There are many ways to soundproof our walls and one of them is by putting heavy, solid materials to effectively dampen noises travelling through it. By comparison, hollow, flimsy and light materials are not enough to prevent noises from travelling into our house. If we are living in areas with a lot of noises, such as near a heavy-traffic road, we should look for ways to make it our house a more peaceful environment. In general, it is a poor decision to add drywall, because it isn’t a good enough sound-dampening material. It’s a good idea to leave an empty space inside the wall, so we could create an acoustic chamber. All cracks and holes should be insulated to minimize noises.’ Attics could also allow some noises to get inside the interior and it should be insulated properly.
If one of the walls face a particularly noisy or busy street, it would be helpful if we use a dense material as padding. If we have hollow walls, we could soundproof it by injecting foam insulation. Wall with rougher surface could also minimize noises. There are acoustic sprays that we can use to give proper texture to our walls and absorb much of the noises. If we want to install doors, we should choose solid, heavy doors, instead of hollow, lighter ones. Doors should also be air-tightened with proper insulation.
Much of the noises could get inside our house through the unsealed windows. We should check our windows and make sure that no noises can come through. We should look for any gap and cracks by blowing some smoke through the door. In cold climates, unsealed windows could cause a huge energy loss and studies show that we can cut our energy bills by up to 30 percent by properly sealing our windows. We could seal windows properly with latex caulk or flexible polyurethane. The best soundproof windows are those with double pane and vinyl frame. They are also durable to insulate the interior against cold draft from the exterior.
Unwanted noises could also come from the inside of our house. As an example we may have squeaking staircase that we need to fix. One of the steps could be coming looses and it should easily repaired. If the whole staircase squeaks, then we may need to replace or repair the stringer. This could be a longer procedure to complete, but with a few hardwood wedges, screws and well-placed nails; it should be easy to fix things inside our house. Floorboards could also come loose over many years due to continued use. When they do, a great deal of noise could be caused by loose nails that rub back and forth with the nearby surfaces. The best answer to this problem should be by nailing these boards. Some hardwood floors can be somewhat noisy; so we could put carpet on heavy-traffic areas. Adding carpet to stairways could also make them less slippery and quieter.