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March 30, 2023
You have a home with a carpeted floor, and now you’re wondering about soundproofing — but do you really need soundproofing if you have a carpet? After all, isn’t one of the main functions of carpet to cushion impacts and reduce noise? Carpeting certainly does have these properties, but it may not be enough. Here are some reasons you may want to consider further soundproofing your carpet.
Does Carpet Reduce Noise?
The first question is, can carpet reduce noise? The simple answer? Yes, it can! Understanding the whole answer, though, will mean understanding just how carpeting relates to sound.
When you hear a noise, it’s because vibrations are reaching your ears and triggering your sense of hearing. Think of these vibrations, or soundwaves, as rubber balls. They will bounce around a space depending on the room’s characteristics — harder surfaces make it easier for them to keep bouncing. In other words, the room impacts the sound that ultimately reaches your ears.
Think about being in a massive auditorium at a concert. When the musicians stop playing on the stage, you can still hear the sound reverberating all around you. That’s because the soundwaves in an auditorium have a lot of space to keep bouncing around until, after a few moments, the sound finally dies away. If the auditorium has all hard surfaces without anything to absorb the soundwaves, listeners may have an unpleasant experience as the sounds start to build on each other.
This phenomenon is why you need soundproofing in spaces from an auditorium to your home studio. If you want to avoid excessive reverb, echo and noise pollution from sounds building up around you, then you need soundproofing. Without it, even small noises in a room can become overwhelming. One of the first steps many audio artists take to reduce sound pollution in a room is to use a carpet instead of hard flooring.
Carpeting is soft and can cover a large area — even the entire floor if desired. Its soft texture helps it absorb soundwaves, stopping them from echoing off the floor and onto the walls, ceiling or other hard surfaces within the space. Carpet noise reduction is best at minimizing sounds from impacts against the floor. Anything that makes contact with the carpet will be quieter than if it were making contact with something hard like tile or hardwood.
After all that, you may find it surprising that even carpeting needs some extra soundproofing to get the best results. As you’ll see below, some sounds can get around the soundproofing power of carpeting. So, while carpet helps soundproof, you may need additional materials to get your desired results.
Reasons for Soundproofing Carpet
The issue with carpet is that while it can be great at reducing impact noise, such as footsteps, the sound of something dropping on the floor or the sound of furniture being dragged around. You may need additional material when dealing with airborne noise. For example, if you are dealing with a noisy neighbor underneath you, your carpeting may do a fine job of keeping their home undisturbed by the sounds of you walking around, but it may do nothing for the sound of their music or conversation coming up from below.
This problem can be even greater if you are dealing with a room that is above a restaurant, retail store, bar or other location where loud sounds are likely to be frequent. It is clear that complete soundproofing often requires something more than what carpeting alone provides.
Benefits of Soundproofing Carpet Floors
You will enjoy numerous benefits from applying quality soundproofing to your carpeted floor. The most obvious, of course, is the blocking of unwanted sound, particularly airborne noise. However, soundproofing your carpet can also make it last longer, look better, add more insulation and even make your carpet more comfortable as you will have a thicker, more resilient surface underneath you.
How to Soundproof Carpet Flooring
Most experts will recommend you invest in a carpet underlay to maximize your carpet’s soundproofing capabilities. This is simply an extra layer of material that goes between your carpet and the floor, and it is made of material that is known to be successful at blocking airborne sounds. Soundproof underlayment will take your carpet noise reduction efforts to the next level, beyond the natural soundproofing capabilities of carpet alone.
A great product to serve as your carpet underlay is Impact Barrier QT Flooring Underlayment from Soundproof Cow. This flooring underlayment is made of 92% recycled material and easily slides underneath your carpeted floor or virtually any floor to give you a higher level of sound protection. It’s the perfect way to complete soundproofing in your apartment, a recording studio or even your home.
Impact Barrier QT Flooring Underlayment comes in several thicknesses, so you can find the perfect variation to meet your needs. It’s also waterproof, so you can enjoy even more peace of mind when using it under your carpets to achieve top-tier soundproofing in your space.
Soundproof Your Carpet With Quality Products From Soundproof Cow
Soundproof Cow has all the soundproofing materials you need for your project. When you want to achieve a quieter room — whether you’re keeping sound from traveling in or out — we have the products you’re looking for. We invite you to browse all our sound absorption materials to find the perfect products to finish your soundproofing project. At home or work, our soundproofing materials will get you the results you’re looking for.
If you’d like to order Impact Barrier QT Flooring Underlayment for your carpeted floor or you’d like to learn more about how soundproof underlayment for carpet works, how you install it or what other soundproofing products can go with it to provide you with comprehensive room soundproofing, contact us at Soundproof Cow today.
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AuthorAbout Ryan Yaukey
