I really love your videos, you're so thorough and give me a lot of hope for my own sound problems. I would so love it if you did a video specifically about doors. I live in an apartment in NYC and I have a neighbor with a large dog that barks CONSTANTLY when the neighbor is not home, and it echoes through the hallway and is pretty loud coming through my door. Aside from my diplomatic solutions I'm working on with the neighbor, I'm trying to soundproof my door because all the noise is clearly coming from that source. I'm starting with weather stripping and door sweeps, but I would love to hear your input on other solutions - solid core doors for example, or sound blocking sheets or panels, or blankets that can go over the door, etc. There's not a lot of content on UA-cam about this. Anyway, even if that is not on your radar, just wanted to show my appreciation for your content.
Thank you! And doors are a good topic. You're right that noise can come in through gaps around the door frame or under the door, so putting a thin strip of closed-cell foam around the frame and adding a door sweep will probably help. I think solid-core doors are required by building code in most places, and a lot of apartments in New York have metal doors. Heavy and solid is good for fire safety, noise, and general security. I should do a video about this topic, because I collect snippets of video in different places, including in my own building. My building has a winding corridor and multiple flights of brick steps. The bricks were highly noise-reflective and they created a lot of echo. I finally convinced my neighbors to let me put down some carpet runners on the landings. It was a struggle because I have one difficult neighbor who claims to smell everything intensely and that there would be off-gassing from the materials. Even though there's open windows and stairwells and plenty of opportunity to air out... plus we get car exhaust from the street and fumes from neighbors' leaf blowers, which is way more harmful than a faint, temporary smell from a carpet. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I have some before-after video captures to show how a few dollars worth of industrial carpet (with rubber backing) can minimize echo in building corridors,. Plus there are other wall and ceiling treatments that could also help. Thanks for the prompt!
Hey, you may just save me from becoming suicidal! I'm in the UK and the 'use case' is that my neighbours have installed a mobile air conditioning unit (with exhaust tube out the window) in their front bedroom on a wooden floor. There is a single brick shared wall between our properties. I hear a humming, droning, pulsating noise throughout my property. My neighbours are willing to cooperate. I have purchased some EVA anti-vibration pads (with ribbed rubber) but the industrial smell is unlikely to be acceptable to them for their bedroom. My questions are 1) If I wrapped the pads in cellophane plastic wrapping (like what is used for wrapping around food containers in the kitchen) then is this likely to be a viable option? The cellophane wrapping may interfere with the sound absorption of the ribbed rubber? The vibrations of the AC unit may cause the plastic to rustle? The plastic might cause the pads to slip on the floor as the ridges for the rubber covering the EVA are covered up 2) You mentioned EVA foam pads in another video i.e. EVA foam mats without the rubber outsides like with EVA pads. Are these as good as EVA pads for anti-vibration? If so then these might be preferable to the pads as they won’t have the rubber smell? Or, would the EVA foam mats disintegrate in time as the EVA is not sandwiched between the rubber outsides. I was thinking of putting two or three foam pads, one on top of the other, and then the AC unit on top. I also heard that EVA foam itself has a horrible, vinegary smell. Is this true? Finally, I have heard other materials like neoprene, EPM or Sorbothane mentioned as alternatives to EVA. Would you recommend these instead of EVA. I would welcome your advice as I want to give my neighbour just one solution to try rather than asking them to try different things. Thanks and I have subscribed to your channel, will watch your past and future videos from now on as well as sharing them.
Hi. Your "use case" is a common issue that occurs in buildings with shared walls and floors. I think it's great that your neighbors are willing to cooperate. I do think the anti-vibration pads -- the type that are made like a sandwich -- are going to be more effective than just EVA alone or another dense, foam-like material, like neoprene. That's because you need more mass (in the rubber) combined with the absorbency and anti-vibration activity of the substance in the middle (EVA recommended). A thin layer of just foam might not be enough, and it might also compress under the weight of the wheels. The combination of materials is often what makes it more effective, and the ribbing on the top and bottom of the rubber, which goes in opposite directions, can break some of the path or transmission from the vibration before it gets into the floor. I would air out the pads for awhile before giving them to your neighbors, if you haven't done that already. I do think the odor dissipates after awhile, but if you keep them in a box, it might not. If it's a mobile A/C unit, do they move it around? They''ll always have to lift it up on top of the pads. Bear in mind that this will prevent direct transmission of noise/vibration into the floor of their apartment, but there might still be some airborne noise in the room, lower-frequency noise, that could become structure borne-noise when it reaches their walls, for example. So your first pass on this might not be 100%, though I'm sure it will help. ALSO....I don't think I would wrap the pads in bubble wrap (the bubbles will pop, anyway) and I honestly don't know if standard plastic wrap would affect their performance. Why not air them out, and if your neighbors complain of an odor after using them (but they reduce noise), try wrapping them in thin plastic wrap and see if they continue to perform well?
I looked on Amazon, and they do sell vibration meters. I can't attest for which one is the best option and I've never used one. Most of these meters seem to cost over $100, and go upwards from there. For example, this model shows at $179. Is it better than others? That depends on your criteria. It does claim to store records on the device, which I think is important. There might be others that meet your needs for a lower price. www.amazon.com/AMTAST-Vibrometer-Acceleration-Displacement-Measurement/dp/B0863PHL8K/
I really love your videos, you're so thorough and give me a lot of hope for my own sound problems. I would so love it if you did a video specifically about doors. I live in an apartment in NYC and I have a neighbor with a large dog that barks CONSTANTLY when the neighbor is not home, and it echoes through the hallway and is pretty loud coming through my door. Aside from my diplomatic solutions I'm working on with the neighbor, I'm trying to soundproof my door because all the noise is clearly coming from that source. I'm starting with weather stripping and door sweeps, but I would love to hear your input on other solutions - solid core doors for example, or sound blocking sheets or panels, or blankets that can go over the door, etc. There's not a lot of content on UA-cam about this. Anyway, even if that is not on your radar, just wanted to show my appreciation for your content.
Thank you! And doors are a good topic. You're right that noise can come in through gaps around the door frame or under the door, so putting a thin strip of closed-cell foam around the frame and adding a door sweep will probably help. I think solid-core doors are required by building code in most places, and a lot of apartments in New York have metal doors. Heavy and solid is good for fire safety, noise, and general security. I should do a video about this topic, because I collect snippets of video in different places, including in my own building. My building has a winding corridor and multiple flights of brick steps. The bricks were highly noise-reflective and they created a lot of echo. I finally convinced my neighbors to let me put down some carpet runners on the landings. It was a struggle because I have one difficult neighbor who claims to smell everything intensely and that there would be off-gassing from the materials. Even though there's open windows and stairwells and plenty of opportunity to air out... plus we get car exhaust from the street and fumes from neighbors' leaf blowers, which is way more harmful than a faint, temporary smell from a carpet. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I have some before-after video captures to show how a few dollars worth of industrial carpet (with rubber backing) can minimize echo in building corridors,. Plus there are other wall and ceiling treatments that could also help. Thanks for the prompt!
Hey, you may just save me from becoming suicidal! I'm in the UK and the 'use case' is that my neighbours have installed a mobile air conditioning unit (with exhaust tube out the window) in their front bedroom on a wooden floor. There is a single brick shared wall between our properties. I hear a humming, droning, pulsating noise throughout my property. My neighbours are willing to cooperate. I have purchased some EVA anti-vibration pads (with ribbed rubber) but the industrial smell is unlikely to be acceptable to them for their bedroom. My questions are 1) If I wrapped the pads in cellophane plastic wrapping (like what is used for wrapping around food containers in the kitchen) then is this likely to be a viable option? The cellophane wrapping may interfere with the sound absorption of the ribbed rubber? The vibrations of the AC unit may cause the plastic to rustle? The plastic might cause the pads to slip on the floor as the ridges for the rubber covering the EVA are covered up 2) You mentioned EVA foam pads in another video i.e. EVA foam mats without the rubber outsides like with EVA pads. Are these as good as EVA pads for anti-vibration? If so then these might be preferable to the pads as they won’t have the rubber smell? Or, would the EVA foam mats disintegrate in time as the EVA is not sandwiched between the rubber outsides. I was thinking of putting two or three foam pads, one on top of the other, and then the AC unit on top. I also heard that EVA foam itself has a horrible, vinegary smell. Is this true? Finally, I have heard other materials like neoprene, EPM or Sorbothane mentioned as alternatives to EVA. Would you recommend these instead of EVA. I would welcome your advice as I want to give my neighbour just one solution to try rather than asking them to try different things. Thanks and I have subscribed to your channel, will watch your past and future videos from now on as well as sharing them.
Hi. Your "use case" is a common issue that occurs in buildings with shared walls and floors. I think it's great that your neighbors are willing to cooperate. I do think the anti-vibration pads -- the type that are made like a sandwich -- are going to be more effective than just EVA alone or another dense, foam-like material, like neoprene. That's because you need more mass (in the rubber) combined with the absorbency and anti-vibration activity of the substance in the middle (EVA recommended). A thin layer of just foam might not be enough, and it might also compress under the weight of the wheels. The combination of materials is often what makes it more effective, and the ribbing on the top and bottom of the rubber, which goes in opposite directions, can break some of the path or transmission from the vibration before it gets into the floor. I would air out the pads for awhile before giving them to your neighbors, if you haven't done that already. I do think the odor dissipates after awhile, but if you keep them in a box, it might not. If it's a mobile A/C unit, do they move it around? They''ll always have to lift it up on top of the pads. Bear in mind that this will prevent direct transmission of noise/vibration into the floor of their apartment, but there might still be some airborne noise in the room, lower-frequency noise, that could become structure borne-noise when it reaches their walls, for example. So your first pass on this might not be 100%, though I'm sure it will help. ALSO....I don't think I would wrap the pads in bubble wrap (the bubbles will pop, anyway) and I honestly don't know if standard plastic wrap would affect their performance. Why not air them out, and if your neighbors complain of an odor after using them (but they reduce noise), try wrapping them in thin plastic wrap and see if they continue to perform well?
Hi Cary, are we able to buy vibration meters on Amazon instead?
I looked on Amazon, and they do sell vibration meters. I can't attest for which one is the best option and I've never used one. Most of these meters seem to cost over $100, and go upwards from there. For example, this model shows at $179. Is it better than others? That depends on your criteria. It does claim to store records on the device, which I think is important. There might be others that meet your needs for a lower price. www.amazon.com/AMTAST-Vibrometer-Acceleration-Displacement-Measurement/dp/B0863PHL8K/
@@soundproofistwhat was the mobile app you used for vibrations?