how do I cheaply Create a soundproof room?

Question

I am moving into a house with an unfinished basement, and I am looking to create a room down there big enough to have band practice in, that I can deaden the sound enough to not disturb roomates/neighbors. I have done some reasearch, but most of the suppliers aren;t really specific on what the cheapest most economically sound way of doing it is.

Answer 1

What you have to do is create dead air spaces. insulation will do this, foam of all kinds, crumpled up newspapers, the mattresses mentioned will work but not be very nice to look at. Sound travels very poorly through air, especially dead air (air that has no outlet) the waves of sound must move the air to get through, if they cannot, they go nowhere. Also, egg flats tacked to the walls help deflect the sound waves. a coat of paint on them helps with deflection, but you might prefer them sound absorbent rather than reflective.
very soft open cell foam of at least an inch thickness glued to a hard backer board then nailed to two by twos nailed or screwed to the outside walls will do (leaving a 1 an 1\2 in air gap between the backer and the wall, seal this gap with construction adhesive.) is probably the best you could do without breaking the bank too badly.

Heck even layers of non-popped bubble wrap stapled to the walls will help. Think outside the box, study the mechanics of sound, then decide. Do not buy into what companies will tell you, until you know the facts for yourself. They are just trying to make a sale and many will tell you whatever they think you want to hear, regardless of the truth of the matter.

Answer 2

You can install Styrofoam inside the inner wall as insulation and then put cork on the outside wall or panelling. The Styrofoam help to keep the transmission the sound waves to a minimum and the outer cork with absorb the sound (music) you make downstairs. I suggest the ceiling be covered as well so that the the ceiling/upper floor doesn't transmit the sound waves up into the living space

Answer 3

ive been putting the HVAC system in a movie house thats going in locally, and i was amazed to learn that they are using 9 layers of 5/8 sheet rock on the walls to sound proof them. they have two parallel walls that are insulated, and one side gets 5 layers, the other side gets 4. if that is good enough for in between two theaters in a movie house, im sure a double layer on the walls of a house would do a great job there.

Possum, HVAC guy

Answer 4

The cheapest way would be to stack matteress around the room. Another way would be to affix foam padding to the walls then cover the foam padding with paneling.