5 Ways to Deal With Noisy Neighbors

Block Out the Noise
If you've lived in an apartment building with neighbors on all sides, chances are you've had to deal with some unwanted noise infiltrating your home. Maybe it's the thump of bass from a set of speakers in the room above or the sound of a laugh track from the tv next door keeping you up at night. Whatever the cause, unwanted noise in your home is an annoyance that nobody should have to deal with. Luckily, there are a few ways to soundproof an apartment without having to undertake major construction projects.

Cover Your Walls

The goal with soundproofing is to absorb as much noise as possible. Empty walls do the opposite of that, creating echo chambers for sound to bounce off of and amplify. To help solve this problem, cover your walls with large, sound-dampening materials like acoustic wall panels. Other wall hangings like posters and tapestries will help as well, but the foam material that acoustic panels are made from is specially designed to reduce reverb and echoes. Padding your walls with foam should significantly cut down on acoustic reflections and unwanted noise getting both in and out of your home.

Acoustic Door Seal Kits

If air can get through, so can sound. Sealing up the edges of your doors is a great step towards soundproofing an apartment. This acoustic door seal kit is very easy to install and will fill in the cracks around your door that sound would typically easily travel through. It might make your door a little harder to open and close, but that's a small price to pay for peace and quiet.

Quiet the Giant Who Lives Above You

Your walls and doors aren't the only places sound sneaks into your home. To block noise coming in from above, cover your ceiling with a couple of acoustic panels like this one. These panels can be hung from hooks so that they hang a few inches off of your ceiling, absorbing sound and dampening noise. These probably won't do a whole lot to stop the sound of creaky floorboards, though; to help cancel out that specific noise you might just have to buy your upstairs neighbors a few rugs as a belated housewarming gift.

Seal the Windows

So you've successfully blocked out sound coming in from your walls, ceiling, and doors. There's still one major culprit left; your windows. Sealing your windows is a great way to both cut down on energy costs and block out any unwanted noise. Applying acoustical caulk around the crack between your windows' interior trim and the wall can especially help keep the sounds of the outside world where they belong- outside.

Invest in Some Ear Plugs

Unfortunately, all of the methods listed above just might not be enough to keep out the most enthusiastically loud of your neighbors. True soundproofing requires actual construction work to the walls and ceilings, and that's just not an option for most people renting an apartment. If you've seemingly tried everything and you're still being forced to listen along to your neighbor's questionable taste in music at all hours of the night, the best solution is probably a pair of earplugs.