Our homes are our sanctuaries. It is the one place where we can be at peace, away from hustle and bustle of city life and certainly away from phone calls, meetings, work chit-chats, and traffic noise that dominate our daily lives. But if you’re living near a busy road, your sanctuary may be invaded by the nonstop noise of people and cars bustling about.
And it’s not just external noise. Your house itself could be creating noise that affects the ambiance. Before you think of opting for drywall installation in Salt Lake City to help put up soundproofing measures in your homes, you may want to try these five tips first to keep the noise at bay.
Add a Layer of Acoustic Board
If you’re up for a big home project, you can purchase quality acoustic boards and put them over your existing interior walls. Simply glue the acoustic boards on your interior walls before putting the drywall over them. You can also do this same technique on your floorboards and ceiling or virtually any space where sound might get through. A cheaper option would be to double the drywall. This builds up a thick and sound-deadening barrier.
Fix Any Holes or Cracks in Your Walls
Inspect the walls and ceiling of the rooms in your house. There might be holes or cracks where the sound from the outside can get in. Cover these up with sound-absorbing materials. Focus especially on the areas around the window frames, electrical sockets, and ventilation grates.
Use Sound-blocking Window Treatments
Another inexpensive way to soundproof your home is to put up sound-blocking curtains and blinds. You can get these curtains from as little as $40 per panel. These are made from thick materials that can effectively reduce external noise from coming into your house. Take note, however, that this does not do well in blocking 100% of the noise, but it’s enough for minimal soundproofing.
Replace or Repair Squeaky and Loose Floorboards
Although hardwood floors look great in many homes, they can cause a lot of trouble and problems when it begins to deteriorate. Loose floorboards can become a nightmare. Squeaky floors do not only add to the noise pollution inside your home, but they can also cause weak insulation. While you can completely replace your existing floorboards, tightening them will work wonders, too, if you don’t have the budget to replace them yet completely.
Put Up a Bookcase
Book lovers, in particular, want peace and quiet in their homes if they love to read and lose themselves in a book. You will be glad to know that simply putting up a bookcase over a wall and filling it up with books can block a lot of unwanted noise. You just have to make sure that there aren’t a lot of empty spaces on the shelves because the books are actually the barrier, and not the bookcase itself.
No one wants thin walls. If you’re just building or renovating your home, invest in some thick materials for your walls. In particular, you can put up insulation that works not only to keep the temperature inside your homes right but also to keep the sounds from coming in. You can also combine some of these methods and have a more effective soundproofing system.