Soundproofing/sound absorption in a 2 story house

[Lorne96]

Hello again! So I have a plan to put my IRN in a room upstairs with my bearded dragon. I spend a lot of time in that room so no need to worry about me not socialising with the parrot. The only reason it won't be in the main living space is because my boyfriend records music and wants to still have some peace where he spends most of his time. So the question is, do you any you have any easy and cheap methods of soundproofing/absorption a smaller room? I have tried to replicate what an IRN would sound like in that room. I used a loud video on my phone but played it through a speaker. I got to 90db give or take and when the doors were closed to the room and the living room door it didn't sound too loud to Me, obviously having a real IRN would be louder. What can I do to the room to try and keep most of the noise to that room? Thanks!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Oooooooooooooooh, I have looked into this a lot. With a Patagonian scream-machine, it has been a real interest for me.
Just one recent search...
https://www.google.com/search?ei=mP...1k1j0i67k1j0i10i67k1j0i131i67k1.0.ZQ8XE8FyjjM
Can your bird travel? I imagine that the only way to test the noise would be to take the bird there in its travel crate and experiment with homespun tactics like bankets on the walls, carpet... and if you can manage it, maybe borrow some professional curtains or such from somebody before purchasing.
I myself have pretty much just given up, but I don't have a recording aficionado in my house!

 

[SailBoat]

Soft surfaces which sit close, but not on the walls provide the greatest sound absorption.

Think: Tapestry wall hangings which is a heavier cloth material. Just understand, there are limits to any approach when attempting to absorb a sound that is by nature set to travel great distance.

 

[wrench13]

Also any gaps under or around doors needs to be sealed up with a strip of dense foam. I also record in home, in my basement studio, and Salty lives upstairs. Serious soundproofing a room can be a bit expensive, with specialized sound deadening panelsd of finger foam and such. Try the blankets and see how they work out. Your IRN is sure to appreciate the additional hanging on places the blankets will give him.

 

[Lorne96]

Thanks for your replies, I haven't actually got the bird yet, I just want to take some noise precautions as I know they are loud! What kinds of things can I put in the room that is soft, should I get some blackout curtains? Hang some blankets on the wall, and hang some blankets over the sides and back of the cage? Would this cancel out some sound? If I soundproof the room door and the living door and put a thick rug on the floor, will I be able to hear much from downstairs? Can you be in the same room as them and be able to have a normal conversation with someone while they are screaming? Or will the scream just be all you can here whike in the room?

 

[Rival_of_the_Rickeybird]

You'll get advice from most here not to cover the cage or windows. It is really stifling and cruel to the bird, I think you will hear. I'm just a spectator in my house to the bird-goings-on, but I respectfully wonder if a parrot is for you if noise is a huge concern. Patagonians are the largest and loudest conure or so I am told but yeah, if you are in the same room when he chooses to drown you out, you can't have a conversation.
Good suggestions above in my lay opinion.

 

[ChristaNL]

OKe... here is me and the crazy ideas again... but how about soundproofing like Wrench did: not the birdroom but the recordingroom.
You have smaller chances of your boyfriend gnawing on the isolation than a bird doing exactly that!

I went for the old-fasioned-approach and put cork on some walls- even before I got birds, just to keep the neighbours/sounds down
works like a charm, exept... the birds love to tear it apart...
(was easy to find: it's being used as a bottomlayer in model-train-setups)
so
before bird: lovely , even mellow light brownisch coat that even smells really nice
after bird: patched like a tramps old trousers (and some fresh holes appear almost overnight)

Soft furnishings and parrots are something of a challenge, humans tend to do better ...

 

[Lorne96]

Thanks for your replies, my boyfriend just records in our front room, it's the biggest room in the house so would cost a hell of a lot to do that room instead of the other one. I do believe a parrot is for me, the noise just concerns my boyfriend, we dont mind some noise and im hoping that the training goes well so we don't have to listen to constant screams, I'm still in the researching stage this is why I have so many questions. I have some ideas in mind to reduce the noise anyway, and from what I've read a lot of IRN are independent, only really call morning and night and a few calls in between, unless they have a behaviour problem. We can handle that, we just want some soundproof/absorption ideas. Thanks a lot for all your help!

 

[wrench13]

I really hate to tell you this but parrots can be outrageously noisy anytime of the day, sometimes just for the shear joy of being alive. Parrots are noisy, and it's not something you train out of them. Yeah if they are hungry or lonely or hurting - that you can reduce screaming from.But sometimes they just do it becasue well they are parrots.

 

[Lorne96]

I don't mind it being loud as long as it isn't all day long constantly, I understand parrots will scream for certain reasons and that's fine. When I played a recording of an IRN scream at full volume, it didn't sound so bad when I came downstairs and put 2 shut doors between the noise, so I'm going to soundproof the doors with foam and have soft furnishings in there to try and absorb some noise. I also read if an IRN learns to talk and whistle ect they prefer to do this than scream as long as training goes well but i know this wont completely stop it from screaming when it is natural to do so and that's fine. I get they are noisy animals at times, I just wanted some ideas on managing the sound in the room as it's quite echoey right now in there. But thanks for all of your advice!

 

[EllenD]

I really highly suggest that you PM SilverSage, as she is by-far the most experienced IRN owner/breeder you will ever find, she has many of them, both pets and breeders, that live both indoors and also outside in an aviary that is pretty open..So I'm sure that she will have more honest, true, and specific information about just how "noisy" IRN's are, how loud they typically are (if she can hear her outdoor birds inside of her home, well, there ya go), etc. I'd ask her any and all questions you have about them, as she'll be able to tell you more and you'll learn more from her than any website you've been doing research on...Because from the sounds of it, as Wrench already said, you've gotten some info on IRN's that at best isn't quite accurate, and at worst is just flat-out untrue...

Any and all species of birds can and do make "noise" at any time of the day or night, and each individual bird is going to be different as well...It all depends on the bird, and also has a lot to do with the environment the bird is in...For example, the first thing that stood-out to me that you mentioned was that you're planning on keeping your bird upstairs in a spare room...Now I know you said that the bird will get a lot of attention, but here's the problem...Most-all birds, especially hand-tame birds who are bonded to their people, absolutely hate it when they can hear that someone is home but they can't see them...This is one of the most common causes of constant/chronic screaming in parrots, and is one of the main reasons that it's suggested that you always put the bird's main-cage in the living room, TV room, den, etc., whatever room in the home where people spend most of their time...So without meaning to do so, setting your bird's cage/environment up the way you are planning to may actually make the "noise" situation much, much worse...

Also, I wouldn't ever make assumptions about or shape your ideas about what a particular species of bird/parrot is like based on things you read on the internet, or even in a lot of books that attest to telling you everything about a certain species of parrot...This is why i suggest that you speak to SilverSage, because she not only has owned/bred IRN's for a long, long time, but she's owned MANY IRN's and has seen their different personalities.

As far as "soundproofing" a room goes, it's extremely time-intensive and expensive to actually "soundproof" a room, so it's better to just do everything you can do to block as much of the sound as you can...There aren't a lot of products you can buy for soundproofing that don't either go inside the walls or get hung/attached over the current wall/panels...Any of the foam squares that you can buy to hang up on the walls are not meant to stop the spread of sound, but rather to dampen the sound inside of the room for acoustics...So the best thing you can do is to do what others have already mentioned, like hanging thick blankets, blocking the air-space under the door, etc.

 

[SilverSage]

So it’s telling me there are 11 posts but all I can see is Ellen’s post: twice lol.

But from the sounds of it we really should chat because even her responses make me think someone has given you bad info.

Right now I have over 40 IRNs and over 30 other birds; I have pets, breeders, rescues, fosters, boarders, babies... we get a lot of different birds moving through our home from Macaws to finches. I live in a normal house with a small yard, and really snooty neighbors. My neighbors are not bothered by my flock because I know what I’m doing, and I’m more than happy to share what I know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lorne96]

Sorry I forgot to check my replies on this thread! Thanks for all of your advice and information, silversage I have messaged you. I would love for the bird to be in our living space but i need to try and convince my boyfriend.. When I am home I plan to have the bird out all the time and let it explore and play while I am in the house, it will only be in its cage while it is sleeping and I am at work, so this is why I thought putting it in the room with my bearded dragon would be fine, but that makes a lot of sense actually! My boyfriend records music often so he would probably have to move the bird to another room while he records, would this be okay to Do? Thanks again for all of your advice!

 

[LordTriggs]

it wouldn't be good for the bird to constantly be moved around, they need their cage to be a place of safety and security, like a child's comfort blanket.

Crazy thought but could your boyfriend not record music upstairs not in the living room? It's always cheaper to sound proof one room and speaking from experience many professional recording studios are incredibly small, I'm talking there's room for a computer and the guitar/amp. If you shell out there my be room for a drum kit but there'll be room for little else in a recording studio. Heck I remember where I went to college there were the 'recording pods' where you could only fit a guitar in if you stood at a very specific angle.

Outside of that a good sound dampening material is Vinyl, so if you have some old records put them on the walls, use vinyl flooring if possible alongside sealing doors and putting fabric stuff around. You want to do what you can to dampen the sound waves stopping them bouncing off of things