SW CHICAGO Blog

Insulation Improves Soundproofing: A Welcome Break from Holiday Tunes

Poorly installed insulation with inadequate coverage throughout your home could be contributing to your noise problems. Insulation’s primary function is to reduce the rate of heat transfer, which is how heat enters and exits your home. Sound waves move through the walls and floors in a similar way - meaning better quality insulation material can also reduce the rate of noise movement throughout the house!

Soundproofing Your Home

Many homeowners are familiar with a few of the basic functions of insulation, namely its ability to regulate the temperature throughout the house. However, insulation is a material of many wonders, contributing to several different factors of your home's comfort and safety. The material in your walls, floors, ceilings and other areas helps significantly in reducing noise transfer.

"Soundproofing" is defined as the reduction of sound pressure; this effectively reduces the rate at which sound waves more through structures. In the same way, a properly insulated home reduces the rate at which heat transfers in and out of your rooms, floors, and walls, it also reduces the ability for sound waves to travel. It mutes outside noises like traffic and pedestrians while also reducing the volume of sounds within your home, such as a living room TV or your roommate's recent obsession with the song "Last Christmas".

How Insulation Improves Noise Reduction

When looking to effectively reduce noise, a material is needed that can enclose the space and stop soundwaves from freely traveling. You can measure insulation’s effectiveness with the material’s R-value, also known as the resistance value. While this numerical value is used to measure the different material’s resistance to heat transfer, industry experts can similarly use the value to determine effective soundproofing. When comparing insulation types, ask your local insulation contractor about effective soundproofing materials if you’re tired of hearing your neighbors debate how early is too early to put up their Christmas lights.

Between Indoors and Outdoors

Without efficient insulation in a home, the loud noises from outside can be exhausting and troubling for some homeowners. Car horns, garage doors, or even the holiday parties from two doors down can disturb your sleep or activities. Luckily with the correct material, sounds from outside your home can be heavily reduced. The most common type of insulation homeowners are familiar with for noise reduction is fiberglass batt insulation. With this type of material, the thicker it is applied to walls, floors, and ceilings, the more sound vibration is reduced.

Most of the sounds that come from outside the house are classified as “airborne noise.” This noise type includes passing cars, pedestrians, and even nearby garage doors or lawn equipment. With properly installed insulation, incoming sound vibration is stifled which results in a quieter home overall. After your first evaluation and insulation upgrade, one of the first changes you’re likely to notice is the absence of noise from passing cars - which can be a welcome respite if you’re in a heavily trafficked part of Chicago!

Between Rooms and Floors

Insulating your home from outdoor noise is only the first step in reducing the clamor traveling throughout your home. With our free evaluations at Koala Insulation of SW Chicago, we check more than just the walls facing directly outside - walls between rooms, the ceilings and floors of a multileveled house, and even the attic and basement are also areas of interest for our industry experts. If left unchecked, these areas can not only contribute to uneven heating and cooling, but they’re also the reason your whole house is getting a live concert of the latest Michael Buble concert from one of your housemate’s stereos.

This is because the most common areas for sound waves to travel are in the connected areas of your walls and floors or ceilings. Ensuring these areas have updated insulation can help keep noise within its originating room. It's important to note that insulation material won't entirely stop sound from traveling from one room to the next - rather, there's more of a noticeable difference in volume.

How to Choose the Right Insulation

Once you have a better understanding of insulation’s impact on noise reduction, what are your next moves? First, find which material works best for your home’s needs. It’s important to note that you don’t need to fill all of the walls, floors, and ceilings with the same kind of material or type. While you may have batts installed in the ceilings and lower floors, spray foam may be your first choice for the walls and underneath or even on top of the roof.

When it comes to choosing the right material, Koala Insulation of SW Chicago can provide a more in-depth analysis of your building's requirements. In addition to our professional experience, we also have more information on choosing insulation and comparing the benefits of each in this article. With a significant focus on a cost-effective and energy-efficient installation, our technicians are trained and experienced in providing high-quality coverage that prioritizes comfort and safety without sacrificing your budget.

Find Quality Soundproofing in Southwest Chicago

With the holiday season in full swing, you may be feeling a little like the Grinch, looking for a break from “all the noise, noise, noise!” With help from Koala Insulation of SW Chicago, you find that welcome respite for a bit more “me time”, whether that’s blasting your favorite holiday tunes or tuning into something out of season. With our free evaluations, we can provide a detailed breakdown of your home’s current condition and help you determine where you need better coverage and air sealing. Contact our team today to learn more about insulation’s impact on your homeand schedule your free evaluation.