Sound/privacy issue

[Charley711]

I am a very happy new owner to a 10 year old doublewide. The bedrooms are three clustered on one end and we have a serious sound/privacy issue. My solution is not "headphones" for the children LOL! I was thinking of putting insulation in the walls that face the two kid's rooms. Soundproofing products are so expensive. Also, I was going to change the vent in the top of my bedroom door to block it and also maybe insulate the hollow core doors somehow or buy a solid door (cut down of course). I really need help.....

[flcruising]

Insulating will be you're only option. How you want to insulate will be the real question, ie fiberglass, cellulose, scrap carpet padding, styrofoam beads? How much tearing up of the walls you want to do will help you decide.

[Yanita]

Hi Charlie,

Glad you made it!

You have a couple different questions here.

Soundproofing the home is really a difficult thing, LOL, I do not really understand all I know about it. Insulating the walls may help but not to the degree you are hoping for.

As for the vent above your bedroom door. That vent is for the cold air return for your furnace. Should you block this off you would need to make sure that your door is cut about 11/2 to 2 inches shorter than a traditional door. Again, this will act as a cold air return.

Insulating a hollow core door. They are not really "hollow". If you were to cut one open you would see what looks like card board material in there. Hanging a traditional door might help, but I am not for certain.

I know there are some past threads on soundproofing, but I do not recall anyone ever posting back to say what they did and the end results.

Not saying you need to renovate your home, but when we did renovate our master bedroom we made sure that the new closets were put on the adjoining wall of the second bedroom and the master bath! This made a real good buffer.

Certainly others will reply to this and hopefully we can get some more ideas.

Welcome to the site and look forward to helping you again and seeing your contributions to the site.

Happy Holidays,

Yanita

[Demolition]

You could put regular carpet with quality padding in the hallway.
You might put commercial carpet, without any padding on the wall halfway up. Staple it to the wall.

This would keep the sound from bouncing down the hallway.

If you have kids, please do not get white carpet.

[scty2hty3]

they do make a vent that is installed on the bottom of your door for the return air. you will have to cut a hole in your door before installation. insulating the walls would help with the "noise", but headphones are proven to work. LOL

[Jim from Canada]

For the walls there is "Roxul safe and sound" insulation, which is primarily designed for sound transfer. There is also srywall designed for sound transfer problems, it is heavier and denser. There are also "z" channels for the drywall that keep the sound transfer down by isolating the drywall from the framing. This will eat into your living space by a few inches. Any one or combination should help.

Jim

[Jim from Canada]

I forgot to mention that the roxul also adds fire resistance when installed. Always a good thing!

Jim