LESLIE: Now we’re going to chat with Bill from Ohio who’s dealing with a soundproofing issue. How can we help you?
BILL: Thanks, guys. I’m looking to do a home theatre in my basement and I’d like to know what materials or processes you recommend for soundproofing; insulating that noise from the rest of the house.
TOM: That’s a very fun project. There are actually a number of soundproof drywall products out there.
BILL: Yeah, the QuietRock and …
TOM: Yeah, that’s right. The QuietRock and products like that where, basically, you have sort of a sound-baffling technology built into the board. I will tell you that they’re very expensive but if you like your peace and quiet, that’s a way to get a reasonably quiet room without the expense associated with, say, building a separate wall or a separate ceiling. Because in a studio – for example like those that we work in – you have actually double walls and double ceilings that create sort of a baffle for the sound.
LESLIE: That space between them. There’s also – I did sort of a media room at a townhouse in Manhattan and I used something – I mean they really spent a lot of money and did the double wall but I did something as an additional texture on the outside from a company called AcousticalSurfaces.com. And it’s sort of like a plastic tracking that you can create in whatever shape or size on the walls. You can do them floor to ceiling to do as wide as that blue foam insulated foam sheets. And then you sort of do this track on your wall, put the insulated sheet in between and then you snap fabric around it so you’re essentially covering this foam and the tracking with the fabric and all of a sudden it looks like you have these wonderful, upholstered walls.
And I did it completely myself. I mean the trickiest part was cutting the plastic tracking when I had to miter it for the corners, just to make sure that I didn’t break it or crack it; so that took a little bit of finessing. But it really was a great do-it-yourself project and they have excellent instructions on the website.
BILL: Thanks. And what was the name of that site again? Acoustical …
LESLIE: It’s AcousticalSurfaces.com.
BILL: Alright. Tom and Leslie, guys, thanks so much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Bill. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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