Working from home sounds like a dream to millions of office dwellers. Then the pandemic came and they realize that working from home isn’t quite like what they’ve dreamed of. It’s quite a nightmare, actually.
Imagine having to work while all your kids are stuck at home with you. All the sibling fights and the cries for attention make it hard for you to focus on your work.
Soundproofing Your Home Office
The first option to make the house a bit quieter is to send all the kids to their grandparents. Of course, we can see a major flaw in this plan considering all that social distancing and self-isolation stuff. The next best thing is to rework a little bit of this and a little bit of that, which can effectively soundproof your home office. As a result, working peacefully at home is no longer a dream.
Soundproof the door
Is your home office door made of solid wood? Probably not, right? They are most likely hollow-core doors with only have a thin layer of wood over a core of plastic or cardboard. Such a combination makes interior doors light so they’re easy to hang and swing.
Hollow-core doors don’t offer much soundproofing compared to solid wood doors, but you can fix that easily by gluing soundproof blanket on those doors. It’s a much more cost-effective method than replacing the door with one made of solid wood.
Use soundproof curtains
Soundproof curtains are thick and heavy. While they won’t make your home office completely silent, they still do a good job of blocking sounds coming from out of the house. If you happen to hear plenty of road noise, adding soundproof curtains will certainly give you a much quieter home office.
Add carpets or rugs
Hardwood and tile floors reflect sounds quite well. Softer surfaces such as carpets and rugs aren’t so much since soft surfaces absorb vibrations.
Add carpeting no only on your home office floor but also to the rest of the house when your budget allows it. When your kids are having fun running around the house, their footsteps won’t be so noticeable with soft rugs in place.
Work on the ceilings
Soundproofing the ceiling is easy and no construction work is required. The trick is to install acoustic foam panels. You can get these panels in packs of 12, which cover 12 square feet. Yes, you most likely need more than one pack, but the price for one pack is quite affordable, so getting a dozen of those won’t break the bank.
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If none of those tips are applicable to your situation, you can always try putting on sound-canceling headphones and playing ambient sounds to drown out the noise.
Go to ambient-mixer.com and grab a couple of your favorite types of ambient sound. Don’t worry, there are thousands of different ambient sounds to choose from. You’re bound to get a couple that fit your taste. As an added bonus, listening to ambient sound while working may even increase your productivity.
