It’s your wish to enjoy a quiet and peaceful time while relaxing in your apartment. Right?
Oftentimes, you encounter disturbing and unwanted noise from neighbors and outside activities. The noise comes in through your apartment walls and negatively impacts you.
So, you need to act accordingly and get rid of the unwanted noise.
Soundproofing apartment walls protects against unwanted noise and ensures you enjoy a peaceful time while in your apartment. There are many ways to soundproof a wall between apartments you can consider.
However, you need proper soundproofing measures to easily restore comfort in your apartment with little to no noise and distraction.
In this article, we’ll explore the best Soundproofing hacks that keep your apartment free from unwanted noise.
7 Best Ways on How to Soundproof a Wall Between Apartments
- Seal Holes and Gaps on Your Wall
- Hang Soundproof Curtains on Your Wall
- Paint The Apartment Walls with Soundproof Paint
- Place Furniture Next to The Wall
- Apply Mass Loaded Vinyl
- Add One or Two Layers of Drywall to Boost the Wall’s Mass
- Install Foam Padding
How To Soundproof a Wall Between Apartments
1. Seal Holes and Gaps on Your Apartment Wall
Tiny holes and gaps on the walls of your apartment let in noise, thus acting as sound leaks.
These holes and gaps could be loose light switches, gaps in the windows, or loose wall attachments.
So, begin by doing a thorough search on your apartment wall to identify all holes and gaps that you’ll seal later on.
After identifying all places to seal, clean the surface around every gap or hole. Cleaning is essential before you seal the gaps and holes. Besides, the cleaning process makes sealing effective for soundproofing.
After the cleaning, it’s time to choose a suitable compound to seal the gaps. There are various compounds you can use to do the sealing. However, I recommend you use Green Glue Acoustical Caulk.
Green Glue Compound is a quality soundproofing material. It acts by absorbing sound leaks that go through your apartment wall, causing distraction. In addition, Green Glue converts sound energy to heat energy.
Green Glue is effective in soundproofing as it reduces both airborne and impact noise. For an effective application, use a large size caulk gun.
2. Hang Soundproof Curtains on Your Apartment Wall
Soundproof curtains are good at reducing noise without interfering with the walls structure.
They reduce noise by capturing and absorbing incoming noise. That way, they reduce the amount of noise that makes it into your apartment.
Through absorption, these curtains act as a barrier to incoming noise. They have a polyester material that absorbs noise. Also, the polyester material prevents heat loss, thus an added advantage for you.
Since they’re aesthetically pleasing, they’ll improve your apartment appearance from inside. So, they serve three roles, i.e., soundproofing, improving your house appearance, and preventing heat loss.
Moreover, select soundproofing curtains that match your walls so that you don’t colour clash. If you colour clash, they lose their aesthetic value but still perform the soundproofing role.
For soundproofing curtains to work well, you first seal holes and gaps on the walls.
Soundproofing curtains I’ve known for years is the Nicetown High-End Thermal Curtains.
An alternative you can use instead of soundproofing curtains is soundproofing blankets. They work in a similar way to the curtains. You only need to hang them on the walls where noise is coming through.
3. Paint The Apartment Wall with Soundproof Paint
Soundproof paint is also known as acoustic paint. It’s a water-based paint that works better than oil-based paint in absorbing noise.
If you wish to control the amount of noise that reaches the inside of your apartment, then acoustic paint comes in handy.
Soundproof paint has thermacels with a soft pigment that wobbles sound waves hitting it. So, if you paint your wall with this acoustic paint, it prevents the transfer of sound energy into the room. By wobbling the sound hitting the wall, the paint blocks incoming noise. As a result, less noise goes through the wall into your room.
You’ll need to paint it in layers during the painting process to achieve a bigger width. The bigger the width, the more effective the acoustic paint is in blocking noise.
An example of soundproof paint I’d recommend is the Acoustic Coat. It’s environment friendly, and blocks ringing, echo, and tinning noise.
4. Place Furniture Next to The Wall
Stacking furniture against the shared apartment wall is an easy and cheap soundproofing method.
So, you don’t only fill the room with furniture but stack it against the wall letting in noise. This method might look like a joke but trust me; it works perfectly.
You may be asking yourself, “what’s the science in this method?” Let me answer that below.
Most walls separating apartments are thin hence the reason they let in noise. Adding furniture next to the wall, such as couches, closets, wardrobes, and bookshelves, boosts the wall’s thickness. The furniture does not only make the wall thick but also increases its density. Therefore, it becomes more soundproof.
A good hack that makes this method effective is adding a layer between the furniture and the wall. You can use a soundproof curtain or blanket for the layer in between.
The middle layer absorbs more sound waves trying to pass through the furniture.
5. Apply Mass Loaded Vinyl
Mass Loaded Vinyl or MLV materials are reflective sound barriers that add mass to walls.
The limp vinyl material has metal particles that increase its mass, making it suitable for soundproofing walls.
MLV has two primary ingredients: vinyl which is responsible for flexibility, and a high mass element, mostly a metal, often Barium Sulfate, that boosts its relative density. The high density makes MLV effective for soundproofing as it blocks sounds and noises.
Therefore, you can use MLV to soundproof your wall. It blocks external noises and is relatively easy to apply. Also, MLVs act as heat insulators. For that reason, if you live in cold regions, MLVs come in handy for your soundproofing and heat insulation needs.
You don’t need to hire a professional to install MLVs for you. Instead, you can do the work with the assistance of your friend.
To install the MLV successfully, first clean the wall and remove all the dirt plus any visible protrusions. When the wall is clean and dry, position the MLV the way you want it and use screws to fasten it all around.
An example of MLV I’d like to recommend is the Soundsulate Mass Loaded Vinyl.
6. Add One or Two Layers of Drywall to Boost the Wall’s Mass
Drywall is also known as gypsum board, plasterboard or wallboard. It refers to a large rigid sheet used as a finishing material for interior walls of residential apartments.
As a common building material, drywall is relatively cheap and available. Due to its availability, builders have developed a technique to apply it in layers to absorb noise.
Since most walls separating apartments are thin, drywall offers a solution to make them thicker hence aiding in soundproofing. In addition, drywall has a high density. If you add it to a wall, the wall’s mass is likely to increase.
High mass is good for noise absorption.
For that reason, if you add layers of drywall to your wall, you increase the wall’s mass, hence increasing sound absorption. This reduces the amount of noise finding its way into your room.
However, you need to note that drywall should be in layers to make it effective in soundproofing.
7. Install Foam Padding
Foam Padding is a material made from high-density rubber.
A soundproof padding material uses its high-density rubber to absorb sounds and noises. The material is thick and dense; thus, the reason it prevents noise from penetrating through.
It acts by blocking sound waves, hence why you should use it for soundproofing. It has high-density rubber that sound deadens noise. The foam pads are thick enough to block noise. So, the thickness is what makes them suitable for soundproofing.
Alternatively, you can use gymnastic mats instead of foam pads, although they aren’t as effective as foam pads in soundproofing.
Foam padding material is cheap and easy to install. When doing the installation, you have to focus on the side of the wall that lets in most noise.
An example of foam padding I can recommend is the Egg Crate Foam Cushion.
Conclusion
External noise and sounds cause a lot of distraction and hinder you from enjoying a peaceful time while in your room.
If you live in shared apartments, you can testify that the wall separating you and your next neighbor doesn’t offer enough protection against external noise.
Most shared walls in apartments let in noise which is a nuisance. However, you can restore a peaceful and quiet environment inside your apartment with the soundproofing techniques above.
In addition, some soundproofing hacks explained above have added advantages, such as heat insulation which makes them more valuable and relevant for your apartment.
The best part about the whole soundproofing is that the hacks are not expensive to install and require little to no maintenance costs.