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Soundproofing a room (or greatly reducing sound)


DawnM
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My son with Asperger's is greatly annoyed by sound, particularly his one brother who plays guitar in his room and the other son who is social and wants friends over a lot.  We are looking at a house with a pool and a beautiful backyard area for lots of entertaining (which we love but Aspie hates!)

So, we are thinking of making his room more sound resistant.  I have watched some Youtube videos on do it yourself stuff for studios, etc.....but curious if you all had any other suggestions/ideas?

I am planning to get some studio foam or something for guitar son's room as well, and hoping between both rooms being sound resistant, it will help.  The house we are strongly considering has closets separating those two rooms, as well as a jack and jill bathroom.  Do you think putting sound proofing material on the backs of each closet would be enough that we would only need a bit in the actual rooms?  Not sure what to do about the bathroom.  That is a little trickier.

Any suggestions (and extra kudos if it looks decent and doesn't cost a fortune.)

 

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Here is the upstairs floorplan for the two bedrooms (to the left.) . You can see there is quite a bit of space between the rooms......bathroom and the black box in front is closets.

The bedroom with the striped bed would be my son with Asperger's as it faces the front of the house and not the pool in the back.   It is over the downstairs office, so no kitchen noise either.  

 

211354904_ScreenShot2019-03-19at6_18_32AM.thumb.png.3688b4a5aa7d0965e8ef490b54616108.png

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4 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

I do that know much at all about sound proofing but I do know that a lot of sound is carried through the furnace/AC vent system.

 

Not much I can do about that.

In our current home, the noise echos from the downstairs and I am not sure why, it isn't through the vent system, it is just a flaw in the design somewhere.  

When we are really ready to make an offer, I will go in and have someone upstairs and someone downstairs and see how much we can hear.

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1 minute ago, fairfarmhand said:

Solid doors instead of hollow ones will make a big difference. 

 

Ah, I didn't even pay attention to that.  I will look when we go back.  Since the bathroom is jack and jill, it has 4 doors total, if all of those were solid, I bet that would make a difference.  

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We put extra insulation between the studs in one bedroom in the basement to make it extra quiet, and that's the room my dd (who is very sensitive) likes now when she comes home. 

Really though, it sounds like he needs some noise canceling earbuds or Bose noise canceling headphones or something. This is not an issue that occurs in just one place, and having a room that is permanently, completely cave-like could be mentally unhealthy. Having tools and making a choice (it's noisy, I'm going to use my noise-canceling headphones) is ok.

Is there a way for him to have a room in the basement or away from some of the action? That would help too.

Edited by PeterPan
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I’m trying to understand how you got that view to show!

Some room darkening curtains are also sound damping and could possibly help.  Is there any place farther that could be set up for drumming and kids having friends over to keep bedrooms area generally more quiet? A music area in garage? Or...?

I thing ear buds or headphones would also be a good idea.  

I think panels in closet could help, but it might be only very partial as sound could flow along hall or bathroom (?) areas. 

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I know what you can do to soundproof a wall.   If you think about it, you need to do two things.   1) stop the transmission of sound through the air.   This is obvious and likely already done or the first thing you do.   2)  stop the vibrations through materials, i.e. the wall.   Lots of the sound-proofing stuff, foam etc., is designed more to preserve the acoustics where the sound is being produced, i.e. theater/music room or practice room.   All you care about is stopping the transmission of noise.  

To sound-proof a wall, remove the drywall on one side.   You are going to build another stud wall.   The top and the bottom horizontal boards will be 2x2's.  The vertical studs will be 2x4's.  But this is the important part, they will be placed so that they are in the middle of the gap between the studs on the real wall.  The studs for the new wall will stick into the gaps between The left and right studs will be 2x2's also.  Build the sound-proofing wall on the floor and then tilt it up into place.   Do not have your new wall touch the real wall anywhere.   Get some bats of insulation and put them between the walls horizontally so they weave in and out between the studs on the two walls.   

Then hire someone to drywall the sound-proofing wall.  

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My husband made a recording room in our basement. He put some foam on the walls. It does work. 

What kind of guitar does your other son play? There are mutss for violas--are there mutes (aka "practice mute") for guitars? 

Also agreeing with headphones. Ds wears them and it is very calming for him. 

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4 hours ago, DawnM said:

one brother who plays guitar in his room

Btw, is this electric or acoustic? If he's very sensitive, he may also be getting headaches from the guitar and not realize it. (like how he had the sense something was wrong and wasn't bouncing back but didn't realize he had pleurisy) If that's what's going on, he may need a compromise on timing, notifications, and the ability to choose somewhere else to be. If he's not comfortable going a lot of places (because home is his home base) then he may need some help to get comfortable with having a 2nd place to go when he needs to co-exist. Like he may need to go to the gym or a coffee shop or a gaming club or something.

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we sound proofed our 'theater' room.  - put foam in the walls and ceiling before sheet rocking.  our goal was simple noise transmission reduction, not silence. a higher grade foam would have been required.

 

common walls, definitely need soundproofing.

carpets, drapes - other soft materials that will absorb sound and not reflect it.  you could do acoustical tile on the ceiling.

- I would also do solid doors - not hollow core.  you could even do a gasket on the bottom of the door (if it's over a hard surface.)

Edited by gardenmom5
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Thanks guys.  I am pretty sure my husband will not get to any projects any time soon.  Moving is going to be enough of a job for now.  I need at least a temporary fix of some kind.

And Aspie son hates, hates, hates earbuds or headphones, it is a sensory thing.  He tolerates them for school when he absolutely HAS to, but they aren't calming or comfortable for him.

Middle son plays electric and acoustic.  There are no drums, not sure why that came up.  He just likes to be in his room playing guitar.

Edited by DawnM
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Re: temporary fix, I know that the acoustic foam can come in rolls or in panels that fit together without much fuss. IDK what else is needed to put it up, but depending on the method chosen it probably wouldn't have to be a big project. Maybe sons could do their own rooms? 

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41 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Thanks guys.  I am pretty sure my husband will not get to any projects any time soon.  Moving is going to be enough of a job.  If I start mentioning things like drywall or adding, he is going to flip.  He has just spent 10 years fixing the house we are in and is requesting a home with NO REPAIRS.  And he wont' hire it out (accountant, aka: cheap).  Or he will sarcastically comment with, "Well, that wont' happen any time soon" and that will be the end of the discussion, permanently.

And Aspie son hates, hates, hates earbuds or headphones, it is a sensory thing.  He tolerates them for school when he absolutely HAS to, but they aren't calming or comfortable for him.

Middle son plays electric and acoustic.  There are no drums, not sure why that came up.  He just likes to be in his room playing guitar.

 

Would the the guitar playing son be willing to use headphones when playing his electric guitar in his room, especially at night?   Positioning his amp so that it faces away from his brother's room might help if he doesn't want to use headphones.   Will he play his acoustic guitar softly?    Do you have another space in the house to turn into a music studio or teen hang-out space?  If you make that space attractive enough, perhaps your noisier sons might be willing to use that space.  Otherwise, can you make a quiet space elsewhere in the house?  The bedroom floorplan looks like privacy was taken into account.  Keeping all of the doors to the Jack and Jill bathroom closed will block noise from the adjoining bedrooms.  Closets full of clothing should block a lot of sound even without acoustic tile.  Textiles - carpets, drapes, wall hangings, help reduce sound.  

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1 minute ago, Sherry in OH said:

 

Would the the guitar playing son be willing to use headphones when playing his electric guitar in his room, especially at night?   Positioning his amp so that it faces away from his brother's room might help if he doesn't want to use headphones.   Will he play his acoustic guitar softly?    Do you have another space in the house to turn into a music studio or teen hang-out space?  If you make that space attractive enough, perhaps your noisier sons might be willing to use that space.  Otherwise, can you make a quiet space elsewhere in the house?  The bedroom floorplan looks like privacy was taken into account.  Keeping all of the doors to the Jack and Jill bathroom closed will block noise from the adjoining bedrooms.  Closets full of clothing should block a lot of sound even without acoustic tile.  Textiles - carpets, drapes, wall hangings, help reduce sound.  


He actually does use headphones.  And he doesn't play after 10pm.  The guitar playing son is coming home to live starting this summer and attending a local 4 year college instead of going back to live at college.  Asperger son will be home all summer, but at least will be gone part of the year.

The house has a teen hang out space, but I am guessing it will be used a lot for youngest son's friends.  He is my social kid and likes having friends over a lot.  Otherwise he can, although not sure he will carry around all his equipment.

He likes being in a closed room and not having a lot people listen to him.  Youngest actually likes hearing him play.  Aspie likes hearing nothing.....hahahaha!

And yes, one thing we like about the house is that it does give space between the bedrooms.

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