Home Renovation Tips For Thin Walls

If you’re currently renovating your home or thinking about home renovation, now is a good time to do something about your thin walls. You’ll know that you need to do something about noise reduction if you can hear your neighbors walking or talking, or if you can hear the other person in the next room. In order to know what to do about your thin walls during renovation of your home, you will need to know the different sounds that can disturb your peace and which solution will work in these different situations – and of course, budget considerations also play a part.

Different Types Of Acoustic Concerns

Acoustic noise can either come from outside your room or home, or from the inside. When dealing with internal noises, the transmission of sound from one room to the other is a particular problem as you don’t want noise from one room or area to disturb the next room. Sound transmitting within a home are noises like voices, televisions, footsteps and doors closing. Flanking noise on the other hand is noise bouncing off of physical structures in the home, like footsteps on wooden floors. If you are experiencing external noise coming from the outside, it would most likely be things such as from vehicular traffic, a train rail, noise from neighbors or aircraft noises. You would either need solutions which block out internal noise coming from inside your home; or, if your home is not noisy but your neighborhood is, you will need solutions which will help with external noise; sometimes, you may even need both.

How To Address Acoustic Noise In Your Home

It is best to tackle thin walls when you’re renovating your home, because the solutions that your builder will supply will be more effective than the DIY type.

• Firstly, identifying whether the noise comes from the outside or the inside, will help make your renovation shopping trip a little easier. A sound-deadening product is mainly for noisy neighbors or noise coming from traffic or a railway line outside. If the quality test data of the product is coded STC or TL, it is a sound-deadening product – this product kills the noise. A sound-absorbing product absorbs the sound and you may need this if you can hear voices from other rooms. Look out for the test data code NRC.


• Secondly, you want to think of the words acoustic insulation and protection. Make sure that when you (or preferably your contractor) are purchasing materials for your renovation, that these are products that provide insulation and density to the walls.


• Drywall used with bulk fiber insulation has been shown to help with noise a lot. Make sure that resilient mount frames are also on your renovation shopping list, to install your acoustic soundproofing.


• You can add another layer of drywall to the existing wall during renovation – this will increase the thickness of the wall and can help with noise reduction.


• Try soundproof mats, which can be installed over or under the drywall. These are very effective but are on the expensive side. Also they only come in the color black, so if this won’t fit in with your décor its best to steer clear.


• Consider using soundproof fabric panels for your walls – these are great to install once everything is done and they come in different colors and patterns to match your home décor. Ask your contractor to install this as a finishing touch – you don’t want to potentially damage your newly renovated walls


• A budget –friendly option is to investigate where the noises are coming from, and then closing any cracks, holes or vents in your home that serve as a gateway for these noises. Seal cracks and gaps in your existing drywall, and make sure air vents are slightly covered by soundproof curtains or the like.

There are other things that you can try to block out the noise coming into your room or home from the outside – however keep in mind that DIY remedies are not as effective as the real deal. It is best to get a professional to help you if you want effective, long-term solutions to your noisy problems. Call Miller Construction And Design for your home renovation needs.