If you are looking for insulation contractors to reduce high energy bills or make you home more comfortable, you may find there is an added side benefit to improving your insulation: sound reduction. After all, unwanted noise can affect your comfort, concentration, and even behavior. If someone in your home snores, or you’re concerned about hearing the TV in the family room from your bedroom, improved insulation may provide just the degree of sound reduction you need.
The effectiveness of insulation for sound reduction depends on a number of factors, including the type of insulation, structural details, frequency of the noise, and whether the noise is coming from inside or outside. What insulation generally can do is to muffle sounds and reduce decibels, which is often enough to make a home quieter and more peaceful.
Where is insulation helpful for reducing noise? In an insulated attic between living areas and the roof can greatly reduce noise, especially if you have a rain storm on a metal roof. In exterior walls, the extra density of improved insulation can dampen street noise. Insulating between floors can help reduce sound transmission from one floor to the next, as well.
Insulating interior walls can also help reduce decibels to a degree. When internal walls are built by the conventional method, insulating the wall cavity will attenuate a portion of the sound, but the wall framing will continue to transmit a noticeable amount of sound because studs form a direct structural connection between the sides. Adding insulation will absorb sound that passes through the air in the cavity, especially over lower midrange frequencies, but has no effect on structural noise. Denser types of insulation like cellulose leave fewer air pockets for sound to travel in, and are better suited for deadening sound.
If your real issue is noise and insulation isn’t needed for improving energy efficiency, there are other methods you may want to consider in addition to insulation. There are certain specialized types of insulation designed for sound reduction, like acoustic slab or acoustic mat. These types of insulation are not thermally efficient, so they are only suitable for interior walls, floors, and ceilings. Also, if you let your home renovation contractor in Grand Rapids know what you would like to achieve with soundproofing, other options may be suitable as well. Alternative methods for framing walls (staggered frame) or special products like soundboard or attenuating sheetrock are used for soundproofing. Another alternative is to reinforce the drywall to stop it from vibrating, or to install drywall with flexible sealant to dampen the vibrations.
Whether you’re looking for a little extra peace in your home office or in your bedroom, insulation may provide you just enough noise reduction to make your home more enjoyable.
Photo: Bark