This may well be an IMHO thread very soon, but I’m trying to get some factual answers as well as advice, so I’m starting it off here.
A friend and I have recently moved into a new place, and one of the things that attracted us to the property was the fact that it’s really, really quiet. Even with windows open, there is hardly any noise from the surroundings, which is amazing, because we’re quite close to a major road.
However, after moving in, we’ve discovered that this peace has a bit of a downside - because the interior walls are quite thin, sound travels through the house in quite annoying fashion, and I don’t really want to live with a constant symphony of music, cooking, showering, wild howls of passion and/or anything else that might be considered part of normal living.
There are two problematic areas - her room has a shared wall with the bathroom, and my room has a shared wall with hers. What are the realistic options in a rented house, where we can’t make any major structural changes, to try and damp the noise transmission?
Anyone have any experience with hangings, foam, tiles, or any other materials? We can’t do anything that involves major damage to the surface - though if we are paying for it, the landlord may be agreeable to something a bit more drastic. We do have a 6-month break clause in the lease, so in the worst case we can grit our teeth and just manage, but it would be good to explore options.
Mass is your friend. That’s why professional sound studios will generally have double insulated walls with an airspace in between. These walls will usually have a minimum of 2 courses of 5/8" drywall each, often more, mounted on resilient channels. The floor is often “floated” or raised above the joists on rubber pucks or “u-boats”. The idea is to get a “room within a room” not connected by anything–nothing to translate the vibrations from one structure to the next.
Obviously you are not going to be building a room within a room in your apartment, but the principles of sound transmission loss still apply. Foams and tiles may help, but they are generally used not to reduce sound transmission between rooms, but to treat a room acoustically, i.e. targeting specific problem frequencies (for critical listening) in a room which are often caused by the types of surfaces and the dimensions of the space. If you can get your landlord to let you put up an extra layer of drywall, that’s probably your best starting point. If you can get your neighbor to do it too, that’s even better. The more mass you add, the more soundproofing you’ll get.
Google bass traps and you may come across some DIY solutions utilizing fiberglass insulation that will improve isolation in the low frequencies, but you may need to experiment with other materials (heavy drapes, perhaps a wall sized bookshelf) to get any kind of satisfaction with the mid and upper frequencies. If you have a common floor between apartments, it could help to make sure that there aren’t any loose floorboards or missing fasteners anywhere to reduce the rigidity of the floor. Close up ALL openings in your walls. Seal/pack all switch and power outlet boxes, or anything else that causes an opening in the wall. Doors should be solid and completely sealed when closed. There’s a lot more. It’s a complicated proposition, and what will work for one space may not for another. And anything you’ve heard about egg cartons, forget it.