Soundproofing

bigbhoys

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Need this done, so have been 'trying' to read up on it as best I can. Which is a little bit hard since my DIY skills are non-existant. Thankfully though when the time comes, my brother will be the one doing all the hard stuff.

The initial reason was two-fold. One was for me to watch football in & the other our son to play video games in with his friends after school. All with the intention of not disturbing our 6 month old with noise. Since I work during the day one week, then during the night the next, then my sleep pattern is pretty whacked & so I go down stairs just now & listen to the tv via headphones.

Now something else has come up, so I'll need to be around the house more these coming few months. Meaning I'll need to work from home! So instead of the games/entertainment room (which was gonna be nothing more than a glorified wooden shed). I've decided to convert the garage (5 years old. Breeze blocks for the walls, flat wooden roof with felt covering the outside. 7ft high, 10ft wide & 23ft long) & add in a little enclosed area so that I can do my stuff during the day. While the remainder is for the tv, sofa etc.

The only problem is that I live in a very noisey area. We have a secondary school about 2 mins walk round the corner. So hear them all screaming in the morning, during their dinner break & of course when they finish up. Add to that, neighbours with little kids that compete with each other constantly. Directly across, 1 got a little puppy. The next door neighbour had to follow suit because their kid wanted one as well. As did the one on the other side of them who doesn't even have a kid. Over the back, there are about 3 or 4 others. Tne nutter across the road without the kids, opens the door at crazy hours. Walks about the garden with her housecoat on & a pair of red wellies inspecting her flowers. While her dog runs about like crazy barking at the wind.This sets off the dogs at the other side of her. During the day, one in particular goes out to work & leave their huge Mastiff in alone. This thing has an almighty roar & the screaming & shouting of the schoolkids as they go past sets it off & once it starts, it goes & goes. Even with the windows closed, blinds down & tv on. It sounds like the dog is standing in the same room! Add to that the next door neighbours who go away to stay with the wife's sister every weekend. Leaving her daughter & her boyfriend/mates in charge. Meaning arguing, singing or whatever in the street when they come back from the dancing. Again setting off the dogs.

If we could afford to move we'd be outta here long before now!

So given that I'll need to be working from home for the forseeable future & it involves me using the phone. Given that I speak to people from different parts of the world, which could be in the small hours of the night, or during the day. Then I'm gonna need to be blocking out as much of this outside noise as I can.

As I said, I've read bits & pieces. There is all this stuff about tones, waves, acoustics & the rest of it are just way over my head. I've found a few companies that sell every possible thing for blocking sound. However don't want to phone them up without having a clue as they'll more than likely tell me I need this & that to creep up the final cost.

So what I was hoping for here, is to just get a heads up on what materials I should be looking at since there is so much to choose from. This may be totally wrong & not block out what I want, but I'm thinking of. Insulation/Rockwool/Fibreglass to the exisitng walls of the garage. Build a wooden frame around this (so that it's like a room within a room). Add something here to the wood. Then use plasterboard on top & paint to finish.

What I want to ideally keep out is loud barking from dogs & screaming from schoolkids. Any help on what to use (not too expensive) would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, James.
 
James,

have a quick read here about some well-known isolation products used in Home Cinema Installations in the US.
You can't go wrong. They work well for home cinema applications, so they should over-exceed your expectations.

I believe you can buy most things in the UK, just do a google search for "green glue soundproofing", etc.
 
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Hello James,

Likely your weakest link is the windows. They will almost always have a lower Rw than the more massive walls. Insulation is a minor component of the solution, though it's intuitive that insulation should accomplish quite a bit.

I would suggest looking for a window that can be applied to the inside of the existing windows. Made from laminated glass, these would stop a considerable amount of sound.

I would not pursue more elaborate solutions until you test the contribution of the windows to your problem. Consider holding a heavy panel of plywood in front of a window as a test. Perhaps you have 2 strong lads that would help. Have them hold up the panel and press against the window moulding. If there's a demonstrable drop in noise, you know the window upgrade will bring relief.
 

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