Using Soundproofing Walls in Your NYC Home
There are few cities in the world which have as much to offer as New York City, but a fact of life in NYC is that it can be a noisy place to live as well. Whether its traffic noise from 149th St, your neighbors loud backyard barbeques in Bed-Stuy or the sounds of the elevated 7 train in Sunnyside, living in one of the world’s greatest and busiest cities often means coping with noise.
There’s no question that the wide variety of entertainment and culture available at all hours make NYC a wonderful place to live. New Yorkers tend to enjoy the liveliness of the street; but only when they’re on the street! When you go home, you want it to be a place where you can find refuge from the noise and frenetic activity of the city and relax. Street noise belongs on the street, not in your home!
Like many New Yorkers, you’ve probably considered soundproofing walls in your home before. Will soundproofing walls in NYC really help to drown out the noise from outside? It can, but there are right and wrong ways to go and peace and quiet can come at a high price. You can hire a contractor who is a specialist in soundproofing walls, floors and even HVAC systems, but this is very expensive and as such is an option which most New Yorkers can’t afford.
A common misconception about soundproofing walls is that putting up egg cartons, Styrofoam or carpeting can deaden the noise from the street or from neighbors. As it happens, these materials are largely ineffective and worse still, they look horrible! Heavy fabric and acoustic foam can provide a little more soundproofing, but these are still less than attractive and the small amount of noise they dampen is not worth living with the way they look on your walls.
A lot of people simply don’t understand soundproofing and assume that covering their walls will be effective. In fact, you’ll get better results by putting down rugs and acquiring heavy pieces of furniture such as easy chairs and sofas than you will from covering your walls with egg cartons. This won’t completely shut out those noisy neighbors, but it will help.
Soundproofing walls is simply not the easiest task. Short of going into your walls and installing soundproofing materials or thick insulation, you’ll be better off using professional soundproofing materials like soft sound acoustic panels on your walls. Since you can paint or decorate these panels, they provide a balance of function and a look which is a big improvement over covering your walls with carpet.
To dampen street noise, there are a couple of things you can do to soundproof your windows. You can install modern double paned windows or acrylic framed windows. However, this may not be possible depending on your home – if this isn’t a viable option, then window plugs or sound dampening drapes can help. Window plugs are an easy to install solution; these are simply pieces of soundproofing materials which are cut to fit snugly in your windows and can be put in and taken out any time you want to cut down on street noise.
These soundproofing tips can help you to make your home a quieter and more peaceful place. The best approach is to go for a balance of soundproofing and aesthetics. Let’s face it - egg cartons, carpeting and Styrofoam just don’t look good or work very well. Using the right soundproofing materials for your home can let you strike the perfect balance between the excitement of city life and having a quiet and relaxing place to go home to. For those of you who are afraid you’ll be breaching your lease agreement by installing some of this material on your walls, you can now even use special temporary walls that serve the same purpose and can easily be removed at the end of your lease.