I tried acoustic panels in my home office when I first moved into my apartment—neighbors upstairs had hardwood floors and it sounded like they were tap dancing half the time. Honestly, the panels helped a little with echo and made the room feel cozier, but they didn't do much for blocking actual noise from other units. Foam tiles were similar—good for improving sound quality inside the room, but not great at keeping outside noise out.
Eventually, I ended up sealing gaps around outlets and doors, and that surprisingly made a bigger difference than the panels. If you're hesitant about opening walls (totally understandable), maybe start with sealing gaps and see how far that gets you. It's cheap, easy, and you might be pleasantly surprised.
I've had mixed results with sealing gaps myself—definitely helps with drafts and minor noises, but didn't do much for heavier sounds like footsteps. Honestly, dense insulation or mass-loaded vinyl behind drywall made a bigger difference in my experience...though it's more work and cost.
I've gotta agree with you on sealing gaps—great for drafts, but footsteps and heavier impacts are a whole different beast. In my old historic place, I tried sealing every crack and crevice imaginable, hoping it'd help with noise from upstairs neighbors...barely made a dent. Eventually went with dense insulation and mass-loaded vinyl behind the drywall, and honestly, night and day difference. Curious though, has anyone tried acoustic underlayments under flooring to tackle footsteps directly? Wondering if that's worth exploring next time I redo floors.
I actually went through something similar when we redid our condo floors last year. We had upstairs neighbors who, bless their hearts, seemed to be training for a marathon every evening. Sealing gaps was pretty much useless for us too—like you said, great for drafts but footsteps are stubborn.
We ended up going with an acoustic underlayment beneath our new laminate flooring. Honestly, it made a noticeable difference. It didn't completely erase the noise (I don't think anything short of concrete slabs would), but it definitely softened the impact sounds and made them way less intrusive. Now it's more like muffled thuds rather than sharp stomps...which my sanity appreciates greatly.
If you're already planning to redo floors anyway, I'd say it's worth giving acoustic underlayments a shot. Just don't expect total silence—think improvement rather than miracle cure.
We did acoustic underlayment too, and yeah, it helps a bit. But honestly, rugs and furniture placement made just as much difference for us. Curious if anyone's tried ceiling treatments instead—worth the hassle or nah?
