Does a Garage Muffle Out Sounds?

Garage Sounds

• Some garages are not insulated in the same way as the rest of the home. The question of whether or not a garage muffles sound boils down to whether or not the garage consists of elements designed to absorb noise. Carpet padding and carpet, along with insulated walls, will do a much better job of muffling noise than an empty garage with no sound-absorbing materials.

Muffling

• If you want to muffle your existing garage to reduce sounds created by the work that you do, you can take any number of steps. The most important is simply to insulate the walls between the house and the garage with some high-grade insulation known for absorbing sound. It helps to place some carpeting in the garage, but you also can purchase a soundproofing vinyl floor liner to accomplish the same task. Other types of material specifically designed to absorb sound waves, such as low-cost acoustic blankets or sound diffusors and absorbers, will also go far towards absorbing sound. Putting in a ceiling -- as long as it adheres to code -- and installing sound-absorbing windows also can help dampen noise.

Garage Door

• The garage door itself is one of the main obstacles to soundproofing a garage. Garage doors tend to not be insulated and many are not made of durable sound-absorbing material. A number of different ways exist to decrease the noise of the door, but what you first need to decide is whether or not you will need to open and close it for regular use. If you won't be parking the car inside, you may want to consider sealing the door shut and putting a permanent barrier over the door space. Otherwise, you can come up with a suitable, yet temporary, solution. One way is to create a pull-away door with some plywood, drywall and insulation. If you cut it the size of the garage door opening, you can slide it in and out as needed. The closer the fit, the better the muffling job it will do. You can also purchase a garage door silencer if you don't mind shelling out the money. This will cut down on the noise made by the garage door opener.

Distance

• If you're building a house and suspect that you'll be using your garage for more than just parking the cars, you may want to consider building a home with a detached garage or at least one with a breezeway in between. Simply having the garage a room's distance from the house will help to significantly cut down on the noise heard from within the house that is coming from the garage.