You can’t wait to get back home from work, all tired and sleepy, and have some quiet time for yourself. But then you hear all kinds of sounds from the apartment next door, where your neighbors are yelling/watching TV with volume up/moving furniture. That can be a frustrating situation, especially if it repeats day by day.
On the following link, check some tips on how to deal with who don’t respect house rules:
https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/noisy-neighbors/.
The leading cause of this is the structure of the apartment walls. Modern buildings are built cheaply with thin and sparse materials. Some contractors will do anything to cut costs, and one of the budget cuts is the thickness and quality of the inner walls.
Thin walls will allow the sound to pass through, which, sometimes, can make your apartment unbearable to live in. Arguing with your neighbors about the noise is not a permanent solution as well. So you have to ‘win this battle’ on your own, by soundproofing your apartment.
Professional Solutions Are Always the Best Ones
If you think that soundproofing can improve the function of shared walls and help you solve the noise problem – you’re right! Hiring a professional sound-isolating company can help you with the noise from the apartment next door. A project like this doesn’t come cheap, but in the long run, it’s the best thing you can do to fix the issue you have.
Why is choosing professional soundproofing companies a better solution than fixing the problem yourself? The first thing that supports this claim is that they use the best materials available in the market. Some of these insulators are not available in retail stores. And they are far better than the ones you can find at your local dealer’s shop. But if you look for cheap insulation solutions, see here.
Also, professionals use the knowledge and experience they accumulated during many years in this line of work. There are always some little things, tips, and tricks that you don’t know about soundproofing, but they do. And these little secrets can be crucial in solving the noise problem. If you can afford professional soundproofing, go for it.
The Best Sound-Absorbing Materials
Soundproofing panels that we’ve already mentioned above are some of the most used sound-absorbing products of today. Depending on how thin the walls in your home are, you have to adjust the thickness of the insulation.
The right choice for making your interior more acoustic is foam panels or vinyl sheets on your walls. The foam panels are placed directly on the wall, while vinyl can be put between two layers of drywall. Both of these materials are quite easy to handle, as well as easy to set up. Also, both foam and vinyl are affordable and flexible.
Mineral wool and green glue are exceptional inventions used as excellent sound-blocking materials. These two compounds are usually added as an extra layer in drywall, improving its sound-blocking function. The price of these materials is a bit higher than foam panels or vinyl sheets. But their performances are better too. The fine fibers of mineral wool are also excellent thermal isolation.
If you opt for any of these materials, you should probably hire professionals to do soundproofing. You can do everything yourself, but why bother? Engaging soundproofing experts requires certain costs, but you won’t regret doing it for a second.
Other Cost-Efficient and Easy Soundproofing Tricks
If you go online and start your search with something like Soundproofing Thin Walls Between Apartments | Fix Shared Walls, many alternatives will show up in search results. Some of them don’t require specific knowledge and skills, only imagination.
Sound-absorbing curtains or sheets are a simple and decorative way to block some of the incoming noise, but it won’t help you all the way. Depending on how loud the incoming sounds are, you might want to consider some additional soundproofing measures, like furniture rearrangement or stuffing your rooms with details like pillows, wall decoration, carpets, etc.
Placing your wardrobes or some cushioned piece of furniture near the problematic walls will somewhat help you trap the noise. But don’t think of rearranging as a permanent soundproofing solution. If the sounds you hear from the apartment next door are deafening, moving your furniture won’t help you much.
What Else Can You Do to Prevent Noise?
Sound passes through the wall, but the rapid passage of these waves is through openings. So make sure there are no damages, cracks, or holes on the shared walls, through which sound waves can sneak into your apartment. Close all the gaps and isolate them for maximum soundproof effect.
Some people would rather sleep with earplugs or sound-blocking earphones than doing something constructive to resolve the problem they have. That usually goes for people living in rented apartments. But earplugs can’t protect you from loudness forever.
In case you have more severe noise problems within your home, you need permanent solutions. Sometimes people tend to neglect these things, thinking of soundproofing as an unnecessary expense. But when they can’t take the noise anymore, they accept any solution, regardless of the costs.
Hearing your loud neighbors all the time can make you feel uncomfortable within your own home. Many possible solutions to this problem exist, and while some of them are quite expensive, some others can help you solve this problem to some extent.
