Best Soundproofing Materials

Best Soundproofing Materials

Issues with Noise

Every mechanical and electrical device in your home is a source of noise. The world outside is a source of noise that penetrates the walls and ceilings with very little difficulty. Noise is a quality of life issue that affects everyone but there are methods and products that can help minimize sound leakage and improve the acoustics of your home. While nobody would ever want to live, work, or sleep in an anechoic chamber, there is merit to lowering the level of noise that you experience on a daily basis; improved productivity, better sleep patterns, and greater isolation from external sources of noise that impact what we hear and how we sound when we speak.

Soundproofing or sound reduction products can be integrated into any project and the changes will be quite audible.

Places in the Home That Benefit from Soundproofing

Soundproofing any project; new construction, remodel, or retrofit, will improve the overall quality of the finished product and improve the quality of life for the homeowner. Depending on the location of the home, adding soundproofing will greatly reduce the impact of external noise, improve sleep, and provide an added layer of privacy.

Apartment owners can significantly reduce the amount of noise leakage through walls and ceilings and no longer have to worry about listening to noise from adjacent units.

Bedrooms are an intelligent place to integrate soundproofing as a restful night sleep free from external noise will significantly improve your quality of life. Adding soundproofing to windows and duct work will significantly lower the noise floor and create a more restful environment.

Media rooms and home theaters are a constant source of noise in any home and soundproofing can be integrated to minimize leakage and significantly improve the acoustic performance of the space.

With more people working remotely, the home office has become a source of income for a lot of families. If you spend 8-10 hours a day working at a desk, there are a number of soundproofing options to improve the noise level and comfort level making it easier to accomplish your work.

Behind your walls and inside your ceiling, there exists a maze of duct work, pipes, and wiring that creates its own level of noise. Soundproofing the spaces within your home that you do not see will have a dramatic impact on the noise level within your home. A quiet home is a more serene place to live. The audibility of conversations will improve as will sleep patterns.

Types of Soundproofing Materials

There are a variety of soundproofing materials that can be utilized in any new construction, remodel or retrofit project. They can be used individually or as part of a comprehensive solution to minimize or eliminate noise from your home or business.

Green Glue

• Easy to install
• Low odor
• Effective
• Long lasting
• Absorbs standing waves

Resilient Sound Clips

• Effective at decoupling walls
• Versatile
• Cost effective
• Absorb standing waves
• Require professional installation
• Deletes space about 2”

Mass Loaded Vinyl

• No odor
• Available in various lengths and weights
• Easy to cut and install
• Versatile
• Effective at absorbing standing waves
• Heavy

Door (Automatic door bottoms, Saddles, Jamb/Header Gaskets)

• Heavy duty construction
• Attractive
• Effective at noise reduction
• Professional installation required

Floor (Rubber Underlayment, Joint Isolators, Carpet Underlayment)

• Absorbs standing waves
• No odor
• Available in various lengths and weights
• Easy to cut and install
• Heavy
• Expensive

Sound Control Curtains

• Needs to be custom order to match windows
• Limited finish options
• Very effective at reducing outside noise
• Block light
• Decorative
• Expensive

Acoustical Caulk

• Expensive
• Easy to install
• No strong odor
• Non-hardening
• Multiple uses
• Very effective soundproofing
• Absorbs standing waves

Joist Gasket Tape

• Eliminates floor squeaks
• Easy to install
• No odor
• Inexpensive
• Effective at reducing sound

Insulation

• Affordable
• Effective
• Easy to install

Installation Solutions

When advising clients on the merits of soundproofing their home, there are packages that you can offer that will deliver improved sound quality in media rooms/home theaters, improved acoustics throughout the home making it easier to focus on work and conversations, and greater isolation from external noise; improving sleep and overall quality of life. As a builder or custom installer, the ability to integrate noise reduction will only enhance the overall quality of your work.

Green Glue Damping

Green Glue is a visco-elastic damping compound that dampens vibrations and is used between two or more sheets of commonly specified building materials such as drywall, plywood, and OSB, to reduce the amount of sound transmission between two rooms. Typical applications are for wall, floor, and ceiling assemblies to reduce airborne and impact noise.

Click here to order Green Glue Damping

Mass Loaded Vinyl

Sound waves create vibrations in every surface that they interact with; including the walls in your room, floor, ceiling, and the duct work behind your walls. Mass Loaded Vinyl adds heavy mass to your floors, walls, ceilings and structures. Mass is a critical component in sound control and works by simply stopping sound from being able to vibrate the structure due to its heavy weight. It is manufactured from virgin materials and produces no odor.

Click here to order Mass Loaded Vinyl

Resilient Sound Clips

Decoupling loudspeakers, lab equipment, and electronics which are sensitive to vibration has been a practice for many decades. It is proven that decoupling improves sound quality, accuracy of test results, and overall performance of electronics. Soundproofing walls from vibration has the same impact in your home. Resilient Sound Clips are used to soundproof walls in ceilings by decoupling one side of the structure from the other. This allows each side to vibrate independently and drastically cut down on the sound transfer.

The best decoupling methods involve using resilient sound clips which are attached to ceiling/wall joists as part of a "Floating Wall/Ceiling" system that is decoupled from the rest of the house.

Click here to order Resilient Sound Clips

Soundproofing Windows and Floors

Windows and floors are a major source of noise leak in any project but there are inexpensive methods to control the issue. Soundproofing your windows can dramatically reduce the noise levels in your home and improve your quality of life; less street noise and the ability to integrate lighting control with a light blocking vinyl cover. These custom-sized curtains combine a sound barrier and sound absorption.

Click here to order a Soundproof Window Panel

Floors are major source of noise leak and vibration throughout any home. Soundproof your floors by using proven sound control materials; including a full line of premium made in USA rubber underlayment, specialty carpet underlayment and more.

TMS rubber floor underlayment is a high quality performance acoustic underlayment made from rubber material which is designed to provide a resilient layer to reduce the passage of impact transmission noise. For use under ceramic tile, stone, solid hardwood, engineered hardwood and laminate flooring. This product is ideal for high traffic areas throughout any home and is easily installed.

Click here to order TMS rubber floor underlayment

For media rooms, home theaters, bedrooms, and basements, Our Premium Carpet Underlayment consists of a foam layer supporting an acoustic mass loaded vinyl barrier.  It is durable and effective at reducing the transmission loss of floor assemblies.

Click here to order our Premium Carpet Underlayment

Insulation

Not all insulation is created equal so an effective approach during new construction or remodeling is to improve the soundproofing performance of ceilings and walls by adding insulation between studs or joists.  

Acoustic blankets and batts are designed for this specific issue. Choose from an array of fiberglass insulation, cotton insulation or mineral wool materials offered in many sizes and R values to make your soundproofing projects a success.

FAQs

1) What has changed in the soundproofing industry in the past couple of years?

The construction industry standard for sound control was basically: Insulation, Fiber Board and Resilient Channel. The results are not the greatest to say the least. New products like Damping Compound (Green Glue) Resilient Sound Clips (Whisper Clips) and a better understanding of sound control which includes the use of Acoustical Caulk, Acoustic Pads on electric outlets, Sound Seals on Doors etc. have changed the face of the sound control industry and any contractor/homeowner willing to put in the effort will reap outstanding results.

2) Will stuffing more insulation in my walls/ceilings help me?

Not really. Insulation is but one step in the soundproofing process (an important one that should not be skipped) and adding more of it or more expensive ones (like spray foam, cotton etc.) will not give you that much more. Save your money and move on to the other steps. Read more about Insulation for Soundproofing.

3) Why can't I just install materials that have STC ratings of 60 and higher?

If you see materials claiming very high STC numbers, usually they will fall under the category of "if it's too good to be true than it probably is". Look (usually you will have to ask for it) closely at the testing and see what other materials were used in the process. Don't be surprised to see concrete floors or funny spacing of studs etc.

Additionally keep in mind that when a product tests to an STC as a free standing membrane e.g. an STC of 27 does not mean that in a wall/ceiling assembly it will add another 27 STC points it may only add 3 points. Therefore you should always look for testing in wall assemblies similar to the project you are looking to construct.

4) How about Spray Foam Insulation. I heard that is a great soundproofing product?

Save your money and use cheap (about 3-4 times cheaper) fiberglass or cellulose insulation. Use the extra money on an extra layer of drywall and quality damping compound/Resilient Sound Clips.

Insulation absorbs some sound waves and that's it. The fiberglass will absorb as much if not more than the spray foam. If you carefully read the tests you will see that all insulations across the board add about 3-4 STC points. This has been confirmed to us by many builders.

In the real field spray foam may actually exacerbate your sound issues. The reason being, you want to keep the building materials as separated from each other as possible, think "decoupling", Spray foam acts like an extremely powerful adhesive, pulling all the membranes i.e. joists and sheathing, together allowing for easier sound transfer.

(As a side note one thing we do hear from contractors and we have noticed it as well during sound control installs that we have done is that contrary to "science soundproofing" mineral wool and cellulose are better at controlling sound than fiberglass. Either way if you are on a budget fiberglass will do the job).

5) How about the brown fiber board? Every one uses that as "Soundboard"!

The only place fiber board has any use by professional soundproofing companies is on the floor. You read that right, sandwich some fiberboard and Green Glue between 2 layers of sub flooring and you will have a great floor for absorbing impact sound. In walls and ceilings it just does not make the cut. We need "Mass" and drywall is heavier than fiber board. We need absorption, fiberglass can absorb, fiber board is not absorptive enough. When applying a damping compound like Green Glue you need 2 smooth rigid membranes, fiber board is not as smooth as dry wall. Bottom line: use more drywall if you are looking to beef up your walls or ceilings.

6) I’m building a media/home theater room. What types of products do I need?

There are two issues when building a home theater or media room; soundproofing and acoustics. Soundproofing is used to keep external sound from interfering with your enjoyment of music and movies, and to limit how much sound leakage there is into the other rooms in your home. Acoustic products are used to improve the sound quality in your room in regard to bass nodes, reflections that smear the clarity of the sound, and to tame the top end of your loudspeakers that may be too bright sounding.

7) What is all the hype about Green Glue?

Green Glue is a visco-elastic damping compound that is applied between 2 rigid membranes; two layers of drywall and will dissipate (destroy) sound waves that hit the panel and prevent them from travelling through or along the membrane. Green Glue is the most thoroughly tested and used damping compound on the market. It is also low odor and very versatile. It can be applied to floors, walls, and ceilings. Our own field installations and customer feedback have proven that the product lives up to its name.

Read more about Green Glue Damping Compound here.

8) How does an STC reduction compare to a dB reduction?

STC scores are loosely equivalent to dB reduction. The difference is that an STC score is determined by comparing actual transmission loss by frequency to a set curve for each STC to determine the score. A dB drop would depend on the type of noise needing to be blocked and how much noise the wall/door could stop at the frequencies of that noise.

9) You got me thinking; now how do I know what really works and which materials are suitable for my project?

Trademark Soundproofing was analyzing and applying all types of soundproofing materials for 2 years before we opened up TMsoundproofing.com. Additionally we are constantly getting feedback from our growing base of builders and General Contractors. If you read through our articles and browse our carefully selected materials you will notice that what we write makes sense and we are not trying to sell just anything that goes, our reputation depends on it. Additionally browse the internet and you will slowly get the picture of the right way to soundproof, then come back here and see how we prepared it all for you. Always feel free to pick up a phone and give us a call at 845-388-1200.

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