Washing machines tend to do quite a lot of noise, but luckily this can be addressed by following a couple steps.
In this post I will go into how to properly soundproof a laundry room for little to now money.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
How to Soundproof a Laundry Room?
The most important step is to soundproof the door, since this is where most of the noise is able to leave. Additionally, reducing the vibrations generated by the washing machine by installing anti-vibration mats will reduce the noise even further.
So, let’s have a look at how to properly soundprood a door:
How to soundproof the Laundry Room’s Door?
Soundproofing is all about sealing any gap where sound might be allowed to get in or out of the room, and doors tend to have a lot of spots that need to be addressed to create a tighter seal.
Here are the most basic steps to follow to achieve a good level of noise reduction;
- Weatherstrip the door: Weatherstripping tape is by far the best tool to create an air-right seal between the door and the frame.
- Use Acoustic Caulk: While not as important, acoustic caulk can help you seal off any gaps that might have formed over the years between the frame and the wall.
- Install a Door Sweep: A door sweep will cover up the gap left between the floor and the door.
While doing these three things should already provide a drastic improvement, if you want to soundproof the door even further then read my post on how to properly soundproof a door.
Soundproof the Washing Machine
Washing machines are naturally noisy, but that noise is mostly able to reach you is because of the vibrations propagating through the floor and walls that the machine itself generates.
Basically, those vibrations will be transmitted through the structures of your home and can generate that low rumble sound.
The easiest and cheapest way to address this is by simply installing a rubber-like material that can absorb those vibrations instead of transmitting them to the floor and walls.
Here are your options:
Get Washing Machine Pads or a Mat
Anti-vibration pad like these ones are an easy fix, plus they are quite affordable.
Another quick and easy fix would be to use an anti-vibration mat. It is a bit more expensive but it’s even easier to install and it will also absorb the vibrations better, in most cases.
How to install them?
The installation of the mats and pads if fairly straightforward; Move the washing machine from its current location and lay down the pads or mat.
Next simply move the washing machine back to its former position making sure that you put it on top of the pads/mat.
Homemade pads
You could use folded-up old hand towels as vibration pads which should also work. Just know that the real pads will be a lot better at absorbing the washing machine’s vibration.
Level the Washing Machine properly
If the washing machine isn’t properly leveled, then every time you turn it on it will bump and knock against both the floor and the cabinet that it’s in.
The sound absorbing pads/mat should help with this, but you could also use some foam to level it.
Use sound absorbing foam
Cut small pieces of acoustic foam and place them behind the washing machine and also on its sides. You can even cut up an old mattress, or use any other type of foam material.
Basically, you want to put foam in every place where there is space between the washer and the wall/cabinet.
This will help deaden the sounds a little bit by absorbing some of it, but it will also help avoid the machine bumping against the wall/cabinet, which will drastically lower the vibration transmission.
One other important piece of the puzzle are the walls, especially since most modern walls are hollow and don’t provide much isolation at all.
How to soundproof the Laundry Room’s Walls?
The best way to achieve this is by basically adding mass to the wall since this will make it harder for sound to get through. Installing sound absorbing materials will still help, just not as much.
Install Drywall
While it may be quite expensive and time-consuming to add some drywall to your existing walls in order to add another barrier that sound would need to go through, it might be the best way to go about it in some cases.
Drywall will act as an additional barrier, and this reduces the amount of noise that is allowed to leave the room drastically, and as far as soundproofing goes, installing materials that block sound instead of absorbing it, like acoustic panels would, is the best way to do it.
One additional thing you might consider doing is adding some soundproofing compound to the back of the drywall to block sound even further.
Use Mass Loaded Vinyl
One of the best sound insulation materials out there is Mass Loaded Vinyl. It is used mostly to soundproof cars, but it can be used to soundproof anything you want as long as you find a way of installing it.
Two things to consider: Mass Loaded Vinyl is quite heavy, which means that you will need to find a way to properly hang it from the walls, and it only comes in black.
While you could install MLV on its own on the walls of the laundry room, I would definitely not recommend it since it won’t look pretty.
However, the absolute best way to go about it is to install it WITH the drywall; Add the noiseproofing compound to the back of the drywall and then attach the MLV to it.
This will provide you with the absolute best insulation possible.
Soundproof the Windows
If your laundry room has windows, then there is a good chance that noise will be bleeding through them.
Soundproofing a window is quite similar to soundproofing a door, but here are the basic steps to follow:
- Use a Weatherstrip: Attach the weatherstrip to the frame and this should create an air-tight seal when closing the window.
- Use Acoustic Caulk: If there’s a small gap/crack between the frame and the wall, which tends to happen on older windows, use caulk to seal them.
- Use Acoustic Blankets: Cover the window win an Acoustic Blanket.
I wrote an entire guide on how to properly soundproof a window that you can check out here, but those three steps should at least get you some decent noise reduction.
Get some Acoustic blankets
I just mentioned using acoustic blankets to soundproof a window, but they can be used to soundproof almost anything you want, let me explain;
Acoustic blankets are thick, heavy, durable, and great at absorbing sound.
Sure, they won’t block 100% of it, but if you cover the door or windows of the laundry room with them, you should notice an improvement.
Additionally, you can fold them or adjust them to cover literally anything, no matter the shape, which means that you could also stuff them between the washing machine and the wall, place them under the washing machine to absorb vibrations, etc.
Basically, they are one of the most versatile soundproofing elements out there.
The ones I’d recommend for this particular case are the Sure-Max Ultra thick Moving Blankets.
Conclusion
By far the easiest thing to do is to install the anti-vibration pads/mat. If this solves your problem then that’s it, you’re done.
However, soundproofing the door properly is one of the best things you could do, you’ll be amazed at how much noise you can reduce by just doing this.
I really hope this information was useful!
Last Updated on March 3, 2021 by Facundo
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