How to Soundproof a Dance Studio

DIY Soundproofing Applications

To understand why soundproofing is necessary in providing an acoustic solution, you first have to have an understanding of how sound behave within an internal and external environment. Sound waves travel through a medium such as air, liquid or solid objects.

Some medium offers little or no resistant such as air and the sound wave travel with minute reduction the further away it travels from the source. If the sound waves come into contact with a solid object, some of the sound waves will pass through the object (if it is not dense enough) with some reduction and some will reflect back off the object. If the sound waves on the other hand come into contact with a solid object with enough density or density couple with engineer air pockets, the sound waves will dissipate to a tolerant level or prevented from travelling through the object.

Other noise pollution sources are produce from vibrations, vibration occurs when sound waves travels back and forth between two or more objects. Some common vibration sources are machinery, pumps (shower pumps, central heating pumps) and sound waves bouncing off walls in an enclose space.

I must point out that to achieve total reduction of sound can be very expensive and will only be recommended for specialist solution such as recording studio or where noise sensitivity is a particular issue. In majority of cases a soundproofing solution will only require you to meet the WHO (World Health Organization) Standard which has a range of 30 - 55 dB (for most applications).

Dance activities in general do create a lot of noise within a dance studio. This is a direct result of foot fall on the floor (known as Impact Noise), dance movements and music (known Airborne Noise).

Sound transmission from impact noise is most acute if the dance studio is above an occupied space such a room or functional space. Impact noise is more pronounce when travelling through floor or ceiling of the floor above that does not have sound insulation applied. The sound and vibration noise transmission from impact noise can also travel trough walls with no sound insulation applied. This is as a result of sound reverberation within an enclosed space.

Airborne noise transmission affects any ceilings, floors or walls without adequate soundproofing and sound insulation applied. Any adjacent walls, occupied spaces (room etc.) above and below the dance studio will be affected when the studio is in use.

Most of the problem of sound transmission from a dance studio is because of the sharing of common walls. Because of the spaces adjacent to the dance studio is generally more quite, any noise transmission above a certain level will become a noise pollution problem. These adjacent spaces can either be an office were people required relative quite environment to work or a dwelling were you require a quite space for improve quality of life.

To solve any sound transmission problem generated in the dance studio, sound insulation solution will have to be applied to the affected areas, such as the floors, walls and ceilings. We have a wide range of stand alone products (such as our NSSF7 Plus and NoiseStop Isolation Mat), soundproofing products that can be combine into a solution (Floor Sound Proofing: NoiseDeck 36, Dense Fibre Matting and NoiseStop Isolation Tape), and we have several systems that will provide an end to end solution (such as our Ceiling System 1, Wall System 1 and Direct to Wall System).

Our soundproofing products and materials are utilize in various ways to block sound transmission, reduce impact noise and cancel or reduce vibration noises. These products are effective at reducing airborne noise transmitting from your dance studio to surrounding occupied spaces.

We have a wide range of products to meet any soundproofing requirement that you have. We can help with ceiling soundproofing, floor soundproofing and wall soundproofing.

To go about soundproofing your ceiling will require you to take one of two approaches or a combination of both. First if you have access to the room above; this will enable you to apply a solution to the floor above, the floor cavity and the ceiling. For this solution we would recommend our NSSF7 Underlay, Dense Fibre Matting, SoundBreaker Bar and NSSC1+ Ceiling Board.

If you do not have access to the floor above; you can apply the solution directly to your ceiling. Depending on the height of your ceiling and budget, you can use any of our three Ceiling Systems Options in this application.

Soundproofing your walls is a lot easier because you do not need access to your next door neighbours property. Again base on your budget and total room space you can use anyone of our Wall System Options or ourDirect to Wall System to meet Building Regulation 2003 Part E Standard. Our Direct to Wall System is a stand alone product and is use in application where building regulation requirement has to be met.

We have a wide range of floor soundproofing solutions to meet any application. We have products that are for specific applications such as concrete floors, timber floors, metal floors and under screed. We have underlay products such as NSSF7 Plus Underlay, Noise Stop Isolation Mat excellent in impact noise reduction; NoiseDeck 36, NoiseStop Isolation Tape and Dense Fibre Matting excellent for timber floor, use to meet Building Regulation 2003; Monarfloor Impact 18 excellent for reduce sound transmission through concrete floors.

We also offer custom build solutions to meet specific applications. We can help with ceiling soundproofing, floor soundproofing and wall soundproofing. If you need any advice or help, one of our consultants will be happy to help you. Call: 08451 306 269