Hello,
I recently rent this place and have noticed that my shared wall with the other bedroom was very thin resulting in hearing very easily what my relative doing. Currently, we don’t use any carpet or any foam as show in the attached picture
My questions would be :
– Is there any good not extremely costy way to dampen the sound/echo? I have thought of adding wardrobe on both side of the room aswell as carpet on the wall but maybe its too much
– Would dampening only one room good enough? Like lets say i add wardrobe and i add for his room carpet on the wall, would it still do the trick?
Replies
Can you describe the sounds? .... no, not really.
This might be a better fit for the fine Homebuilding Forum:
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/discussion-forum
I'm sure if you searched FHB for "soundproofing" you'll find a ton of info.
A wardrobe with doors and clothing inside will help. Best if it is floor to ceiling. Carpeting or heavy drapes on the wall will also help. Remember that sound can also travel via the floor and ceiling. So, make sure you have good insulation in the ceiling; heavy tight insulation material will work better than fiberglass. Carpeting on the floor will also help. Basically, heavy soft material will attenuate sound better than hard material.
Would a carpet on the floor of both room to reduce the echo alongside a wardrobe on each side of the wall do the trick? I already notice a huge difference when i remove my matress to clean it outside my bedroom its as if i hear twice as much
There are all kinds of sound dampening materials available. Search online. Some expensive, some less so. All better than carpet,both for functionality and esthetics, not to mention having to run your hoover up a sidewall!
This is a big problem and there is no easy solution.
I don't think carpet will make any difference, and it's hard to hang.
The best solution is probably the wardrobe you describe. You would need to make the units cover the entire wall, ideally with no gaps.
More dense materials such as MDF tend to do a better job at sound proofing than lighter options such as chip board or plywood.
Well i'm renting it so i can't do much around it but by MDF do you mean buying multiple panel from Amazon and then hanging them on the walls? This might work but might be more costy/less efficient than a big wardrobe maybe?
I had in mind a wardrobe made from MDF. If you look about you can find them. They cost a little more than the basic options from IKEA.
If you were to make them it would require a decent amount of material - for a standard 10' x 10' wall you will need at least 6 and probably more like 8 sheets of 18mm MDF plus maybe some poplar or pine for a face frame. It's an easy build but would be very heavy. You'd only need a circular saw, straight edge and drill/driver to make it though.
I'm thinking of something very similar to the Wood Whisperer's project here, but with a top to block in the gap to the ceiling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmYwHIxdXXQ
Carpet on the walls is serious problem from a fire safety standpoint. I know of no carpet fire rated for vertical application.
Two rental bedrooms separated by a shared wall? Almost impossible to soundproof to the desired level you wish to attain without running afoul of your rental agreement. Best option is to offer your roommate (?) a very good noise-cancelling headset and insist they wear it when you wish to be noisy.
Inclined to agree. Moving out is the best option.
I also think you can use a closet with doors and clothes inside. This will help reduce the amount of noise entering the room. Carpets on the floor also help to absorb sound.
Noise machine.
All the foam and acoustic panels you see advertised are for sound treatment, not sound proofing. They are for making the sound more balanced inside the room you are in. Important for people that work in audio or for setting up a great home theater.
Sound proofing, keep sound in or out, is entirely different, difficult, and expensive.
There is no cheap effective method. No carpets. Not foam. Not a wardrobe. Nope.
If you are worried about hearing your neighbors a white noise machine is probably the best bang for your buck.
If you are worried about them being bothered by hearing you, gifts and being a kind neighbor are probably the most effective.
Hang a couple of sound proofing curtains with some dead air space. There are brackets that let you hang double curtains. Besides, you’re a woodworker and can make brackets if you can’t find them. The curtains are designed for windows to stop street noise and a double layer should help a lot. This method should be a workaround that won’t cause issues with your landlord. You can test to see if it works easy enough and the solution is probably more budget friendly than wardrobes. The issue is to stop or reduce the low frequency of the human voice. Put a low volume “white noise generator” in the room and it will help counteract any background noise that slips by the curtains.