Home Office Soundproofing Tips for Working from Home

Remote work is convenient – you don’t have to commute and have a higher level of comfort, which should lead to higher productivity. However, it is not always so due to the many distractions we face at home, noise being the major one. Thankfully, you can battle them with acoustic solutions. In this article, we will tell you how and give you a few home office soundproofing tips and tricks to help you create the perfect environment for remote work. Are you interested? Then we invite you to read on!

Easy Soundproofing Tips and Tricks That Will Make Working from Home a Pleasure

So, what are the tips and tricks that will let you soundproof your home office effectively and easily? Here is our list!

• Use furniture – Cabinets, shelves, rugs, practically any furniture can help you reduce the amount of noise reaching your room. Thus, it’s a good (and easy) starting point for your soundproofing. We also recommend filling your furniture with books, as paper has fine sound-blocking and sound-absorbing qualities.
• Start from the gaps – While sound might travel through walls, it’s the gaps in your room that you should be worried about. Therefore, when starting to soundproof your space, you should start from them. What you should focus on are ceiling fixtures, switch boxes, and receptacle boxes.
• Remember about doors and windows – A common mistake in soundproofing a home office is to focus purely on walls, ceiling, and floor. But, doors and windows are also important, and they can be the major noise source. Investing in acoustic door sweeps or curtains, making sure that doors and windows have rubber seals around the edges, or even exchanging them for more solid and soundproof ones can be a true game-changer.
• Start during the construction – If you’re just building your house, you should start planning where your office will be and soundproofing it right away. The best soundproofing materials, like fiberglass or rockwool, are placed inside the walls for both sound and thermal insulation. This means that right now, you can make the whole room much more noise-resistant, which will lead to you putting significantly less effort and money in the future. Plus, it’ll also make your home office warmer – you’ll spend less on heating in the winter.
• Extra drywall – Since we’re on the topic of construction, you might also consider creating an extra drywall layer in your room. It will be a cost-effective way to block off unwanted noise, though it might make your home office slightly smaller.
• Learn the coefficients – Knowing how Sound Transmission Class (STC), Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC), and decibels work is the key to purchasing the right soundproofing products, and these are not as obvious as they may seem. Here we recommend our article on facts about soundproofing – we explain how decibels work there.
• Invest in aesthetic materials – One of our most important tips for home office soundproofing is to focus not only on the acoustic qualities but also on aesthetics. You spend 8 hours a day in your home office, so you need to feel good about it, and using materials with little to no visual value will just be demotivating and can affect your wellbeing and productivity negatively.
• Get a home office pod – How to improve remote work environment quickly? By getting a home pod. This simple solution provides you with a comfortable, completely soundproof workspace that you can also use for other purposes – studying, reading, or even meditating.
• Consider white noise – Sometimes, if you cannot soundproof your room fully, more noise is better, as long as it’s white noise. Therefore, you might want to invest in a fan or a white noise machine that would cover sharper and more irregular noises like the cars honking outside your window or kids shouting while playing in the backyard. Just remember not to set your white noise too loud. Otherwise, it could become a distraction itself.
• Don’t overdo it – Tempting as complete silence may be, don’t place too many acoustic panels, blankets, mats, etc. This can result in a drop in sound quality, which will be especially annoying during phone or video calls. More isn’t always better, and you have to remember that.

The Takeaway

With our tips and tricks for home office soundproofing, you’ll quickly create the best possible conditions for remote work. Be sure to check our solution of home office pods and acoustic panels for office– we offer many excellent materials that will help you achieve peace and quiet in your home office, and prevent any walls from reaching your workspace!