How to Soundproof Your Basement Suite
Do you hear creaking floorboards when someone walks around upstairs? Do sounds travel through your walls? If so, you need to soundproof your home.
Today we’re going to talk about what you need to know to soundproof your basement suite.
3 reasons to soundproof your basement suite
There are many reasons to get your basement suite soundproofed including:
Creating a noise barrier: Give your downstairs tenants some quiet so they don’t hear you sneaking to the kitchen at midnight for a snack.
Increase your homes’ value: Knowing that a home has soundproofing can increase the resale value.
You save on heating costs: When you use spray foam insulation as your soundproofing material, you’re also creating a heat barrier to conserve heat in your suite so you spend less money heating the already chilly space.
Basements are also popular for “mancaves,” music rooms, and other quiet sanctuaries in your home. If you have basement rooms that could use a little quiet, soundproofing is easy to do with an insulating material to absorb or stop the sounds from upstairs going downstairs (and vice versa).
Where to soundproof a basement
When you’re trying to prevent noise from upstairs going down or vice versa, you want to put the sound barrier in the basement ceiling. This will involve filling the area between the joists with your sound-insulating material.
When soundproofing the basement from impact noise (like walking or things falling on the floor above) it helps to install carpet with a thick underlay upstairs. If you have hard floors upstairs, install an acoustic mat or cushioning under the floor to absorb the sound before it transfers to the structure of your floor and then the basement
You can also use soundproofing to minimize sounds from outside (like a busy street or noisy neighbours) from coming into the suite. This is when you’ll want soundproofing barriers in the exterior walls of your home.
What you need to know before installation
First of all, you need to ensure that your basement suite is unoccupied. The process to spray sound-insulating foam into your walls and ceilings requires us to remove portions of the ceiling and drywall. As you can imagine this can get very dusty and messy. Be sure the basement suite is not occupied during the project and that any sensitive furniture, plants, and other items are removed for at least a couple of days.
To spray insulating foam in the ceiling and wall, your soundproofing team will be removing chunks of drywall that will need repair when they’re done. If your contractor doesn’t have someone on their team to do this, ensure you book a separate contractor to complete this as soon as possible.
There are methods available that are employed by some contractors to drill holes in the drywall ceiling and inject insulation into the cavity space, but these methods are not recommended. We find that with a blind application such as this one, there tend to be voids in the insulation throughout the ceiling. As such, you are often left with a sizeable bill coupled with an inferior result!
Do you have a finished basement area or downstairs suite that you want to soundproof? Greer Spray Foam is a trusted basement insulation contractor in Vancouver, BC. Contact the team at Greer Spray foam for a free estimate today.
