Soundproofing and Acoustic Solutions for Homes
When choosing or building your new home, you need to consider several important soundproofing & acoustic solutions that will determine your quality of rest and life there:
1. The location of the dwelling. If the apartment is located in a busy place, you should consider its soundproofing and the risk that inadequate attention to acoustics in homes will affect your ability for a good night’s rest. It is advisable to visit the location during the day and at night and to listen to the noise that may be transmitted through walls, windows and doors.
2. If the home is for a single person, a couple, a family or for multi-family use, it is important to consider the construction and type of building you are thinking of investing in. If your potential home is in close proximity to other homes, you need to make sure that the walls, floors and ceilings are designed built to protect you from other people's noises, but also to preserve the confidentiality of your life from others. It is easy to see the size and shape of rooms, but not so easy to see how well the house is built and the quality of its home acoustics. Try talking or clapping in one room and see how clearly the sound can be heard in another room…
3. Whether the building is existing or under construction. it is good to find out how close any stairwells and/or elevators are to your home – in particular to your bedrooms. Stairwells and elevators are the sources of impact noise that you will have no control over. It is likely to result in the need to add additional sound insulation to those areas of your home exposed to these outside influences. It is recommended to install high-performing sound insulation in common areas to protect you from these external noise sources.
4. It is good to get acquainted with your neighbours and ask them if they have had disturbance from outside noise sources. If you have party walls, floors or ceilings with your neighbours, ask them if they could hear the previous tenants. If adjacent areas are used for different purposes (for example your neighbour's living room shares a party wall with your bedroom), it is very likely that noise problems will be common. This also applies to neighbours with very different lifestyles. Our advice: establish good relations with your neighbours so that you can achieve better results when making your sound insulation choices to improve your home acoustics. (If there is a risk of your neighbour's footsteps in the room above you can be heard from your home, it is much easier to treat their floor than to treat your ceiling - this will not be possible if you are not on good terms)
For more advice, information and assistance on soundproofing & acoustic solutions, do not hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, check out our soundproofing solutions for residential buildings here.