum amount of incoming noise. You can get 1/2″,1/4″,5/8″ drywall commercially available on the market. The price difference between a 5/8″ and 1/2″ inch is so insignificant that buying a 5/8″ drywall with a couple of bucks more is a well worth investment.
Another tip is to use the green glue compound between the two layers of drywall which works unexpectedly great when it comes to soundproofing.
10. Sound damping paint
Yes, there is such a thing as sound damping paint. It may also hear people call it the soundproof paint. Sound damping paint is gaining popularity in the soundproofing industry rapidly due to its effectiveness vs cost. This is a lot thicker than normal paint which results in better sound-absorbing capability. Make sure to apply three coats of paint for the best result.
Keep in mind that it can only block sound in the range of conversation level. For blocking anything more you will need the help other soundproofing ways as well.
11. Using cheap foams for soundproofing
If your budget is low and you need your room to be soundproofed than cheep soundproofing foams are your best friend. You suppress a great deal of sound with only a little money by going for soundproofing foams.
The best thing about it is, due to their variety of aesthetic and eye-pleasing colours, they are not only used for functional purposes but also can be used for decorating your room as well.
12. DIY acoustic panels
Whether you make your music ar home or record something in your compartment, you know how important good audio quality is for high production value. Untreated walls reflect the audio back and making more echo.
To reduce these echo problems you can build very high-performance acoustic panels that absorb incoming sound waves preventing them from being reflected back. In addition to performing very well, you can make them look great too. So mounting them onto the wall can give your room a new look as well.
To make your DIY acoustic panel you’ll need to:
- Get some soundproofing material that you plan on using. It can be foam, wool, or anything that is cheap and have good availability.
- Build a frame by cutting wood and making the frame equal to the size of the area you want to cover.
- Put the soundproof material inside the frame and glue it all up. Now you have to cover the whole frame by any fabric of your choosing. As the fabric doesn’t have any role in the soundproofing itself, you can choose any kind of fabric that looks pleasing to your eyes and increases the beauty of your room.
Even though there’s no absolutely perfect way to soundproof a room completely you can reduce
the sound by a significant amount by spending very little money. But once you’ve applied more
than one of the methods in this article you might be surprised at the results.
Final Words
Now that you know the fundamentals of how to soundproof a room cheaply. you can look to recommend soundproofing products and get to work. You can also reach your desired result by following the above steps without worrying about your budget.
I hope you find this information helpful. Please let us know in the comment section which ones you chose and how are they working out for you. We would love to hear some more potentially great ideas that would get the job easy and cheap.
Last Updated on June 28, 2020 by Rogers Weber
[As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]