It’s not uncommon for a homeowner to believe that there must be some cheap way of soundproofing their home without paying for the expense of a contractor and materials. Unfortunately, unless you have significant DIY skills, any soundproofing project is going to cost several hundred to several thousand dollars. Even with the necessary skills to soundproof your own walls, the materials aren’t exactly cheap. However, there are new and more efficient ways of soundproofing a wall on the market that are more affordable than ever. But there are still no shortcuts in the pillars of soundproofing.

If you want to soundproof a wall properly there are two methods. First, you can isolate the sheet-rock from the wall with a product such as resilient channel. Any isolating material like channel or clips will use as little contact as possible to hang your drywall from the studs. Isolation methods are tried and true, with years of data to back up their effectiveness. However, they can be a costly and messy project. The easier way of soundproofing a room cheap is to add mass to the walls with a product like sound barrier glue. Up until recently, two sheets of drywall were not enough mass to stop sound. However, the layer of glue between the two sheets acts as an isolator improving the effectiveness.

There was one advantage of using the old methods of isolation to soundproof your home. While the walls were open to install the channel, you could add even more insulation to the walls, or products like foam pipe insulation to improve the energy efficiency of your home all while soundproofing it. Whether or not the convenience of sound barrier glue outweighs these advantages is up to you.

The only way to be sure that you are getting your money’s worth is to only compare and consider soundproofing products that advertise an STC rating. Any other products are likely inferior.