Garage is too loud, what can I use?

[GSB Ice Man]

Well, I made my garage into somewhat of a mancave. Insulated, wall mount heater, cabinets, trim, and even epoxy floor. The problem I am having is its too loud and has a major hollow problem with people having conversations.

I need suggestions to make it more quiet. I was thinking of panels or something on a wall, but wondering is someone has experience with this.

[Surface Tension]

Need to break up the flat surfaces. My wife took care of that problem long ago with boxes of junk stacked up all over.

Are you done accessorizing the mancave with the appropriate toys? More stuff will deaden the sound. A wall with selves for the tools, hunting and fishing gear. Hanging tapestry like dogs playing poker, couch and lazyboy recliner, beer/bait fridge, chest waders hanging up,

[Shack]

Yep, Frank is on the money.

Posters, signs and even a coat rack are good things to break up the sound. Of course acoustic deadening material is the best, but cost a good amount of money and might distract from the ambiance of the man cave.

The other option is you have sheet rock is false ceiling panels placed along to top of the walls. If you painted the walls white, just paint the edges white on the panels and hang a couple to test the change. Add some more of it is not deadened enough for you.

That or you could do something like this and and mancave them up a little with paint or stickers:

You could do them up any way you want.

Here is an example of something, not mancave cool, but gives you an idea:

Even some of those area rugs you see for sale on corners (like Hwy & Sunfish) that have anything from deer, fish to the Vikings or Nascar hung on the wall would work great. They are 4' x 6' or 5' x 7' I think.

Heck you could the old standby of dogs playing poker.

[PurpleFloyd]

Accoustical texture on the walls would help and that is cheap to do during construction but not so much if you already have the room done. I would venture to guess the epoxy floor is the biggest contributor to the noise. A few area rugs in the open spaces would make a big difference there.

I would also recommend going to a home theater forum and reading up on the things their member came up with to deaden ambient noise. It can get a little out there in that group but there are also always practical and easy solutions from some of the members.

[CJH]

Hard surfaces reflect + amplify sound.

Soft surfaces absorb + deaden sound.

[Shack]

Actually Acoustic Texture is indeed a hard surface (with many broken surface) that prevents echoing from traveling. It is a popcorn polystyrene chip, but that does not add mass or truly absorb sound. You are right CHJ, it truly does not deaden sound, but breaks it up from traveling directly back and forth. Unfortunately the drawback (happens with knock down ceilings also) when apply it on walls you would need to knock it down smooth right after it is applied or you would have a huge mess for years to come about 4' and down . When you do this, it takes away the true acoustic changing feature to a point of barley any change. Looks cool, but not effective much at all with breaking up echoing.

Buddy of mine did this in his garage to hide try and hide a poor taping job. Even knocked down, in a garage setting the wall gets hit and causes more issues than if just flat painted rock. He ended up doing a half-wall painted plywood deal to prevent the stuff from constantly falling off (has kids with bikes and toys). Heck, the plywood half-wall might even deaden/absorb sound. Getting right bak to what Frank said. I was thinking even painted to match cardboard strips around the top of the walls would be worth a try.

[hanson]

You have a box with 6 hard surfaces (ceiling, floor, 4 walls). Not good for acoustics at all.

You will either need to add some absorptive material or change the shape of the room. Carpet is probably not an option in the garage. LOL! If you could put a drop ceiling in with ceiling tile, that would help a lot but probably not garage friendly either. That leaves the walls and acoustic panels. Egg crate foam on the walls might work. In the commercial construction world, a product called Tectum is used quite frequently in situations where acoustics need to be controlled.

[Shack]

Pink & Hanson might be on to something. I have torn carpet out of a room and know the other value carpet has besides making a room feel warm and deadening echo. Something I never noticed but just tested. I have laid carpet down in my garage, along with rugs that migrated from the house for various reasons. I used the main big industrial loop chunk because that is where I spend most of my time and just can not stand being right on the concrete for coldness reasons during the winter when the heater is on low. The other rugs are mainly for standing and working. Much easier on the back having a little more padding between your feet and the floor.

They are dirty and do not match, but it's just a garage.

I could clearly notice a difference in acoustics when I moved 10' feet away from them and talking. Maybe just a remnant industrial loop in the area you congragate would change things up. You maybe could find some free if you looked around.

Hanson I thought the same thing about egg carton material, read a couple times earlier today when looking for cheap solutions that they do almost nothing. The dense egg carton shaped acoustic foam is a whole nother story though. Best stuff, but looks like tarp on a garage wall.