How to soundproof my rental unit?

[agster]

Hi there,

I am looking to reduce noise from my next door neighbours in a rental unit. They have 3 kids who runs and jumps around. The stomping echoes directly to my bedroom. At first I thought it was my neighbor above me but turns out it’s my neighbor next door. 

Interestingly, the echoes and vibrations is not too bad in my living room which is next to their place but unbearable in my bedroom! I think the sound travels through the ceilings? What can I use for this instance? Nothing permanent please as I am only renting.

Thank you, any advice would really be helpful 

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi @agster 

Hi know the stress of your situation. 

I personally put on my own  music and listen to that and kids  will hear it to and they may  calm down. I am creating my own sound space the local sounds block out much incoming noise.

Even if you owned the house you could do a dozen of remidies in house improvement and it  may not be  enough.

Also  Consider noise cancelling technology the  chaepest is noise cancelling head phones.  Basically this technology inverts the incoming sound waves and plays them into the head phones or sound space all but nutralizing the incoming sound.

But as there is a tiny time  delay to inverter incoming sound waves this means part of the sound wave gets through.  The smarter systems will phase shift the  inverted sound wave to more completly cancel incoming noise.  This works best on things like lawnmower engines as it is constant and  predictable  where as it wont be as effective as random sharp sounds or kid noises.

Some  companies profess to be able to make quite sound bubbles in a roon utilizing  surround sound system I have not seen any solid facts on such a good development 

Well that is the best i have good luck

[Akanksha]

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, @agster. We're delighted to have you join us. 

Sorry to hear about your noisy neighbours. Great to see you've received advice from @Jewelleryrescue. Our resident Bunnings D.I.Y. expert @EricL will also be online later today and will be happy assist. 

While waiting, I recommend reading the guide How to soundproof your home by experienced renovator @Adam_W. We also have a Best Advice article on How to soundproof a bedroom which might come in handy.

You might also like to have a read through these previous topics on a similar subject in case they help: 

• How to sound proof the wall between two bedrooms in a rental? by @Christina2

• Soundproofing internal walls. by @Lucille

• How to soundproof a bedroom wall? by @ivanptr.

Hope this helps.

Akanksha

[EricL]

Hello @agster 

The ideal solution is to either add sound batts in your ceiling cavity if you have one or build a timber batten frame from which you can install sound insulation.

However, since you are in a rental property, I propose drawing a professional plan and doing a cost analysis for the project. I then suggest meeting up with your landlord at a nice cafe and making the proposal of altering the ceiling structure. You can then write down the reasons of how this will benefit them in the long run. 

I'm afraid temporary solutions will not be effective as any type of insulation will need to be anchored to the ceiling somehow. This means that it will be necessary to screw or nail a structure that will hold the insulation in place.   

A more radical approach would be to build a cubby house type structure that will isolate your bed from all the noise. A sort of room within a room chamber. The only drawback of course would be that it would get very hot inside that room.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric