Soundproofing an elevator or isolating a wall in your apartment or condo from a noisy elevator shaft can be tricky at best. There are a lot of factors to consider. Is the irritating noise simply the cabling system and the motor, or are you on a top floor near the engine room and need to soundproof a high rise apartment?

Generally you can soundproof walls by treating them with a barrier material, something like American mass loaded vinyl. So, if you want the ultimate in quiet then it is highly recommended that you use the ¼” MLV which is 2Lbs per sq ft. This material would be stapled or glued (contact cement or a good construction adhesive) to the existing drywall. If the building is an older one and has lath and plaster walls, then gluing is your only real option.

Once the Mass loaded vinyl is adhered to the wall/walls, you must caulk the butted seams with the OSI-175 acoustical caulking, you’ll also need to caulk the entire perimeter of the MLV. You want this barrier to be as much of a membrane as possible. The next step is to tape the butted seams with a vinyl tape.

Once the barrier is up and the seams and perimeter sealed, then you simply over lay the barrier with a layer of 5/8″ fire code drywall, tape, mud, and paint the same, and you are finished and should experience some very effective sound blocking results.

Now if you are experiencing impact noise from the elevator motor or the solenoid (the Magnetic switch that engages the motor once a button has been pushed) then the soundproofing procedure may require “floating” the wall adjacent to the elevator shaft. To learn more about floating a wall with sound isolation clips and furring channels, please click on the link below and read about this procedure.

If you are dealing with other loud noise sources in your apartment, maybe coming from loud upstairs neighbor, or there is a need to soundproof the entire elevator shaft itself, please call one of the experts at Soundproofing America, Inc. and they will be happy to help you with this project.