How To Soundproof A Home Office

by Jennifer Porterfield | Last Updated: October 20, 2023
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If you’re lucky enough to have a home office to work from, you’ll know just how beneficial it is to be able to separate yourself to get on with work, whether you’re working from home or have personal projects to focus on in your own time.

Access to this kind of space gives you a lot of freedom and can massively improve your productivity and sense of wellbeing, by reducing distractions and helping you finish your work in a timely manner.

How To Soundproof A Home Office

However, while working from your home office can bring a lot of benefits, there are far more distractions to deal with at home. One of the most frustrating distractions can be noise, and this is one of the most difficult to avoid and escape from, no matter how well equipped your home office is.

It could be noisy neighbors, a barking dog or crying children, but these can all cause serious disruption that prevents you from being able to work effectively and get the most out of your home office.

In this guid we’re going to look at some of the best soundproofing solutions for your office, to help you control your environment and create the tranquility you need to focus on whatever it is you’re doing.

Why Soundproof?

Soundproofing isn’t just a great way to reduce distractions.It is also cheap and effective, and is relatively easy to set up meaning you don’t need to take a lot of time out of your day trying to resolve the issue or being distracted.

There are also a ton of different solutions for different issues making it flexible and able to suit almost any budget, so it’s something that everyone can take advantage of.

But let’s take a look at some of the best solutions themselves to give you a better idea of the solutions which are available to you.

1. Soundproof The Door

Soundproofing the door is one of the most critical ways to immediately make an impact on your office and your ability to avoid distraction.

Doors are natural weaknesses and allow a lot of sound to come through them, even when the doors are closed due to thin or cheap material, as well as gaps in the frame.

Luckily you can solve or mitigate these issues without having to entomb yourself and brick the doorway up, and there are a lot of potential solutions available.

One of the best options is to install some weatherstripping around the doorframe, which can help prevent sound from entering around the doorframe, and is a simple way to create a gasket like seal around the door. It’s also cheap and easy to use, making it ideal as a quick solution.

Another option is a soundproof door blanket which can be mounted around the doorframe and act as a baffle for any sound that does manage to penetrate the door.

Finally, a door stopper can help seal the underside of a door where it’s harder to install a seal, particularly on interior doors.

2. Soundproof The Windows

After doors, windows can be one of the most vulnerable areas of your home and allow a lot of sound through them, even if they’re double glazed modern windows.

Unlike doors, windows are a little harder to soundproof as they’re fixed in place and already built to try and make them as insulated as possible.

One of the best solutions for windows is to mount soundproof curtains, which are relatively easy to fit and do a great job of preventing sound from penetrating deeper into your room.

Certified soundproof curtains can be expensive, and if you’re on a budget a pair of heavy or thick curtains can make a surprising difference, however they won’t perform quite as well as real soundproof curtains.

3. Soundproof Floors

While this may sound strange, you’d be surprised just how much sound can penetrate through floors, and it’s a two way street.

If your office has a room beneath it, the sound of your computer chair can easily be heard downstairs, and if your office is downstairs you’ll be well aware of just how easily the sound of a TV or a conversation penetrates and totally breaks your concentration.

There are things you can do to help avoid this however, and one of the best solutions is to use a rug or carpet to dampen the sounds.

A lot of office rooms use laminate flooring which is very loud and echoey, so insinuating these surfaces is one of the best ways to immediately stop noise travelling through floors.

4. Soundproof Walls

Walls can be made from a lot of different materials and the thinner they are, the more likely they are to allow sound straight through them.

Plasterboard or chipboard walls are the very worst culprits and do very little to keep your sound in the room, or other peoples sound out of it.

Unlike windows and doors, trying to soundproof a whole wall can be really difficult as they are often very large areas.

How To Soundproof A Home Office

Your best bet for soundproofing a wall is to try using acoustic paint, which can make a bit of difference, as well as mounting foam panels to the walls in particularly vulnerable areas, or areas where you sit to work for example.

Foam panels are great because they’re cheap and readily available, easy to fit and provide a pretty decent amount of sound proofing or deadening. Their downside is that they are a bit impractical for use on a whole wall, and many people dislike how they look.

5. Prevent Echoes

Echoes can totally ruin your concentration, and there are few things more distracting than being able to hear the sound of your own typing bouncing back to you from the other side of the room.

Avoid this by orienting your furniture carefully and planning out the design of your room and its furniture to take into account the acoustics of the room.

6. Quiet Accessories

Another big distraction can be the sound of your keyboard, and other office equipment. A squeaky chair or loud keyboard can really affect your concentration, and can spoil an otherwise silent, tranquil space.

Look into getting yourself a quiet and ergonomic chair and keyboard to help you concentrate and work comfortably.

Final Thoughts

Setting up a home office properly can make you way more productive and also help you to feel professional while you work from home. Ensuring you can take maximum advantage of this is all about understanding your home and where sound is coming from, and working to combat this in particular.

Thinking about the layout of your room and home are a great place to start, but there are several great, cheap and convenient home soundproofing options available, so don’t suffer needlessly and give them a try!

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