Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sound in Common House

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jun 19, 2024, at 8:25 PM, David Entin <davidhentin [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> We are facing difficulty in hearing in our Common House.  Any ideas cohousing 
> communities have used to improve sound in their Common House?

Least expensive is large cloth-covered fiberglass acoustical panels. There are 
many other kinds of materials that can be mounted on the walls or hung from the 
ceiling but most are more expensive. The advice is to start with treating 2 
perpendicular surfaces. 

Soft material on the floor or the bottom of the tables will help. It absorbs 
sound bouncing around as well as from scraping feet. One community put down 
rugs for meetings. Kept them rolled up elsewhere between meetings to avoid the 
rug + food problem. 

We initially planned the entire great room to have tables and chairs. After 
move-in people had soft sofas and chairs to donate as they upgraded to new. We 
put these in two areas of the dining room and it did make a difference.

Ultimately we put the acoustical panels on 2 walls but we need it on all four 
walls. The more you can do the better. 

IMPT but too late for most, design acoustics with the initial design for two 
reasons. Firstly, you will need it so face it from the beginning. And secondly, 
acoustical people are used to dealing with architects during design. I was 
unsuccessful in finding one who would work with us after the fact on such a 
small job. 

I finally found 2 musicians who did acoustical work on the side. They were 
perfect.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org