We all love spending peaceful time at our home, and the outside noises like the noise of traffic, garbage collectors, or some random disturbing noises from outside or from your neighbor’s house or from the lobby of your building aren’t always pleasing.
In order to make the best use of our space, we all would want to eliminate these disturbances and spend quality peaceful time in our own world, keeping in mind our own and our neighbor’s privacy.
In this article, we will see some of the smart interior design hacks that you can do on your own. These will not include those mechanical devices that you can get installed with the help of a technician but just some smart hacks to do it on your own.
Let’s see how we can soundproof a home on our own:-
1.Seal the window and doors -
We know that sound travels through air and even a small air gap from where you can see light passing through or even a tiny 1mm gap can make sound travel through it, that is the reason you can hear chatter from your neighbor’s house or from the lobby of your building, to reduce this problem here’s what you can do:-
If you see that small gap under your main door of the house conceal it with a Weather-strip which is rubber or a foam strip that gets installed on any small gaps on the door or windows.
If you have large windows on the front wall or you notice that the door and windows in your house have a small gap open when it is closed you can use the weather-strip on the sides of your door as a weather-strip framing.
By doing this weather-strip treatment you will see many noticeable changes in the sound absorption power of your house.
Give special attention to the doors and windows of the areas which are private like bedrooms or a private den or library.
Weathering strips are available in many different materials as well like metal and silicone.
2.Fix the walls -
If you see any cracks and holes in your walls over time due to cracking of POP( Plaster of Paris), or due to the use of fixtures or furniture on the wall, or even due to water seepage or wall damping over time you need to fix it because that can be one of the reasons of you hearing your neighbor’s chatter or vice versa, here’s what you can do:-
Check and inspect all the walls around your house especially the wall around the door and windows because that can get cracks due to the framing load, check ventilation grates and electrical sockets as well.
If you find any cracks around these areas and start the caulking treatment in which Caulk a fixing material is used to fixing the broken seals and cracks around the space.
Even inspect the areas like bathrooms and kitchens which are more prone to seepage issues and start the caulking treatment there as well.
3.Rearranging furniture -
There are a lot of ways to arrange furniture around the house and you can do it however you want but if you are facing a lot of noise issues in your house you can inspect the way your furniture has been arranged and make necessary changes with them to block the unwanted noises. Here’s how to do it:-
Try to arrange the larger and bulkier pieces of the furniture near or against the wall like a heavy sofa cum bed or a solid wood console or storage unit so that they help in noise-blocking from the neighbor’s house when you both share a common wall in between.
Keep the minimalist and light pieces like chairs small coffee table art pieces in between the spaces.
You can also keep a nice solid wood bookshelf against the wall and fill it with your favorite books and some artworks this is a great way to block noise and a smart way to add an aesthetic element to the space.
Make sure there is no major empty storage in the storage units or on the shelves on the wall because the more empty a space is the more space sound gets to travel.
4.Use the accessory to the maximum-
CURTAINS –
Curtains with heavier materials like polyester and heavy cotton can block a large amount of sound without much effort. Make sure you use full-size curtains that cover the wall below and also a little above the window for the best results. You can also contact fabric companies or your local carpenter or fabric manufacturer to source or customize a special sound-absorbing fabric material for you. If you have the budget then you can also go for sound-proof curtains which are a new technology these are viable in both manually operating and electrically remote-controlled operating they block outside noises from entering inside the space.
RUGS –
Rugs and carpet are a great way to block unwanted noises inside your house as they cover a good density they work really efficiently, here are a few tips for installing rugs for blocking noise:- Use rugs with thick material so that the density of the material gets high and so are the noise-absorbing power of the rug. You can also use a density rug back underneath your rug which is basically a rubber pad made according to the size of your rug it helps the rug to be in place and also increases the power of the rug to absorb noise. These rugs help to absorb sound from your below neighbor’s and protect your sound to go to theirs irrespective of hard or soft flooring.
5.Wall panels -
A new addition and trend to interior design this day is wall panels as they not only look great but they are also very handy and user friendly and are installed against the walls they absorb a lot of sound hence giving a peaceful space.
There are a lot of materials for wall panels like solid wood, or plywood finished with laminate or veneer or a fiberboard and WPC panels, when installed properly they can absorb the noises very efficiently.
Cork panel is also one of the cheaper and most efficient options in absorbing sound you can get them installed as just a wall panel over which you can install some artworks or you can get them made in the form of T.V units or console tables.
6.Window inserts and layered glass -
Window glass –
Instead of using a single pane glass you can use double or triple-pane glass for your windows as they have a much higher capacity to block sound from outside than a single pane glass. Double and single pane glass has krypton gas trapped between them and low conductivity spacing between them which makes them even more efficient.Window inserts –
These are transparent window toppers that can be placed on top of the window these have silicon framing which makes them, even more, easier to be installed on the windows. Window insert is a great idea to block out more than 50% of sound after the normal window’s sound absorption power these can even be popped out and removed whenever needed hence easy to clean and maintain as well.
BY:- Asmita Madan
