How To Soundproof Your House For A Party
As enjoyable as parties are, they can often generate a significant amount of noise. Many of us will want to reduce this as much as possible for a variety of reasons, including making sure that we don’t bother the neighbors. Alongside this, noisy parties often not be conducive to having a conversation.
Naturally, you’re not going to want to leave the party to get some peace and quiet. There’s a large chance that you’ll also not want or be able to reduce the music levels at the party. However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t any steps to take to reduce the amount of noise that your neighbors will hear.
While this will take a certain amount of time to do, it can be well worth the effort. By doing so, you should be able to have a high-quality party without bothering your neighbors too much. This is something that the majority of us will want to do, although we often wouldn’t know how to.
There are a few specific steps to take to soundproof your house for a party.
What You’ll Need Before You Start
There is a variety of steps that you’ll be able to take to soundproof your home before a party. To do so, however, there are a few materials and products to pick up. While many of us typically might not know what these are, there are a few that you should pick up.
Though the majority of these will depend on which steps you decide to take, there are a few things in particular that you should get. These include:
Once you have each of the above in hand, you should be able to start soundproofing your home before the party. While it will take a certain amount of time and effort, it should reap dividends in the long-term. Alongside this, it’s worth making sure that you start soundproofing areas well before the party is set to take place.
Preventing Noise Complaints
Warning Your Neighbors
Noise complaints are often one of the biggest issues with throwing a party and could be why you’re considering soundproofing your house beforehand. However, there are a few things that you can do to minimize any complaints that you might receive.
One of the more effective also happens to be one that many of us might overlook; warning our neighbors. This is best done a few days or a week before you throw the party, which should give them enough time to minimize any noise that they might hear.
If you’re being polite, you could also consider inviting them to the party. While they mightn’t take you up on the invitation, it can help avoid any noise complaints. Alongside this, you should let them know when the party will be starting and ending, regardless of whether you’re inviting them.
This will help put them at ease knowing that you’re not planning on throwing an all-nighter. You should make sure that you stick to this timeline, however, and everybody should leave by the time you said the party would be over.
Lower The Volume
Keeping the music volume relatively low will be the most effective way of making sure that you don’t get any noise complaints. While this can often be tricky to balance, you’ll need to make sure that everyone at your party can hear the music adequately without bothering your neighbors.
As a rule of thumb, you should lower the volume further as the night goes on. In many cases, there can be a variety of laws governing how loud music can be after a specific time. You should check your local laws for these, as it will help ensure that the police aren’t called to break up your party.
Party In The Basement
While this isn’t an option that all of us will be able to take advantage of, it’s recommended if you can. This is mainly because basements have much more natural soundproofing abilities than the majority of other rooms, which is driven by the earth that typically surrounds it.
As a result, you shouldn’t have to do much soundproofing if you have the party in the basement if any. It should also mean that you’re not going to bother the neighbors with any music. Depending on your basement, however, you might need to take a few extra steps, as the room might not be as soundproof as you might want.
Improving The Acoustics
In the majority of cases, you’ll need to improve the acoustics of where you’re having the party. This should reduce the amount of noise that escapes the room while also helping to make sure that it’s not too noisy to have a conversation.
However, the majority of us may not know how to do so. There are a few specific steps you should take to improve your room’s acoustics.
Adding Soft Materials
Soft materials are quite effective at absorbing sound, which is one of the main reasons why they’re so popular with soundproofing. Alongside this, you should already have a variety of soft materials that you can use to do this without even realizing it. Typically, you’ll be able to use pillows, blankets, rugs, and more to improve the room’s acoustics.
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You should scatter these around the room, which will help make sure that no noises bounce around or get out of the house. As a result, this could be one of the more cost-effective ways to help soundproof your room and should be done when you’re rearranging your furniture.
You should aim to make sure that there are as few hard surfaces as possible around the area where you’ll be throwing the party. By doing so, you should see quite a significant reduction in noise.
Soundproof Blankets & Curtains
While blankets could have an impact on reducing the amount of noise that escapes a room, they often might not be the most effective. However, you should be able to buy soundproof blankets, which could be much more useful than you might have thought while also being quite affordable.
These are typically used when moving home, although their thickness means that they should reduce the amount of sound that escapes a room quite significantly. Alongside this, you’ll be able to take advantage of soundproof curtains, which offer quite a significant sound-dampening quality.
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You’ll only need a curtain rod to put either of these up, so it shouldn’t take much time to do so. With the soundproof curtains, it should be as simple as replacing the ones that you already have.
Acoustic Foam & Panels
While we’d all prefer to use items that we already have at home to soundproof our house before a party, this often isn’t possible. Instead, you may have to invest in acoustic foam products, which will typically come in the form of panels.
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These will usually be attached to your walls with an adhesive, although they shouldn’t take much time to put up. You should find that it will only take a few minutes to install these, although they’ll have quite a significant impact on improving your house’s acoustics.
However, it’s worth noting that you should use a high-quality adhesive when sticking them up to ensure that they don’t come down during the party.
Bass Traps
Bass traps are quite similar to many other acoustic foam products, although they’re specifically designed to be placed in the corners of a room. While you might not always need to use these, it’s recommended that you put them up if you’re throwing a party, as they’ll have quite an impact on how soundproof your house is.
Typically, these will only take a few minutes to put up, and there’s quite a large number of affordable options to choose from. As such, they’re a time- and cost-effective way of ensuring that your house is as soundproof as possible. In many cases, it can be the minor touches that could prove to be vital when going through this process.
Soundproofing A House For A Party
Improving the acoustics of your room should mean that you’ll be able to reduce the amount of noise that escapes your house. However, these steps may sometimes not be as effective as you may want. That doesn’t mean that you’re out of options.
Instead, there are a few other things that you’ll be able to do to soundproof your house properly.
Rearrange The Furniture
Rearranging the furniture is a step that the majority of us might overlook, although it can be much more effective than you might think. This could make it the cheapest way of helping to soundproof your home. It also means that it should be the first thing you consider when starting the process.
Given that you’re hosting a party, you might want to rearrange the furniture as it is, with this giving you an extra reason to. In the majority of cases, you’ll want to push bookshelves, wardrobes, and other large pieces of furniture against any shared walls.
This should add mass to the wall and prevent as much sound as possible from getting through them. Alongside this, you should consider moving sofas and other chairs to the opposite side of the room. This should mean that the majority of guests will congregate away from the shared walls.
Hopefully, this should then mean that your neighbors will hear much less noise during the party.
Put Down Floor Padding
If you live above someone, then you’re going to need to soundproof the floor before your party. While much of this can be done with a thick rug or carpet, this often might not be enough, so you’ll need to take a few additional steps.
In many cases, a memory foam carpet can be quite effective at this, although you could try a few other things. One of the most notable of these is putting down mass loaded vinyl. While this means that you’ll have to remove the carpet and then apply the soundproof material, it could be worth it.
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Doing so should be quite an effective way of soundproofing your entire floor. The main reason that this is effective is that it should avoid the sound of footsteps as people walk around, which can often be one of the main things that bother the people living below you.
Soundproof Doors & Windows
While cracks and holes around your windows and doors may not seem as though they’ll let out a significant amount of noise, they can let out more than you might think. You should pay a significant amount of attention to this, as it can be a quick and easy way to help soundproof your house.
Typically, you’ll be able to seal any cracks and holes with acoustic caulk, which should have quite a significant impact on how much noise is left out. You might also want to consider hanging soundproof materials next to your window.
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There is quite a large number of options to choose from, although some of the more effective are soundproof curtains. You could also consider making a DIY window plug, although this will take a considerable amount of time to do.
When you’re soundproofing your doors and windows, you’ll need to make sure that they’re as well-sealed as possible. For a door, you could also consider using door sweeps, which should help to dampen the amount of sound that gets in and out.
Conclusion
Naturally, you might want to get all of the above done as quickly as possible, although you might not have too much time to soundproof before a party. However, you should be able to do each of the above quite quickly, though you’ll typically have to wait a few days to get the materials you need.
Despite this, you should perform each of the above steps in a certain order to cut down on the amount of time it should typically take. As such, it’s recommended that you perform the steps in the below order.
- Rearrange the furniture and add soft materials such as pillows.
- If there are any bare spots on the wall, add soundproof materials.
- Add base traps to any corners that are bare.
- Make sure the floor is padded. If not, add some.
- Check around the doors and windows, and seal any cracks.
Choosing this route should mean that you’ll be able to cut down on the amount of time that’s needed to soundproof your house before a party. While you might not have enough time to do each of the above, you should still do as many of them as possible.
Alongside this, you should always make sure that you warn your neighbors before the party. While each of the above should soundproof your house quite significantly, it might not stop all of the noise from getting out. As such, you should give them the courtesy of warning them. It should also avoid any noise complaints.
The volume of any sound systems you’re using will naturally place a significant role, so you should aim to keep this low. While you’ll still be able to enjoy the music, moderation can often be key. By using all of the above, however, you’ll be able to have the music high enough without bothering your neighbors.