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In my new apartment, I plan to very well isolate a room (phonetically). This is for general purpose ; to play music as well as gaming, watching films, or why not, just shouting out loud. You get the idea: just a room where we can really make noise.

I searched the internet and found some hints but people are often looking for very particular use (usually battery, stuff like that) or are just looking to globally isolate their apartment a bit. I, however, am looking for a all-purpose, very strong isolation in a limited space (room).

The room is square 3x3m and 2.5m height ( ~10x10ft and 8ft ), all walls made of concrete (vibrated I believe).

There is, I think, 4 possible exit for sound:

  • A window to outdoor (that will be double glazed)
  • A door to indoor (that, also will be fixed)
  • A heater whom pipe is going trough the concrete wall to another room's heater pipe, going up and down to the neighbors
  • And finally, the walls, floor and ceiling themselves.

Question is: How to make a powerful isolation ?

I gathered few tips from internet:

  • a floor installed on silent-blocks or even tennis balls
  • convoluted foam for the walls
  • double BA13 (plasterboard) for the walls
  • Or both ?? (I have no idea if this make sense)
  • ..

But I can't make anything really clear out of my mind. I am also willing to buy a decibel meter, but I'm not really sure what to measure exactly.

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    What's your budget? How extensive work are you willing to do? A room in a room, dangling on wires is most effective - but is a lot of work to build.
    – Ariel
    Mar 10, 2015 at 0:00
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    The walls can be done with brackets with rubber washers against the wall and fastener, then add channeling that connects to the metal part of the bracket, then install your sheetrock on that. There's expensive proprietary equipment for this but not impossible to diy. A normal style floor with sand, or proprietary engineered mix, with the 3/4 sub-floor isolated from the joists. That's a technique used in pro studios. Obviously you'll be losing lots of head room in an existing structure.
    – ChiefTwoPencils
    Mar 10, 2015 at 2:52
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    Walls: decouple the surfaces by using offset studs, sheetrock on each side attached go studs offset toward it, so sound can't be coupled through the stud. If you want to go more serious on this, you can then fill the space between the panels with sand. Make sure the floor will take that weight; sand weighs like brick, at least. I know SE frowns on this, but there really is a lot of good home studio info on the web, some of which will address this issue. (Floors, ceilings, bass traps, managing; reverberation....)
    – keshlam
    Mar 10, 2015 at 4:42
  • What you are proposing just is not feasible in an apartment where you do not own the rights to do anything you wish to the structure. Things would be a lot different if you owned a standalone structure but in the end it would still be an expensive project. I suspect that for the average person, that wants to be able to make a lot of noise, the best bet is to locate out away from where there are other people.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Mar 10, 2015 at 12:42
  • Thanks for your answers ; I have no exact budget in mind, but I would say that, obviously, the cheaper the better, and a few thousands EUR is already considerable for us (although not unmanageable). But since it would be 100% DIY, I hope to reduce the costs to minimum.
    – user978548
    Mar 10, 2015 at 19:59

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I used sand on my floors. I'm a drummer and this really helps.

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To make acoustic environment soundproofing is necessary. Acoustic wall helps to prevent the outer noise to enter in the house as well as maintain privacy in conversation. Other choice is ​​wall absorbers, it helps to enhance room acoustic. You can use green glue for insulation.

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