Renting an apartment usually comes with limits on decorating. If find that your wooden floors and high ceilings create echoes and vibrations, try framing your favourite art with padded frames to keep your neighbours and landlord happy.
You can lay down rugs to deaden sound, but adding sound-insulating frames or fabric-covered, padded panels to the walls helps too. In his book, The First Apartment Book, Kyle Shuman suggests making fabric-covered, padded panels to help minimise travelling noise. You can make use of whatever fabric you can get your hands on. It’s a cheap idea that will help muffle sound in just about any space — hallways, music studios and living rooms.
To make the panels, cut fabric of your choice to fit a 36-by-48-inch foam-core board, leaving an extra 2-inch border. Next, cut a roll of batting to fit the board, leaving an extra 1-inch around the edges. Place the batting on top of the board, fold the extra batting over the edge and duct tape it down. Lay the board on the fabric square (batting side down) and wrap your fabric over, one side at a time, and duct tape the extra material to the back.
If your landlord bans the use of nails for hanging pictures, stick the panels in place with sticky-back Velcro. Click the link below to check out more landlord-friendly ideas for apartments.
6 Apartment Makeover Hacks That Won’t Annoy Your Landlord [Huffington Post]
Comments
One response to “Padded Frames Are Renter-Friendly Noise Killers”
Yes, it will reduce reverberation (a little), but it wont make that much of a difference if your walls are thin in the first place. The overall noise level going to your neighbour will most likely reduce less than 3dB, which to the human ear, is only ‘just’ noticeable, and in reality, negligible.
Much better than a tiny bit of foam, is to build proper boxes with some depth and fill them with appropriate density polyester or rockwool insulation, aka, bass box. Thin polystyrene you describe in the article will barely absorb much, and most of that in higher frequencies.
Actually a good lifehacker article on bass boxes would be good, I think a lot of apartment dwellers could get a lot out of them. I’m in the slow process of building some (and other noise reducing measures) myself.