Anyone have good advice for soundproofing?

Question

My roommates and I are renting an apartment in a very old building. My bedroom was an add-on, and the wall behind my bed doesn't fully reach the ceiling (stops about 7" from the ceiling).

Is there anything that I could do to make it so the sounds in my room don't carry so loudly into the other room, and so that I have a little more privacy? I've considered nailing a board up there, but will that even work?

I would greatly appreciate any advice.

Answer 1

If you can do a little work I'd remove the rest of the drywall and but some good insulation in and then re dry wall and paint. It may sound like a big job but it really isn't that large. If you have a home handy man that's a friend they can do the job in about two days. Wouldn't even cost that much to do.

Answer 2

Corkboard is a good sound absorber.

Answer 3

Since you are renting you may want to be careful about how you deal with this problem.  You don't want to do anything that might cause damage and prevent the return of any deposit money.

So consider going to the local home improvement center and puchasing a 4'x8' sheet of rigid foam insulation.  Take it home and carefully measure the distance between the ceiling and the top of the existing wall.  Mark and cut enough strips of the rigid foam to fill the gap at the top of your wall.

Depending upon your tastes, you can either cover the rigid insulation filler with white craft paper and paint it to match your wall or perhaps cover it with some fun contact paper or fabric making an interesting border at the top of your wall.

Remember, when you get ready to move out of the apartment you may need to remove the installation.

One other thing to think about... look to see if your room has a ventilation duct that provide heat or cool.  If your room was an add on they may not have provided a heating or cooling to the room.  So the gap at the top of the wall may serve the purpose of allowing air to circulate.  If that is the case, you may have to decide between privacy or warmth!

Lastly, be careful that you don't block any fire protection sprinkler heads if you have them in the building.

Good luck with your project.

Answer 4

Science Lesson #1: one day an asteroid will hit the Earth unless we can stop it before it reaches us. All we really have to do is change its path slightly so it is not at the exact same spot as the Earth is at the exact same time. Slow it down or modify its path slightly is the answer. So many things were tested and it turns out an asteroid is a very porous material .. which means it absorbs the energy so a nuclear weapon ..like in the movies will not work because that violent burst of energy will be absorbed and do nothing to change its course.

For you this is exactly what you want a porous material that can absorb the energy from the sound waves.. a solid material will attempt to resist the ever - changing state caused by the sound wave energy. The two opposites will cause an equallibrium to be reached and that board will Resonate at a specific frequency..so it will not stop the sound from getting through..only decrease the volume and resonate at another frequency.

You should think of Porous materials for this task - that will, as stated, absorb the energy and really put you on the path of eliminating sound energy from passing in or out.

I am thinking a sandwich of fiberglass insulation surrounded by styrofoam might work pretty well.

Make a small scale sandwich and affix it to a speaker..how much sound passes?

Remove and affix a Board and see how much sound passes. You decide..

In testing this you may even want to turn the volume up so you can easily hear the speaker outside your room ( before any material is affixed to it). Then proceed to the board and lastly the homemade sandwich of porous materials.