Guest post on soundproofing a garden office by soundstop.co.uk
Perhaps you’re thinking of creating a quiet sanctuary in a noisy urban environment, a peaceful man or woman cave or a self-contained music or art studio. Whatever the desire or requirement, the common factor is usually the need for effective soundproofing.
At soundstop.co.uk we specialise in selling the materials you need to upgrade a garden shed into a quiet zone. You can keep in the noise, turn up your favourite radio station, practise the drums, or, conversely, you can keep out the sounds of traffic or the kids next door.
In order to soundproof a garden office (or any other similar outbuilding), you have to think about adding a couple of components to the structure. The first is mass (heaviness). Many DIYers put up a layer of plasterboard and hope for the best. They forget about the second component – springiness. Using a springy material will substantially increase the effectiveness of the soundproofing. Our solutions incorporate both of these key components.
Firstly let’s look at walls. We have a couple of possible solutions. First, there are rubber panels which are simply glued to the internal walls and overlaid with acoustic plasterboard. These are quickly and easily added to any internal wall. Or for the more enthusiastic drummer, we have an acoustic Genieclip system that can be screwed into the walls. This system houses acoustic plasterboards and, for even more soundproofing, an acoustic membrane. All the details of these systems can be found on this wall soundproofing page.
Sound is a bit like water and will leak through any escape routes within a basic structure, so you will also need to think about the ceiling of your studio. Our acoustic Genieclip system can be added easily to the ceiling as well. We have designed all our systems to minimise space loss as we know that in a garden office space is at a premium.
It is important to remember that just doing the ceilings and walls isn’t quite the end of the story so a high quality double glazed door and window is key to getting the soundproofing just right.
Remember if you are thinking of playing loud musical instruments, some simple foam bass traps are a great idea to place in the corners of the rooms. This will cut down on echo and make your playing experience that much more comfortable.
