Moving into a new environment comes with its own challenges, some of them being noisy neighborhoods, busy streets or loud traffic.
These circumstances can make your life reasonably unfair – especially if you moved to a suburban area or a city. You know city life is always going to be bustle-hustle.
It is quite obviously telling that you will experience serious disturbance, your peace undone and worst of all even plunged into noise-related health issues.
The problem becomes bigger when you get to a point where you don’t know what to do. If you are in such a position, I am going to help you navigate around it – don’t fret!
You have probably heard about a soundproof room, thanks to the soundproofing technology.
By the way, if you did consider soundproofing to be only an expensive venture to undertake, I will tell you that’s not true.
Many people think so, you are not alone. And it is true there are really more complex, sophisticated soundproofing projects that would require lots of money to complete.
But also there are ways you can implement to soundproof your home without or with extremely little money.
Which is why I am here to bring them to your attention; so many awesome ideas on how soundproof a room cheaply. Don’t allow your life to be at stake by giving in to noise because you think you don’t have the expensive soundproof studio materials.
Things to Consider Before Beginning DIY Soundproofing.
The best way to get started with your diy soundproofing project is to know some very key things. These include but not limited to the type of environment you live in, thickness of the walls, doors, windows, level of noise in the area, and the soundproof materials you have for the entire project.
On top of these, you want to feature knowledge, skill and the creativity you have to take this project to the wire. Therefore, if completely you don’t possess any soundproofing basics, you need to learn (an easy and fun process) and be able to implement.
Understanding these things, you have an upper hand and an easy time to make key decisions during implementation.
Economical Soundproofing: How Much Noise Reduction?
Needless to say that the success of your soundproofing efforts is measured by how much noise is reduced, for projects of all magnitudes. One outcome you have to come to terms with ever is that there has never been 100% noise reduction.
This does not only apply to economical soundproofing methods. Even the highly sophisticated soundproof elements are not going to block all the sound – but they will reduce noise to bearable levels.
Usually, you may find this to be offensive and a discouragement. But it is important that I do not place your expectations to the skies – and you still see a few problems in the end.
I can’t place this better, but acoustic properties of the cheap methods of soundproofing a room can block a given amount of noise and keep things calmer.
Nonetheless, there is bound to be sound leakage through the tiniest of spaces. You will still be vexed by this problem.
Which should be telling enough that all possible channels, spaces, and gaps are closed up to keep sound waves off.
Remember, you want to put the doors, windows, walls and even floor into the bigger picture. Else, you are cutting your own throat without knowing.
8 Best Ideas on How to Soundproof a Room on a Budget
I have compiled some really great methods on how to soundproof a room on a budget. Just to let you be aware, some of the approaches will require no financial resources to implement.
But others may require that you enter the pockets just a bit.
Anyway, here is the rundown of those methods.
1. Hang Thick Blankets on Walls
Thinner walls can be a notorious source of noise in a room. You need to know this if you don’t.
Therefore, they should be in your soundproofing plan. The good thing is that you can soundproof them freely by using the free, locally available blankets or buy this Supreme Mover Moving Blankets.
When installing blankets, ensure that you are using the thicker and denser ones for effective noise blocking.
They should be hung on the entire wall where the noise is thought to be coming through – you will want to cover the doors and windows because they are some of the serious culprits that allow in noise.
If you think the one-two layers you added did not bring a real difference, you are at liberty to add more layers to get to the environment you want inside the room.
In terms of the aesthetic appearance of the home décor, you can be forgiven for the blankets’ untidiness on your walls. However, the primary thing is they stop the noise.
2. Use Egg Cartons to Dampen Sound
Use of egg cartons is another cheapest way to soundproof a room. In fact, it is a free way to navigate around the problem of noise.
It is common among people who have tried and tested different soundproofing ideas.
Sounds crazy, right?
Well, that’s what it is. Although they are physically weak in structure, lightweight and mostly seeming to crumble the next minute, these cartons can indeed eliminate noise echoes and reverberations inside the room.
The egg cartons have an uneven structure which is capable of trapping sound waves and transform them into heat. The important step you need to make is to place these cartons in very strategic noise pathways and you’ll love the hack.
Check out these IZO egg cartons at Amazon- worthy the try.
3. Try the Cheap Soundproof Foam
The cheap soundproofing foam can be another way to protect your room against noise and sound pollution. These foams don’t work the ordinary way by blocking sound. No.
Instead, they absorb these sounds within their soft structure and transform the sound energy into heat. The result is that noise is reduced and reverberation diminished.
The advantage this soundproofing element has over the above-mentioned materials is that it comes in a variety of colors – you don’t need to worry over the décor of your room. You can still get your color choices for the room and on the other hand, reach the goals of buying them.
The price of these materials on Amazon is cheap so get it! For instance, this IZO charcoal acoustic foam can do a great job.
4. Get Some Quality Soundproof Curtains and Hang Them
A similar idea to the blankets but perhaps more common and not controversial among people.
Once you have the rods with racks in the appropriate positions, you can hang your curtains on the walls, doors, and windows.
Curtains for this occasion are normally thicker, heavier and may come with heat insulation capabilities. These curtains absorb sound that comes through into the room and softens it before it turns into echoes.
When you compare curtains over the blankets, you will definitely be warmer to them – and it’s not wrong as they look attractive and good for your décor. Blankets are, honestly ugly on walls or windows but truth be told they will put in a better performance than their counterparts.
Many people try to invest in soundproof curtains but you could still use your thicker curtains and place them in layers to cover your room.
Nicetown soundproof curtains are very awesome professional curtains you can have for yourself when soundproofing your home. They are affordable and would still do just fine.
5. Do Weather-stripping and Caulking for Doors and Windows
Don’t make a mistake of overlooking doors and windows. If anything, these should be the first spots to be soundproofed before moving to other sections of the room.
You can ensure that all the gaps and any air spaces around windows and doors are completely covered by using weather-stripping and caulking, some of the inexpensive soundproofing ideas I have mentioned in this guide.
If left, these gaps can leak into your room a lot of sound waves. You have learned how sneaky and opportunistic sound waves can be.
That’s why you should get yourself this 33Ft weather-stripping tape sold at $9 and fill any holes you see on the door and windows and around them. Block off sound entry using this simple method.
The other sealing material you can use is the acoustic caulk (mentioned in the previous articles), which is similarly cheap on Amazon, just $6. The sealant is really efficient and does the same job as the weather-stripping tape but remains on the applied surface permanently.
6. Place Carpets on the Floor
Wondering how to soundproof a room cheaply using carpets?
While we are accustomed to the routine function of the carpet: warmth, beauty, etc., they are also thought to be some of the materials with acoustic properties. Thus, they can be used to reduce the rate of noise in a house.
Carpets, for example these, absorb sound shocks emanating from the impact noise on the floor. This impact noise could be generated by the sound of footsteps or things falling on the floor.
The moment noise is transmitted to the floor, the carpet “swallows” its impact through its soft fibers. Echoes and reverberations are similarly handled by carpets.
These carpets can be made more efficient by laying under them another acoustic underlay solution.
When choosing carpets for this specific purpose, you should consider their thickness.
7. Arrange Your Furniture Again
I know you love your current décor with all your heart. But what if changing things here and there can bring a huge difference as far as guarding your room against cruel noise is concerned?
You won’t resist. Just a simple hack – rearrange the furniture in your house. And if you are looking for one of those strategies on how to soundproof a room for free, this one is genuinely the most available.
One more thing you have to take home is the capability of the walls and floors to reflect sound all over the place. That’s why you will need to arrange the furniture very tactically and cleverly to ensure the walls and floors are covered.
This way, the sound waves will fall on these obstacles and be unable to bounce off and cause echoes and reverberations in the room. Place bookshelves closer to the walls to prevent sound transmission from the adjacent room.
Even simple hacks like nicely arranging your pictures, portraits on the walls can bring a noticeable difference.
8. Go Further and Reach Your Ceiling
If you are in the city, you are probably staying in a story house, perched on the second or third floor. Even if that isn’t the case, inside the ceiling can be home to cheeky nocturnal.
All these noises and bangs dropping from the top through your ceiling can cause the disturbance. Secondly, just like the floor, ceiling forms a hard and flat surface that’s great for sound waves to hit and bounce off – hence, causing a lot of noise, echo, and reverberation.
But this can be reduced by getting affordable acoustic foam panels that help to absorb noise. Apart from being cheap, they are efficient and available all over the market.
They provide you with the cheap soundproofing ceiling options. As well as being found in a variety of reasonable colors that you can choose.
Caution needs to be taken during installation on the ceiling. Keep in mind you are hanging the panels on the ceiling.
To be safe, you can get a suitable soundproof green glue to help you attach the panels on the ceiling. This glue also comes as a sound insulator; therefore, it will offer more than just attachments.
Final Thoughts
I understand you are under first-time pressure to make the soundproofing project a success. You don’t want to continue suffering from everyday noise from your neighbors, traffic and so on.
It doesn’t matter if you have the money or not, the methods mentioned here are clearly cheap and easy to implement. So, you go ahead, identify what is going to work for you and do it immediately before you make the radical decision of running away from the place.
It is important to say this; no single method will give you perfect results. You’ve got to feature different strategies together and harvest the synergy they produce as a system.
Again, while you strive to learn how to soundproof a room cheaply, don’t forget that it is not possible to eliminate all noises completely – so don’t throw yourself in a dam when perfection is not coming.
