Acoustic Tiles for Noise in Home

furyou on 02/10/2021 - 10:53

So it kinda just popped up in my feed. These hex tiles you can decorate a wall with, and also absorbs echos/sounds.
We live in a 2 storey townhouse. We have kids, neighbours have kids, everyone has kids.

When next door walks up/down stairs we can hear the vibrations through the wall.
When kids are up/downstairs we can hear them through the floor.
When kids talk in their room, it's enough to wake us up through the wall in the next room even with both doors closed.

I wondered if these 12mm/24mm hex tiles would help reduce the loudness of some of these events? They're quite pricey and we would only put them in a few places, both for decoration & sound. Maybe on the wall between our rooms, maybe in the stairwell?

Anyone have experience with these, with different materials, and where to get them? There's cheaper stuff in ali, but of course it's full of fake poo.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Mechz on 02/10/2021 - 10:56
    +6

    Sounds like you have zero insulation. Not sure these will help to the extent you want as tiles are really for stopping reverb in the same room.

    • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 11:15
      +1

      Yeah it's a Mirvac project. So everything is underperforming and bare minimum. You won't believe the actual defects we've found, unfinished things hidden away.

      I don't mind hearing next door so much, but if the kids can be in their room/downstairs w/o waking us up at 7am that's a win. So between our rooms, or sound coming up the stairwell.

      Also I got a wine holder/frij. Its compressor is a continuous drone and it's out in the open, I wonder if I can reduce that noise by placing tiles on the wall it's facing.

      • Diji1 on 02/10/2021 - 11:25

        Yeah it's a Mirvac project. So everything is underperforming and bare minimum.

        Privatising the backbone of Australia's economy, housing, was such a great idea.

        It's going to go well in 20 years when half the nations housing is falling apart.

        Not that you wanted economic growth if you privatised energy, telco and monetary transactions themselves. The ACCC described it as "threatening the viability of small and large enterprises".

        • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 11:27
          +2

          What country in the world does everyone live in gov built housing? I'm just saying these "brand name" developers seem to do the worst crap, and maybe a small independent may actually supervise their tradies and get it done right.

          • Diji1 on 02/10/2021 - 11:31
            +1

            @furyou: No countries are entirely public as far as I know.

            But many countries, such as Australia, used to have large fractions of housing built by government and then rented and/or sold to citizens.

  • Kangal on 02/10/2021 - 11:28
    +1

    No, they won't work.
    As you step on them, these things get compressed and change shape. So the energy force is still present, but the foam will reduce SOME noise.

    Many of the higher-end homes are designed with vibrations in mind, and there are "dead zones" between layers. And specific flooring used. Generally, things that are harder absorb the least noise, and the more mass they have the more they can absorb. So something like a ceramic tile will vibrate the most, hardwood much less, then plastic laminae, then cork, then carpet varieties. And a thick-wooly carpet will absorb a lot more impact than a very-thin carpet.

    Unfortunately, it is quiet difficult AND expensive to retro-actively go back and try to sound-deaden a house. You can reduce the ambient noise and some vibrations, but you cannot eliminate it without designing it in-mind. It's not impossible, it's just difficult. But double-windows, thick doors, sealings, and ceiling/wall foams do help (sometimes a lot) but never eliminate. Just ask a Sound Technician.

    • Archi on 02/10/2021 - 11:37
      +1

      As you step on them, these things get compressed and change shape. So the energy force is still present, but the foam will reduce SOME nois

      i think the OP is talking about wall tiles.

      • Kangal on 02/10/2021 - 11:42

        Ah, I see. I thought they were concerned about the sound leakage from upstairs/downstairs.

        I don't think the wall foams work that well. What they are good for is acoustics, so if you are a live-streamer or you want to do some Teams Meetings etc etc. In those scenarios, it helps clarify your voice to reduce echos. But it doesn't actively eliminate your voice.

        Some people swear-by the white noise machines. I generally don't like them. But it might be an option for the OP if it works for them, and helps the light-sleepers from waking. Another consideration is to do: Nothing. Human beings adapt to their environment, that's why some soldiers can sleep during firefights, etc etc. So this nuisance might be adapted to, possibly.

        • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 13:27

          Unfortunately it's 4 years and I haven't adapted. I'm not doing any live-streams.

          There is both the wall and up/down issue. Anything that reduces sound would be good.

          Eg instead of kids upstairs talking sounding like they're next to me, for them to actually sound like they're upstairs and in the opposite side of the house.

    • Presence on 02/10/2021 - 11:55
      +2

      Unfortunately, it is quiet difficult

      Stop making fun of OP, he came to us for help!

  • Diji1 on 02/10/2021 - 11:28
    +1

    I don't know how well tiles will work but using them in corners is often effective since internal right angles bounce sound back to the source.

  • Archi on 02/10/2021 - 11:45
    +2

    these acoustic tiles are designed to reduce the reverberation of noise, each product is given what the industry is called NRC rating.

    something 0.85 - 1.0 is excellent. however the amount needed to acheive this NRC rating is another matter.

    you cant have a 3mx3m room fully enclosed with 1x tile @400x400mm and expect it to give you the amount of absorption you need.

    you can find a calculator on the web called a sabine calculator to help you rate your room. it takes into account the room size and contents and sound source to effectively calculate what you require…

    unfortunately for a built environment especially a house it will be hard to eliminate or reduce the impact of vibration born noise.

    you have to treat the noise at the source,
    example..
    if it is noise from walking on stairs… then you'll need to put down carpet to reduce the amount of impact noise and vibration…

    if it is speech then use more soft furnishing and these acoustic tiles to reduce reverberations.

    if it is kids banging on walls… stop the kids from banging on said wall.

    • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 13:30

      Realistically walking on stairs isn't continuous, so I can live with it. It's more speech heard from other rooms or ends of the house. Is that considered high freq? If it's an inter-room wall, do I need these acoustic tiles on one side, or both?

      • Archi on 02/10/2021 - 14:32

        these tiles usually go on the side that the sound is generated from.

        you are not going to be able stop all the sound.

        long hall ways, hard floors and bare walls amplify the sound,

        eg.. if you had a empty house the acoustics will differ greatly to when it's fully furnished.

        runner on the floor, wall art and house plants all help

        you need to consider the whole environment rather than just isolated scenarios,

        • furyou on 04/10/2021 - 14:47

          I saw they come in Different thickness. Apart from thicker is better, is there a certain size I'm aiming for? It seems 1cm is a common cheapo size. I'm going to try smoe on my ceiling 1st.

  • apsilon on 02/10/2021 - 11:58

    May be the same tiles I was looking at. They certainly look good but they're very expensive and so is delivery, To do the section I wanted was going to run near $2.5k and I've got more important things to buy before these. I do believe there's Chinese copies of them now that are much cheaper but no idea how they compare or really how good the originals are.

    • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 13:32

      I see hex tiles from 30-60cm wide. It's hard to understand how many I'd need for a wall. I'd have furniture, so I'm not covering to the ground. It looked like 1k per wall here.

      Aliexpress had some, seems like maybe 30% of the price. But knowing most of them lie about specs I'm not sure.

      • apsilon on 02/10/2021 - 14:05

        The ones I was looking at were only 20cm. To work out the number, just work out the area you want to cover then work out the area of each tile (there's plenty of calculators online where you just enter the dimensions) and from there you can work out how many tiles will be required to cover the desired area.

  • Catullus on 02/10/2021 - 12:07

    Be careful with acoustic tiles, check their fire rating/flammability.

  • BiotBargin on 02/10/2021 - 12:14

    Have a look at the Autex tiles.

    Problem with all tiles is they are good at certain audio frequencies, but may be not the audio frequency your trying to dampen.

  • Heaps for Cheaps on 02/10/2021 - 12:53
    +1

    I use a lot of Quietspace® Panels by Autex for stopping reverb, but I feel your issue is the low frequency sounds which means you need to go very thick… the best bet being to insulate your walls.

    • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 13:42

      Sounds like I have to give up on low frequency sounds.
      What's it like for speech? How much wall do you need to cover?

      • BiotBargin on 02/10/2021 - 14:09
        +1

        i think in your case it might be also how much are you willing to spend :)

        one advantage of the Autex tiles is the add some mass (not much) to the wall where as acoustic tiles are basically medium density foam, so basically little to no mass.

        ideally, cover the wall for best effect - the place you dont cover is basically a leak.

        • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 15:36

          Yeah, but to cover every wall so the house looks like an office is also not so good 😢
          They look nice as a feature, but too much looks like a cheap office despite being really expensive

      • Heaps for Cheaps on 02/10/2021 - 19:07

        By walls, I mean inside the wall cavities as the material really needs to be as thick as possible…

        As for inside the house, I do a bit of audio recording and really use them to stop reverb in a big room with bare surfaces everywhere. The aim is to deaden the sound instead of hearing it echo over and over… A 2.4m x 1.2m x 25mm quietspace panel costs approx $165 but stores are all over the place with pricing… Other things you can do is use rugs, furniture which all helps to reduce that reverb. You'll still hear the sound though, it will just go dead quicker with panels or furniture to absorb or disperse it.

  • TheBird on 02/10/2021 - 15:31

    I wondered if these 12mm/24mm hex tiles would help reduce the loudness of some of these events?

    They will, but probably not how (or the amount) you're thinking.

    Every time sound travels and it hits a solid wall it (for simplicity sake) bounces. When sound travels through these panels, it partially diffuses the sound. Part of the sound that you hear is the "reverb" effect, when you're hearing not only the sound waves, but also the bounced sound waves. Think of it like if you clap in a small, enclosed, solid brick room, the clap sounds louder as the bounced sound is adding to your perceived volume. The sound has to travel through these panels for them to reduce the sound.

    The lower the frequency of the sound, the lessen this will be the case. So it will depend on what kind of sound is travelling and look at the solution that best suits that issue.

    We used to have to do temp sound treatments for films shot on location. If you want a cheap way to test this, grab some moving blankets (I understand you can get cheap ones from bunnings or just use what you have around the house, blankets and doonas) and rig something up so you can have them an inch or two from the surfaces that you suspect are the biggest issue and see how that goes for your sound issue. It's going to look stupid, but it's just a test. We would use C-stands, but they're costly so don't go buying them for just a test. Maybe you can rent some from a film rental place. or better, have people hold them in places. The more layers (fold them over), the better it will work, but there's a limit to what you can solve. It'll give you part of an idea of what these sound panels could achieve for your situation before you go spending heaps on a solution which I personally don't think you'll be happy with the result.

    • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 15:42

      Thanks for that. Another one is, I have a wine cabinet. Its compressor is a continuous drone and it's out in the open. It's louder than my desktop PC and next to me so quite annoying. Would you have any ideas how I could cut that sound?

      • TheBird on 02/10/2021 - 15:49

        You could always do what we'd do in filming for fridges and air conditioning units. Turn it off.

        Alternatively:

        Move it to where you won't hear it.
        Replace it with cabnet that is quiet.

        You could dig a lot further. These days I do a lot of computer stuff (I don't know if this applies to wine cabinets) but if a computers cooling system is lacking, the fans usually spin up faster, causing more noise. Sometimes it's due to poor ventilation. If you put a computer in a corner where there is no ventilation, its cooling system will have to work harder to keep it cool. Also in computing, if your computer is underpowered for the task, it needs to work harder which will also put it under strain. In computers, you can pick up a better CPU/GPU cooler and quieter fans.

        You'd have to find out if there's an equilivent for wine cabnets.

  • brendanm on 02/10/2021 - 18:27
    +1

    Sell and buy a freestanding house?

    • furyou on 02/10/2021 - 20:34

      fake ozbargainer!

      • brendanm on 05/10/2021 - 19:21
        -1

        Does not compute. Paying less for something you hate, rather than paying more for something you love, is not a bargain.

  • frostface on 03/10/2021 - 10:41

    As a first step, try putting some seals on your doors. These are easy to apply and may help. https://www.raven.com.au/domino/raven/ravenweb.nsf/prod5-v/0…

    You need to increase density to your walls, the hex tiles will not help noticeably unless you do a couple of layers. You’re better adding off adding a layer of plasterboard

    Little chance you can fix noise from upstairs or stairs without some serious mods. Structural borne noise needs to be dealt with at the construction of the wall/floors.

    • furyou on 03/10/2021 - 14:58

      2 questions about these

      1) It says Min/Max Gap: 3mm to 5.5mm. Does that mean if there is not 3mm gap existing all round the door won't close due to the thickness?

      2) They seem to be sold only at trade stores, not to public.

  • OzHunterNSW on 03/10/2021 - 13:02

    Rather than a painting, hang a large textile artwork upon the wall. this will assist in absorbing ambient noise.

  • Inzo on 05/10/2021 - 16:04

    Watch Linus play with audio dampening panels on echo / reverb - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sowki1N_YeY

    Unsure how it impacts hearing noise through the walls

    • furyou on 05/10/2021 - 16:57

      Thats pretty cool. Funny they got their packs at 100usd each, now they're 3x the cost!!

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