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Basements are used for various purposes— gyms, music and game rooms, mini theater, relaxation den, home office. It is thus important to control the sounds coming in and out of this area.
“How do I soundproof basement walls, ceilings, and floors?” you may ask. Discover how to install Mass Loaded Vinyl and noise vibration pads. Also, explore simple ways with the use of ordinary things that can also help soundproof your basement.
How do I Soundproof a Basement?
Many of you may be asking yourselves, “How do I soundproof basement walls, ceilings, and floors?”
Find out several simple methods you can do yourself in order to keep the noise level from escaping your basement.
Why Soundproof the Basement?
Perhaps one of the most flexible and most usable parts of your house is the basement. This is because it can easily be transformed into any room as you see fit since it does not conform to the regular configurations of common areas like the kitchen and the bathroom, among others. Like an empty canvas, you can simply create your basement into whatever you wish it to be.
It can be made into a home office, a game room, a small theater, a mini gym, your children’s play area, a guest room, or even a library.
But in order to make the most of this spacious area, you need to learn how to soundproof your basement so as to make it even more functional and convenient.
You must be thinking, “How do I soundproof basement confines?” There are several methods that you yourself can employ without much hassle and at a lesser cost too.
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Using Mass Loaded Vinyl (MLV)
One of the best ways to prevent sound from coming in and out of your basement is to use thick layers of heavy vinyl.
With MLV, you will be able to dampen the sound vibrations that travel through the walls and the ceiling of your basement, so that they do not penetrate these physical boundaries and be heard outside.
Consequently, placing these heavy vinyl sheets would also deter outside sounds from coming in, so that you will not hear unnecessary sounds especially if you are trying to enjoy a good book or when you are trying to rest your weary body with soothing classical music.
Mass Loaded Vinyl sheets are a Do-It-Yourself enthusiast’s favorite because these are quite easy to acquire and install, even with a little DIY experience.
You start by cutting the MLV sheets into your desired shape so that it is easier to handle them when you try to install them on the ceilings or on the walls.
Now if you have reduced them to a manageable size, you can now use adhesives or staples to secure them in their spots.
As for the floor, you can use foam-backed vinyl sheets that can perfectly work with your carpet as an underlay.
Mass Loaded Vinyl is a great material to start with if you wish to soundproof your basement because it effectively prevents airborne sounds from coming in and out of the area.
Impact sounds like falling objects will still be heard, but this occurrence may not really cause a disturbance in any of your activities in the basement.
Using Noise Vibration Pads
If you are planning to use your basement as a mini gym or theater or perhaps for purposes that create quite a massive amount of noise, perhaps you should go for the installation of noise vibration pads.
In turning this special area of your house into an exercise hub, for instance, it is possible that the machines that you use will produce annoying sounds that could easily disturb or disrupt whatever it is that you are doing and also be unsettling for the other members of the house who are not in the basement.
One way to soundproof against such sounds is to use noise vibration pads that can be utilized for machines like a treadmill, an exercise bike, a washing machine, or even your television set.
These vibration pads work by diminishing the sounds made by the machines being used so that they will not travel and reverberate through the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and then to the other rooms.
This is possible because these pads are made from elastomeric neoprene, which is specially ribbed in order to distort the sound waves that pass through it.
Moreover, these pads do not age or get compressed out of shape, so you are assured of a long soundproofing performance upon mounting them.
To install these vibration pads, all you need to do is to choose the size of the pad, which is based on the size of the machine’s base.
When you already have the pad cut to size, you can easily install these vibration pads by placing them directly under the machine that makes noise.
To make the setup more effective, you can stack these pads to a number that permits no sound transfer from the machine to the surface it is placed on.
Other Ways to Soundproof Your Basement
“How do I soundproof basement walls, ceilings, and floors with the use of simple and ordinary things?” you might ask.
Well, aside from specialized soundproofing items like MLVs or noise vibration pads, you can also contain or control the sounds inside your basement by adding more insulation in the area with the use of regular objects.
You can make use of compact drapes that can distort and disperse the sound waves coming to and from the basement. You also have the additional option of hanging thick curtains on the windows or even on the walls so that no sound would go out.
For the floor, you can use solid carpets so that the vibrations from your exercise machines or your home theater system will not permeate downward and possibly move towards the other sections of the house.
Lastly, you can staple, tape, or glue egg cartons on the ceiling so that the noise coming from the basement will not be heard upstairs, as the sound waves cannot travel from the ceiling to the floor because of the uneven sides of such cartons.