Soundproof a room

Sound travels through air and it travels through the solid building materials that make up the structure of your room; i.e. the floor, ceiling and walls.

So first step, you need an air tight room.

Problem, you need air to breathe. So you need a ventilation system to get air into and out of the room, whilst at the same time reducing the sound transmitted through that ventilation system. For some ideas, we suggest you look at Ventilation Silencer - October 2010 

Next problem, you need to be able to get in and out of the room, so you need to make the door air tight. We suggest you look at Double Door Noise Lock - October 2010

You’ll also need to ensure that all joins, wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-wall, and wall-to-ceiling are airtight using a product like Green Glue Noiseproofing Sealant

Next step, you need to reduce the sound transmitted through the structure of your room; especially applicable to low frequency sound.

Adding mass helps. Note, however that to reduce sound transmitted by about 10dB, you have to quadruple the number of plasterboard layers on your wall. That’s 4 layers on plasterboard on the inside of the stud and 4 layers on the outside; and, similar for the ceiling and floor.

Damping significantly reduces how much the wall, ceiling and floor resonates; the vibrations you feel when you put your hand on a surface near a loud sound source. You can significantly reduce the sound transmitted through the wall with damping; this is where Green Glue Noiseproofing Compound comes in. We suggest you watch the slide presentation to see how it works

Decoupling is valuable. Using double or staggered stud walls will reduce the sound transmitted through the studs. Green Glue Noiseproofing Clips will reduce the sound transmitted from the plasterboard to the stud. Decoupling also improves the effect of added mass, especially at low frequencies. 

Finally, absorption gives just a little more performance. You should add some fibreglass or polyester insulation to the cavity behind your walls, ceiling and floors as it helps to reduce the sound transmitted via air from the internal surface to the external surface. But note, it does very little on it’s own.

An article with more detail is here or call us on 07 3103 0591