Soundproofing Your Animal Kennel

If you own a kennel or manage an animal shelter you know how loud it can get inside. This is not only a nuisance for the occupants such as the employees, but it also can be a nuisance for those who may live within earshot of you. Since it is nearly impossible to eliminate the sound of barking dogs and other such animal noise, reducing noise level by making all of your walls, ceilings, floors and other structures less reflective is the next best solution.

With a kennel, you often may have outside areas to soundproof as well such as dog runs. Similar fixes do apply that are mentioned below.

To control sound levels within the animal shelter itself, you can install a set of acoustic sound panels, ceiling tiles or VET baffles. These fixes are designed to interrupt the reflections of the barking dogs, capture and absorb their energy, and deliver slower reverberation times within the kennel room

Treating your walls will help block the transmission of sound bleeding through a common wall. Your ultimate goal is to impair the wall's ability to conduct vibration. This is accomplished by adding two components to your wall assembly; the first is density, the second is disconnection. The combination of these two ingredients will help force the collapse of your sound wave inside your wall, and can trigger up to a 90% drop in sound transmission.

By following these isolation techniques, a 10-12 dB drop can be triggered. For treating the acoustics within the room, controlled reverberation times will drop background noise and the corresponding decibel level exposure in the room. Remember, the treatment for soundproofing a kennel makes the room less loud, not the dogs. They'll still bark, it just won't sound as loud.

You can also treat the ceiling. There are two goals with sound proofing a ceiling. The first is to combat the bleed of noise through the ceiling for greater sound isolation and privacy between rooms that share this common surface. The second is to improve the room's acoustics with ceiling tile treatments designed to capture unwelcome sound reflections in the room.

A good sound barrier ceiling treatment can deliver up to a 90% reduction in plenum noise, foot noise or noise bleeding into or out of your room through the ceiling. A sound absorption ceiling treatment can restore your room to good quality sound by collapsing your reverberations times down to under 2.0 seconds.

With a little research and even professional consultation if necessary, you can reduce the sound in your animal facility significantly. Your employees and neighbors will appreciate it greatly.

Mark Rustad is President of NetWell Noise Control, based in Minneapolis, MN. Founded in 1991, NetWell is a leading supplier of ceiling tiles, acoustic products, sound proofing treatments, and online acoustical consulting services. NetWell’s sound management skills are packaged into the industry’s premier website. For more information, please visit eSoundproof.com. Discover first hand why so much of NetWell’s business stems from the referrals and repeat orders they receive from satisfied clients around the world.