Garages have long been used for more than just parking your car. In fact, many homeowners don’t use them for their cars at all. Whether you’re short on space in your home, or you simply think housing your car is unnecessary, your garage has a lot of versatility.

One thing to be conscious of when it comes to spending time in your garage is the noise you make. Garages aren’t always as insulated as the rest of your home, so if you’re looking to make it into a place for practicing music or watching movies, you’ll want to invest in some soundproofing.

Now, to truly soundproof a room, you’ll need to spend a fair amount of money and possibly hire a professional for guidance. For those looking to simply cut down on exterior noise, however, we’ve put together a few simple tips that should do the job on a budget.

Proper Insulation

The first thing you should do is ensure your garage is properly insulated. Not only will this help keep sound from passing through walls, but it’ll help you control the climate within the garage. While all insulation helps with noise to a degree, there are specific types designed to cutdown on noise bleed.

If you’re going to be spending time in there year-round, you’ll want to look into some heating and cooling solutions as well.

Cover Up the Windows

A typical window lets a fair amount of noise through, even when it’s properly shut. If you have old windows in your garage, you’re left with a few options. You could replace the windows with soundproof ones. These can get a little pricey, but they’re an effective solution that allows you to still appreciate daylight.

If you’re okay with losing the windows altogether, you can build straight over them.

For those who want to keep the window but don’t want to spend the extra cash on a soundproof window installation, a sound curtain or removal soundproof panel can make a respectable difference.

Resilient Channels

Drywall isn’t known for keeping out sound. In fact, soundwaves pass right through it, reverberating and bouncing off the wooden studs holding it up. To help combat this, install metal resilient channels. These help absorb and isolate sound by acting as a buffer between the drywall and the wood.

Best of all, resilient channels are cheap.

Laying Carpet

Most likely, your garage has a bare cement floor. This will send sound bouncing all around your garage. To stop that from happening, you’ll need to cover it up. Preferably all of it. If you’re serious about soundproofing your garage, you should carpet the flooring.

If you’d like your garage to retain a little more versatility, or you just don’t like carpet, some large, thick rugs can get you by.

Soundproof Blankets, Acoustic Panels, and More.

Ideally, you would want to cover all walls, as well as the ceiling, with acoustic foam panels. Doing so, however, can be a little pricey. To get started, you can try simply placing acoustic panels around the room at equal distances apart.

This will control sound and keep it from bouncing it around.

Another option is to purchase some soundproof blankets. These are easy to put up and take down as needed, making them great for covering doors and windows. Thick moving blankets may be able to do the trick, if you already have some on hand.

Building a Room Inside Your Garage

If you need true soundproofing for recording your voice or a singular instrument, it might work best to build a smaller room or booth inside of your garage. This will give you full control over all walls, while saving you on the amount of materials you need.

Insulated Doors

Just like windows, doors are a common source of sound-bleeding. To help with this, you can replace your current doors with insulated ones. Insulated doors look great, they prevent sound from escaping or entering, and they protect from outside temperatures.

At Springfield Overhead Door, we provide a wide variety of insulated doors to meet any need. For entry and overhead doors in Ohio, contact us today!