The 10 Best Methods to Protect Yourself From Noisy Neighbors

With home-theater systems growing in popularity and manners seemingly becoming a thing of the past, more and more of today’s condo owners are finding themselves victimized by their neighbors’ noisy lifestyles. As you may already know from bitter experience, your neighbors can invade your home and disrupt your sleep without ever stepping through your front door.

Luckily, there are some reasonably priced and fairly easy steps you can take to protect yourself from these intrusions.

Listed below are the ten most effective tactics you can use to shield your condo from outside noise. The first set presents 5 ways to design a noise-proof condo before it’s built. The second set of 5 strategies can be applied in an existing condo.

Pre-Construction Anti-Noise Strategies

1. Make your interior walls thicker by using 2 x 6 plates. Attach the wall studs so that they line up alternately between the front and back edges of the top and bottom plates—this reduce the amount of sound that passes through your walls.
2. Hang soundproof wall sheeting over your framing before you put up the drywall. It’s available at construction-supply stores, and most drywall contractors can provide it, as well.
3. Stuff fiberglass batt insulation into hollow interior walls before you close them up with drywall—the insulation will dampen sound. Wear gloves, long sleeves, and safety glasses if you plan to do the insulating yourself.
4. Don't place doors that open off the same hallway directly across from each other—stagger them instead. This will prevent sound from traveling directly from room to room.
5. Install double- or triple-paned vinyl windows. Not only will the windows protect you from unwanted noise, but they’ll also give you superior insulation against both heat and cold—they’re definitely a worthwhile investment.

Existing-Construction Anti-Noise Strategies

1. The quickest and easiest steps you can take are to carpet your floors and put up drapes or shutters on your windows to absorb sound from outside. Replacing your standard hollow-core interior doors with solid doors will keep noise out of individual rooms. And soft, padded furniture has been shown to absorb sound, making rooms quieter.
2. Insert insulation into your walls. The most convenient way to do this is to make a series of holes in the wall between the studs (the nearer to the ceiling, the better). Then, blow cellulose insulation through the holes and into the wall—you can either rent a machine to do this yourself or hire a contractor to do it for you. Once you’ve got the insulation in, patch the holes in the drywall and refinish the wall. Another, considerably messier, method would be to remove one side of the wall, pack in fiberglass insulation by hand (remember to wear long sleeves, gloves and safety glasses), and close the wall up again.
3. Build a second wall inside the existing wall. Use "sound isolation clips" to ensure that the two walls stay separate (they must not touch) and to provide a means to attach drywall. The space between the walls will stop noise from penetrating.
4. Cover your walls with sound-absorbing latex paint. This special type of paint is made with resins and fibers that soak up sound waves, and it goes on exactly the same as normal latex paint.
5. Hang sound-deadening wall coverings on walls you share with noisy neighbors. You can buy them pre-¬finished or unfinished from paint and wallpaper suppliers or home-supply stores. If they suit your taste, you can also put cork tiles on your walls.

   Putting these simple strategies to use will enable you to enjoy your Chicago condo in peace.

Article Reference: http://www.bestchicagocondos.com/