How to Soundproof an Office

You are rushing against the deadline set for you, busy completing the project at hand when peals of laughter from outside your office, distract you. You go back to finishing your work, when the constant tapping on the keyboard becomes that momentary bane of your life. How many times have you been faced with a similar situation? When you are trying to finish your work, the ambient sound around you can be extremely distracting and affect your work. Soundproofing your office can be a good way of ensuring that you are not disturbed and you finish your work without any external noise affecting you.

Soundproofing an Office

If you are planning to soundproof your office, then there are a lot of factors that you will need to take into consideration like the location of the office, whether or not you can make structural changes to the building, and most importantly whether or not your landlord or boss is open to the idea of you making the office soundproof. The methods that you can use in order to control sound can be very easy, but of course it also depends on where the sound is coming from. Each of the sections given below will help you understand different levels at which you can soundproof an office.

Soundproofing a Door
If you are learning to soundproof an office for the first time, then you will need to start with the door of the office. Typically most offices have hollow core doors that allow sound to pass through them extremely easily. The best way to soundproof the office in such a situation would be to replace the door with a solid door which is made of the thickest material that you can find. Use door that has medium density fiber and will be heavy and block any sound. It is also important that the door to your office close properly. You can use a sweep at the bottom of the door to block out any peripheral sound. If it is impossible to replace the door, then you can add another door to the frame that is already present. Ensure that this door be fixed in such a way that it opens in the opposite way. Hanging heavy curtains are another way of soundproofing the room.

Soundproofing the Windows
Windows can be an extremely weak barrier against soundproof. It is important to have windows that provide you with proper solutions for sound control. It may be a good idea to replace your existing windows with a glass unit that is double or triple paned at least. If you cannot change the window that already exist, you can choose to add an interior window which can be attached to existing frame which will provide you with at least fifty to ninety percent noise reduction. If these options are impossible, then you can use a clear plastic films on both sides of the window to reduce the noise levels. Shutters and window barriers are other options for sound reduction that you can use. A soundproof mat is another great option.

Soundproofing Open Spaces
In case you do not have a separate office of your own and you have cubicles, then there are more occasions on which you would get disturbed by the sound from the neighboring cubicles in the office. One way of reducing the sound in the area is to have absorbent mats that can be attached to wall corners and ceiling joints which reduces sound reflection.

These are some of the methods that you can use if you are trying to figure out how you can soundproof an office. If none of these methods are possible for you to use, then an easy way out would be to use headphones to block out any ambient sound. While this not a method for soundproofing a room, it is a way that can serve as a barrier to sound.