To soundproof from outside noises, the key is to reduce air gaps and these allow sound to transmit. Before soundproofing your wall, floor or ceiling, look at the windows, the mortar and the doors. Ask youself, are the seals air tight? If the answer is no, or not sure, then start by fixing these areas first. This is usually quite cheap but effective and essential.
When the room is more or less air tight, you can look at wall soundproofing to improve the performance of your wall. This is going to help reflect more airborne noise like dogs barking, traffic and talking.
Does soundproofing work against outside noises?
Yes, soundproofing works against outside noises as well as internal noises. Soundproofing is a barrier to noise, which means it works both ways and keeps noises inside a space while preventing other noise from entering the space. Sound absorption, however, does not work like this. Sound absorption is a soft material used to control reverberation inside a space but does not create a barrier to sound.
What is the best way to soundproof against external noises?
The best way to soundproof against external noises is to ensure the wall is airtight. This means checking the windows, doors, and brick work for holes and gaps. Replacing old sealant around windows and installing more foam tape can make a major difference for next to no cash. Old brick work often experiences crumbling mortar which benefits from repointing. We don’t offer these products or services but you can find out more about them easily online.
Once the wall is sealed, you must then increase the mass. This is done to improve the reflection of airborne noises from outside (like barking and traffic). A variety of materials should always be used as different levels of mass reflect a different frequency of sound. Refelcting a broad frequency of sound covers you from children screaming to trucks thundering past. Using a wall system is the best way to do this as a system is designed to provide comprehensive soundproofing.
Using a MuteClip system is the best solution as this is an isolated partition. Isolated partitions include shock absorbers that can resist vibrations coming through the fabric of your building.
Best wall soundproofing for outside noises
The best wall soundproofing for outside noises is our gold brick system. This included mini shock absorbers, MuteClips, which can resist a wide range of frequencies. A MuteClip decouples the new partition from the existing wall and is the best solution available for the space used. Decoupling is one of the three laws of soundproofing and is worth getting to grips with.
Without decoupling your new soundproof wall, vibrations that pass into the bricks are more easily transferred into the room. Even our brick bronze system uses isolation clips as they’re integral to the best soundproofing.
The next layer in this system is acoustic mineral wool. This is fantastic to help absorb noise that tries to enter the room. The absorbent material damps sound helps to further seal your room. Mineral wool that is considered to be acoustic must have a mass of 45kg/m3 or more to properly exhaust the noise.
Lastly, layers of high mass can be screwed into the clip and channel system. The gold wall system uses two layers of acoustic plasterboard with a sandwiched layer of Tecsound. The different layers of mass help to reflect a broader range of frequencies from outside.
Why can I hear traffic noise inside my house?
You can hear traffic noise inside your house due to gaps and cracks in external walls, poor window insulation and low mass. Gaps in brick walls, caused by construction or crumbling mortar, will allow air to move through the wall more easily. Sound can use the medium of air to travel and so can transmit through these holes.
Windows are possibly the biggest reason you can hear external noises inside your house. Windows can lose their air-tight seal over time and create some of the largest gaps. Also, if you have single glazing, one pane of glass alone is a poor soundproofing material. Double or triple glazing stops noise as sound cannot travel through a vacuum.
Furthermore, if there are few barriers like fences and trees around your house, noise from traffic is not challenged until it hits your bricks. While hedges and planting can help improve the quality of sound, they do not provide a good acoustic barrier. This is because only the woody plants have high mass and there are far too many gaps between branches and leaves through which air and sound move. You are better off building an acoustic fence around your premises specifically designed to reflect noise.