How to Soundproof a Wall Cheaply: 6 Affordable Ways!
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Are you short with money? Do you lack some peace due to outdoor noise? Then, this is the right place to be.
As a mother of two, I was once short with money, and I needed some fast solution to my problem. The problem was thin walls of my nursery room.
If you’ve ever experienced noise from neighbors, you’d start treating silence as luxury.
My baby couldn’t sleep due to neighbors’ noise, therefore, neither could I. It was devastating and annoying to wake up in the middle of the night every single night for about 2 weeks.
Whenever I complained to my neighbors about being so loud, they would apologize and promise not to do the same thing again. Of course, that didn’t happen.
Luckily enough, I knew some tricks about soundproofing a wall and when I realized that they don’t give a damn about waking up my baby every night, I decided to act.
Since I was short with the money, my potential actions were limited. I started digging and found some solutions worth mentioning.
So, whoever told you that soundproofing walls is an expensive and difficult journey to your peace is wrong.
True, there are expensive ways but there are also some cheap and affordable methods that can be used for this cause.
Sound absorbing panels are just one of many efficient yet inexpensive ways to soundproof your walls.
Most of these solutions are easily done, and do not require much time. You do not need an expert’s help either.
Therefore, let’s see what you need to do in order to enjoy the peace that you deserve.
How to Soundproof a Wall Cheaply
What You'll Be Needing:
1.Focus On the Weak points in your walls
When it comes to soundproofing walls cheaply, it’s very important to spend as little material as possible.
In order to spend as little material, you will need to cover as small area as possible.
Take a look around your room. Is there a window or a door that you could possibly soundproof?
If there are, you might think about focusing on these two things before you start any bigger projects that you have on your mind.
That will surely save you from some unnecessary expenses.
These are always the weakest points when it comes to noise leaking, and luckily, there are some of the cheapest ways to soundproof a wall that will work well for this purpose.
Being small, you wouldn’t have to spend a lot of money and materials on these areas, to make an important difference.
The first thing that you would want to pay some attention to, is sealing all the gaps that you can find between your doors and door frames.
Same stands for windows and window frames.
There is a really cheap thing that you can use and it is called weatherstrip tape that you can find for as little as 10 bucks.
Weatherstrip tape is a plastic, silicon or steel piece of material that you would simply put on the bottom of your door to cover some holes.
In my opinion, Weatherstrip tape is probably the best way to soundproof a wall on an extremely tight budget.
It serves as some kind of energy loss redactor, bug protector, and of course, the sound insulator.
Another thing that you can try on your windows is soundproof curtains that contain a layer of soundproof material which will drastically reduce the noise coming from the outside.
What I want to say here is that you should consider the severity of noise before you start any expensive projects on soundproofing your room.
If the noise isn’t that serious, soundproofing your windows and doors can make a big difference, and you might not even need anything else
2. Find where the noise comes mostly From
When it comes to the noise, most people will have the idea that they should soundproof their wall.
Before you start soundproofing walls, you need to know what materials to use.
In order to decide on the right materials, you need to find out one little thing. That little thing is the source of the noise.
Keep in mind that there are several types of noise and two main ones are airborne noise and impact noise.
Airborne noise is transmitted through air only and these sound waves have middle to high frequencies.
Yet still, in some situations, it can be quite hard to detect the exact spot where the noise is coming from.
If you aren’t on a very tight budget, acoustic gyprock could help save you time and precisely pinpoint the place where the most noise comes through by installing it in a couple of different spots around the room (on top of your wall – mostly in the corners).
Sound waves of impact noise have low frequencies and they can easily pass through walls, windows, and doors. Another name usually used for this kind of noise is structure-borne noise.
This is something very important because there are materials that would block only the first type of noise. For example, acoustic foam panels.
So what kind of noise do you have? Is it dishwasher, is it buzzing of a computer, a vacuum cleaner, or are those high-frequencies coming from the street or your neighbors?
Depending on what type of noise you are hearing, you can do this:
3. Fill the empty space up
You have probably found yourself in a huge room with little furniture quite a few times in your life. So, you must have noticed that these rooms have very annoying echoes.
Therefore, if you have a big room with little furniture and it’s unpleasant to spend time in it, try reducing the echo of the room by feeling the room up with some nice furniture.
Closets and bookshelves are big and cover a large area so they will work as good insulators. Another thing that you can do to cover your walls is some interesting wall art.
You should not expect some unbelievable results but these are basics to reducing echo.
If you’re dealing with a very small amount of noise – this might actually help and cover it up until you can save some money to invest in a soundproof mat, acoustic board, or any other type of noise isolation.
4. Put some drywall
Drywall is an option that is just a bit more expensive than previous methods but it is sure worth it. Not only that it is a little more expensive, but also a bit harder to install.
Therefore, you should probably have to ask help from a professional.
With this one, any noise will be taken care of.
The drywall that you install will make your old, thin wall a bit thicker and in that way prevent the unwanted noise from getting inside.
The first step is buying a drywall, and before buying it, be sure to measure your wall previously. Get the drywall that fits your wall’s dimension.
Before you start the installation of a drywall pay attention to your old walls.
However, if you’ve never done any previous noise cancelling isolation – this will teach you how to sound insulate a wall and a bit more.
If there are any cracks and holes, be sure to fill them up. You can use green glue, or any other soundproof glue substance.
After you are done with filling up the holes put a drywall to the wall and screw it for security.
5. Install foam mats
If installing the drywall is too expensive, or takes too much time and effort, you can try something else.
Those are foam mats. Foam mats are quite easy to install, and there is no need for any construction.
These mats work as insulators. Not only that they will prevent the noise, but thermal loss as well. These mats contain rubber foam, they are very light and they are resistant to petrol and oil.
Unlike some polyurethane foams, this one does not release odors. An additional advantage of this mat is that it has adhesive on its back and it is very easy to stick it onto the wall.
6. Use acoustic foams combined with previous methods
With all of the previous methods, you can combine this one! Acoustic foam panels are always welcome in fighting noise.
For example, you can use some method to block the impact noise, and then add some acoustic foam to block airborne noise as well.
This will gradually increase the performance of your sound defense.
However, if you find it a bit expensive to combine the methods, just stick to the one that you find the most suitable. See here for the best acoustic panels.
We recommend the Acoustic Pro Fabric Wrapped panel. Fabric is 2x more effective than foam in sound absorbing. It also improves sound quality and speech intelligibility by reducing reverberations and echoes and it is Made in the USA.
On Soundproofing Walls Cheaply
As you can see, every single solution can be done very fast. You can do most of them by yourself or with a simple help from your friends.
Nowadays, most of the houses and buildings are constructed with thin walls. Most likely you do have neighbor noise problems.
Thin walls are a disaster in some situations, but you shouldn’t give up (even when you are on an extremely tight budget) as there are solutions such as acoustic wall panels or acoustic foam panels which can help with noise reduction.
Therefore, I hope that this article gave you some cheap and handy solutions to whatever problem with the noise you have.
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How to Soundproof a Wall Cheaply
Do you lack some peace due to outdoor noise? Want to know how to soundproof a wall cheaply? You're at the right place!
Materials
- Weatherstrip Tape
- Vinyl Mats
- Green Glue
- Foam Mats
Instructions
- Focus On The Weak Points In Your Walls
- Find Where The Noise Comes Mostly From
- Fill The Empty Space Up
- Put Some Drywall
- Install Foam Mats
- Use Acoustic Foams Combined With Previous Methods