Creating inner peace: Why you should consider noise reduction as an integral part of your home extension or loft conversion.

When creating additional space it is easy to overlook some aspects of how the new space will work for you. Who will use the new space and how? How will it interact with the rest of the home?

You may want to use part of the new space as an oasis of calm, or the opposite, it may be used to create a kids games room and somewhere they can play their musical instruments. Perhaps you’re creating a new bedroom that will be less noisy than your current bedroom.

Whatever the purpose it goes without saying that you will want to guarantee privacy and maximize the enjoyment of your new space, especially if you are creating a music room, media room or extra bedroom. Whether you live in a flat or house, noise always seems to be a factor, be it family members, noisy neighbours or outside environmental noise. Effective noise reduction can quickly reduce irritation and stress, controlling the sound intrusions in your home.

Sound waves travel via vibrating air particles, so the best way to improve noise is to make the area you require noise improvement is as airtight as possible. Sound waves are also transmitted through structure. We can reduce this problem by separating the outer and inner layers of the roof, floor and wall, and by filling any voids with dense absorbent material to deaden the energy – fitting acoustic insulation in the voids between the timber rafters in roofs or floor joists will help.

Sound resistant acoustic plasterboard can be used in walls, floors and ceilings and any electrical sockets fitted in acoustic boxes and downlighters fitted with acoustic hoods. All gaps between walls and ceilings/floors can be filled with acoustic mastic. Dense acoustic rubber underlay laid on top of existing chipboard floor also helps provide improved impact sound such as walking. These measures may impact slightly on room dimensions so they need to be considered at the early stages of planning.

If you are considering a loft conversion, house extension or a complete refurbishment of your property now is the ideal time to improve sound reduction to your new space. It will be more cost effective to do this while the work to your home is being carried out. It will not take a great deal of extra time and it will be a one off cost. Our design consultant will give advice on the best and most effective solutions for your particular project

The results will definitely be worthwhile.