As you may already know by now, I’ve always enjoyed soundproofing. I started off by soundproofing my home studio and my home office, and then I moved onto other rooms in the house. However, the home office was my biggest problem.
I did a lot of work in this room. I bought a solid core door, insulation, acoustic foam and thick carpets. But I still had an issue: the air vent above my office door! Yes, that hollow rectangular space on the wall above a door that lets unwanted noise travel freely from one area to another.
Thankfully, there are three main strategies you can use to soundproof an above door air vent. You can either block the air vent completely, complete a home renovation or create a sound maze.
Why do You Need an Air Vent?
An air vent is called a transfer grille, and these have been designed to help increase the airflow when an air conditioner or furnace is running. This helps ensure that the temperature throughout the home is properly maintained.
If you had no vent in your office and you had the door closed, the only way for air to return would be through the underside of the door. The door’s underside wouldn’t provide a sufficient opening, though, so the room would become somewhat pressurized and heating or cooling would suffer.
How to Soundproof Your Above Door Air Vent
If you want to soundproof your air vent without undertaking a major construction project, then there are two ways to do it. First, you could choose to block the air vent completely, but you should do this only if you know for a fact that it’s no longer needed. Blocking off the air vent will give you the maximum level of soundproofing that’s possible, but at the expense of heating and cooling.
The second alternative is to create a noise reduction sound maze. The sound maze won’t block out all the unwanted noise, but it’ll reduce it enough to allow you to concentrate properly in your office.
1. Block Your Air Vent
You could start by removing the vent and placing drywall over the hole permanently, as if it was never there. This method can be time-consuming, but the biggest problem with it is that you’ll need to spend money on drywall, tools and hardware.
Luckily, we’ve found a solution that’ll help you out: All you’ll need to do is remove the vent and spray the area with Great Stuff gap filler. While spraying it, wait for it to completely fill in the open area until you’re sure there are no gaps left. After you’re finished, just put the vent back on, and it’ll keep the work you’ve done under the vent hidden.
This is the easiest way to soundproof a vent, but you should also keep in mind that this approach will make your office extremely hot during the summer.
2. Complete a Home Renovation
I only recommend this method if you have a fair amount of money to spend, and if you’re willing to literally knock down part of your home. If so, completely removing the air vent from above your door may be the right solution for you. By removing the vent and replacing it with drywall, you can guarantee yourself peace and quiet.
The only drawback to this method, aside from the fact that you’ll need to spend money on drywall, tools and other accessories, is that it’ll take a lot of hard work.
3. Create a Sound Maze
This method (view a visual depiction here) will take some effort. Nonetheless, it’ll result in a room that’s peaceful and quiet, but also easy to heat and cool.
A sound maze is basically a labyrinth that you can create within an air vent by using pieces of thin wood. The wood is must be covered with acoustic foam, and then you’ll need to glue the wood inside the vent to create the maze.
With a maze, the sound will have to zigzag around several times before entering the room, which will significantly deaden most sounds.
What You’ll Need
- Wood glue
- A wood saw to cut the plywood
- Acoustic foam or cotton (I’d use this foam)
- Small wood screwdriver
- Plywood that’s about a quarter of an inch thick
- A utility knife or scissors to cut the foam
How to Create a Sound Maze
- First, take the saw and cut the wood into four pieces that measure a few inches shorter than the insides of your air vent. Make sure you cut them correctly, as opposed to making them too big, or they won’t fit into the air vent.
- Second, take the foam mats and use them to cover the wood planks. You should affix them to the planks with glue, if needed.
- Next, use a screwdriver to remove the vent’s cover.
- Attach the wrapped wood planks to the wall of your air vent with your wood glue.
- Repeat this process with the other three pieces of wood. It’s best to position them about one inch apart; however, that’s up to you to decide.
Note that the openings have to be on the opposite ends to create a zigzag pattern, as seen in the image at this link.
This method is very effective, but obviously, it isn’t as effective at blocking noise as simply drywalling off the area completely. You might still hear a few sounds coming from the vent, but this solution will dramatically decrease the amount of unwanted noise that probably gets on your nerves at night.
Conclusion
Soundproofing an above door air vent doesn’t sound that hard, right? In this article, I’ve explained three different strategies you can use to stop the noise. Now, it’s up to you to decide which one best suits your needs.
You may also be interested in my guide to cheaply soundproofing a room.
If you have any questions, feel free to let us know by leaving a comment in the comment section below. Thank you!
image: Wikimedia Commons