Soundproofing a bird room?

[Terry57]

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas that have worked for them in soundproofing a bird room so that their screams are not heard outside?
Where we live now, I can barely hear them when outside, but the new house may be different in that regard.
Right now, we are planning on using a sound proofing insulation covered by drywall on the pony walls in the bedroom, and switching the door to a solid one.

Does anyone have any experience with this?
Any and all ideas would be much appreciated

 

[Birdman666]

Call these guys, they can hook you up!

Acoustic Panels – Sound Absorption Materials for Sound Deadening and Dampening

 

[weco]

There was another recent thread (last 3 months) on soundproofing, and the poster there decided to hang sound deadening blankets around the room, to absorb the sounds...if memory serves, the blankets were to be hung off the walls, to create the deadening effect.....we've got a qualified sound engineer in the membership, who might see your post & pop in.....

Though insulating your pony walls (knee walls) may dampen the reverberation a bit, they will still reflect the noise, so I don't think you're going to arrive where you'd like to.....

A solid core door will do more to prevent pass through sound than will insulating knee walls.....you can also increase the bird room's sound absorption properties by looking into possibly using triple glazed windows in that particular room, as will insulating the room's interior walls along with the exterior walls.....

Good luck.....

 

[Terry57]

Call these guys, they can hook you up!

Acoustic Panels – Sound Absorption Materials for Sound Deadening and Dampening

Thank you for the link, Mark! I checked it out, and the shipping is almost $200 for 6 panels to Canada I am hoping to find a way to go a bit cheaper, but will keep this in mind

There was another recent thread (last 3 months) on soundproofing, and the poster there decided to hang sound deadening blankets around the room, to absorb the sounds...if memory serves, the blankets were to be hung off the walls, to create the deadening effect.....we've got a qualified sound engineer in the membership, who might see your post & pop in.....

Though insulating your pony walls (knee walls) may dampen the reverberation a bit, they will still reflect the noise, so I don't think you're going to arrive where you'd like to.....

A solid core door will do more to prevent pass through sound than will insulating knee walls.....you can also increase the bird room's sound absorption properties by looking into possibly using triple glazed windows in that particular room, as will insulating the room's interior walls along with the exterior walls.....

Good luck.....

Thanks Walt...I did find that post, and was wondering if anyone had any other ideas as well. Do you think that the noise would reflect outward if we insulate the pony walls and then put up MDF board or drywall over it? I am trying to keep the noise from reaching the neighbours in the next house over.
A solid core door is a great idea, and we could weather strip the bottom as well to help keep sound in. There is one smallish window in there with single paned glass, for now we may have to install a second window on the inside with sound dampening insulation between the 2 panels...does that sound like an option?

 

[Birdman666]

Call these guys, they can hook you up!

Acoustic Panels – Sound Absorption Materials for Sound Deadening and Dampening

Thank you for the link, Mark! I checked it out, and the shipping is almost $200 for 6 panels to Canada I am hoping to find a way to go a bit cheaper, but will keep this in mind

I figured that they could at least tell you what to do, and how best to do it, if you wanted to pick their brains, and pretend to be a customer ready to place an order. I wasn't suggesting you buy anything from them... but they'd know how and what to get...

 

[weco]

There was another recent thread (last 3 months) on soundproofing, and the poster there decided to hang sound deadening blankets around the room, to absorb the sounds...if memory serves, the blankets were to be hung off the walls, to create the deadening effect.....we've got a qualified sound engineer in the membership, who might see your post & pop in.....

Though insulating your pony walls (knee walls) may dampen the reverberation a bit, they will still reflect the noise, so I don't think you're going to arrive where you'd like to.....

A solid core door will do more to prevent pass through sound than will insulating knee walls.....you can also increase the bird room's sound absorption properties by looking into possibly using triple glazed windows in that particular room, as will insulating the room's interior walls along with the exterior walls.....

Good luck.....

Thanks Walt...I did find that post, and was wondering if anyone had any other ideas as well. Do you think that the noise would reflect outward if we insulate the pony walls and then put up MDF board or drywall over it? I am trying to keep the noise from reaching the neighbours in the next house over.
A solid core door is a great idea, and we could weather strip the bottom as well to help keep sound in. There is one smallish window in there with single paned glass, for now we may have to install a second window on the inside with sound dampening insulation between the 2 panels...does that sound like an option?

From your earlier post, I was assuming you were building a new house, but if you've got a single paned window, it's an older house, unless it was just specked that way...current builds are with double paned glass for thermal efficiency.....

Although sheetrock is considered a hard surface, MDF is something that would be harder & more sound reflective, though adding additional screws or nails to sheetrock will add an additional hardness to it (sound wise), the MDF is still going to be a more sound reflective material and a material that does not lend itself to the same types of finishing that drywall/sheetrock does.....

Depending on the way this house is constructed, you really might want to consider having a triple paned window made for the opening, then take the existing window out & replacing it with the triple paned unit.....it will save you $$$ in the long run.....

Unless these pony walls are already there or you just like the appearance they offer, I'm pretty sure they're not going to offer the benefits you're looking for.....

Good luck.....

 

[Terry57]

Call these guys, they can hook you up!

Acoustic Panels – Sound Absorption Materials for Sound Deadening and Dampening

Thank you for the link, Mark! I checked it out, and the shipping is almost $200 for 6 panels to Canada I am hoping to find a way to go a bit cheaper, but will keep this in mind

I figured that they could at least tell you what to do, and how best to do it, if you wanted to pick their brains, and pretend to be a customer ready to place an order. I wasn't suggesting you buy anything from them... but they'd know how and what to get...

I did not even think of that, I am going to call them tomorrow. Thanks for that idea!

From your earlier post, I was assuming you were building a new house, but if you've got a single paned window, it's an older house, unless it was just specked that way...current builds are with double paned glass for thermal efficiency.....

Although sheetrock is considered a hard surface, MDF is something that would be harder & more sound reflective, though adding additional screws or nails to sheetrock will add an additional hardness to it (sound wise), the MDF is still going to be a more sound reflective material and a material that does not lend itself to the same types of finishing that drywall/sheetrock does.....

Depending on the way this house is constructed, you really might want to consider having a triple paned window made for the opening, then take the existing window out & replacing it with the triple paned unit.....it will save you $$$ in the long run.....

Unless these pony walls are already there or you just like the appearance they offer, I'm pretty sure they're not going to offer the benefits you're looking for.....

Good luck.....

I reread my first post and it did sound like it was a new house. It is just a new house to us, it was built in 1975. The pony walls are already there, unfortunately.
I will look into a triple paned window, we could probably do that by this summer.

When you are mentioning that adding more nails to sheetrock will make the sound harder, I'm not sure I know what you mean. Harder as in louder?
I don't really care about the finished look right now, we will probably hang blankets on the walls as well over whatever we put up just as an added measure until we can figure out a more permanent solution.

Thanks for the good luck wishes, we are going to need it

 

[weco]

The pony walls are already there, unfortunately.
Depending on the what type of flooring this room has, these walls are probably just nailed over whatever the sub-floor is.....

I will look into a triple paned window, we could probably do that by this summer. Don't know what your house looks like, but either a wood framed or vinyl triple pane window should run around $250-$325.....

When you are mentioning that adding more nails to sheetrock will make the sound harder, I'm not sure I know what you mean. Harder as in louder?

Though referred to as a hard surface, sheetrock/drywall is actually a softer surface than the MDF (you realize that MDF is just sawdust & glue rolled/pressed into an acceptable building material) you've mentioned and normally, drywall hangers will use an average of 16-18 nails per board (4'x8') by adding more nails, nailing closer together, you harden up that surface, as will using oil based paints and hard surfaces can act as sympathetic speakers that would actually defeat your sound deadening attempts.....

I don't really care about the finished look right now, we will probably hang blankets on the walls as well over whatever we put up just as an added measure until we can figure out a more permanent solution.

Blankets are probably the best temporary option...they can be washed and, if hung with an air space of at least 1 inch from the wall, will give you a very good deadening capability.....

 

[Terry57]

Thank you for all the great info, Walt..I think we are going to for sure invest in a bunch of heavy blankets from Goodwill in addition to finishing up the pony wall. I will make sure Hubby is careful about how many nails he uses.