Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 20, 2008 9:46 am Is it possible to soundproof a bedroom in an existing house?
I ask because my 16 month old bub is a very light sleeper (this morning DH creaked a floorboard and she woke up and decided it was time to hit the day). We'd like baby no. 2 to arrive in the next 12 months or so and I'm afraid they will constantly be waking baby no. 1. So is there anything I can do to 'soundproof' baby no. 1's bedroom? Here's a plan of our house: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Baby no. 1 is currently in bedroom 2 (not labelled - next to bedroom 1). As you can see, bedrooms 3 and 4 are close to living areas and really need to be soundproofed if a bub is going to be able to sleep in there. Re: Soundproofing an existing room 2Apr 20, 2008 9:58 am I'm sure you'll get some excellent tips from the Audio Visual guys on the site....
Where is the main night time activity in the meals/living or the lounge? I'd imagine the common doors between the bedrooms and living may be a large source of sound leakage... mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Soundproofing an existing room 3Apr 20, 2008 10:18 am I found some link I had to a site which provided advice when I thought I might have this problem.
http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-make- ... dproof.htm Bub currently sleeps on the other side of the wall from the TV....interestingly it doesn't bother him...I think number two baby is less bothered by noise because No 1 son is always making noise. Like I said the AV guys can probably provide some up to date info... mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Soundproofing an existing room 4Apr 20, 2008 11:36 am I've had quite a bit of experience with babies' sleeping habits. I've found that the problem isn't so much the volume of noise, but "spikes" of noise. That is, sudden peaks of volume above the background level. In the dead of night a footstep will be a volume "spike"; during the day it might take a slamming door.
With our current 10-month old (a very light sleeper) we use a combination of various tranquil ambient music tracks (on endless loop) and an air filter. The air filter not only improves air quality but even more usefully provides a good level of background "white noise". This combination raises the general noise level to a degree where squeaks, footsteps, doors and voices tend to blend into the background. A noise has to be very loud to "spike" above the background and disturb the baby. I think this is a much easier (and certainly much cheaper) solution than trying to soundproof the room. If you go for the "total silence" option you're still going to face waking problems when you need to go into the room for any reason. The "total silence" option also may entrench a need for silence in the child which may (possibly) last a lifetime. Re: Soundproofing an existing room 6Apr 20, 2008 12:03 pm Seriously though......
Quality carpeting does make any environment more acoustically friendly! Besides that, soft textiles on walls etc make a big difference. Sometimes I go into our bathroom and the few towels normally in the room are not there, as my wife has put them in the wash without replacing them. The difference a few towels makes is amazing! The room is like a cave. Depending on the wall construction, there may be some spray in polyurethane type insulation material available. (Be very careful about toxicity, VOC's etc though) or maybe a wool or other loose fill insulation. And besides all this, you may be in the wrong forum. Babies can be trained to sleep in a less than quiet environment. If you try to keep things all hush hush for their sake, they get used to it, and any noise can upset them. You put yourselves at a disadvantage that way. Ash. Re: Soundproofing an existing room 7Apr 20, 2008 12:16 pm Thinking about some of the responses below it strikes me that it might be were we went wrong with No 1.
For No 1 we were softly softly and he was a cr*p sleeper. For No 2 when didn't give a hoot....as No 1 was not sleeping during the day so we couldn't avoid making noise. Guess what No 2's a good sleeper. mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Soundproofing an existing room 8Apr 20, 2008 4:18 pm I've come in a bit late on this post, but I agree with the background noise idea. We had the radio going constantly in the baby's room (even at night), especially for numbers 3 & 4......the one piece of my mother's advice I actually followed 'chelle We have a hand-over date...15/10...but I won't hold my breath! http://people-in-glass-houses.blogspot.com/ Re: Soundproofing an existing room 9Apr 20, 2008 7:50 pm Giving away my vintage here. It was totally uncanny how, when #1 daughter cried in the middle of the night for a change & feed, Your The Voice was on the radio in her room at the time! Geoff - Decophile. Re: Soundproofing an existing room 10Apr 21, 2008 9:20 am Don't worry about it, if you can get a baby to sleep when it's noisy your life will be soooooooooooo much easier.
Plus sounds in other rooms will tend to give them a little security, knowing someone is still there etc. Failing that, get a couple of hundred empty egg cartons and glue them to the walls. Should quieten it down a bit Re: Soundproofing an existing room 11Apr 21, 2008 2:52 pm Often 2nd babies sleep better than 1st ones do. They have to get used to the noise level of the house with No 1 around, so it doesn't seem to bother them.
Interestingly, there was a study done in Japan on babies born to mothers who lived under a busy flight path. The babies were unsettled in hospital (which wasn't under a flight path). Once they got back to their noisy environment they were fine. Don't creep around with No 2. Just go about your normal day. They will adapt. Judie Re: Soundproofing an existing room 12Apr 21, 2008 9:39 pm Easiest option is to pump loose insulation fill into the walls.
BUT..... I'm 100% of the opinion that if you make it quite for them now, they will expect that forever more in their lives. Background noise, ambient noise etc is the way. I just spent a few day with 4 kids under the age of 4.5 - latest was 2 weeks old and he just lay in the cot with all sorts fo noise happening, and kids touching his face while asleep and just slept through it. Dont pamper to the littel things too much - for it may create a burden for you later in life. Steve Re: Soundproofing an existing room 13Apr 22, 2008 10:00 am Thinking about what cabin fever said about spikes of noise, that is very true, and the best advice here.
Even thinking about my own sleeping as an adult, I can fall asleep in front of the TV or as a shift worker sleep during the day through steady noise such as traffic, TV , low level speech, washing machines etc. But a sudden change in noise, say light knock on door, even though its not loud in itself, wakes me up. In fact can be asleep in front of the TV and then wake up when its turned off, DH does this too, must be the sudden change in level, even a down ward change. Upgrading your windows to soundproof ones, like triple-glazed, can make a significant difference. While changing window… 4 15017 Old Home Restoration / Renovation To reduce noise transfer without compromising the aesthetic of your exposed I beams, consider filling the 100mm gap between the I beams and the floor above with dense,… 6 12831 Hi, I live in a single storey semi-detached house with a shared wall. All is well until my neighbour’s kid started piano lessons (using an upright piano) and the noise… 0 15602 |