Sound proof curtains.

Fernalfer · 04-29-2008, 08:48 AM

Does anyone know where i can find blackout sound proof curtains? my room has a rear, side and front wall, but the right side is open to where the kids play area is.

I wanted to run a curtain from the front wall to the back wall on the right side to close the room off. but also wanted it to be blackout and as sound proof as can be.

Does anyone know where i can get such an item?

Robert_J · 04-29-2008, 12:31 PM

The blackout portion is easy. Any curtain lined with blackout cloth will work. Blackout or curtain liner is available at any fabric store for around $8 yard (last time I looked). There is no "soundproof" curtain. No such thing. We have enough trouble convincing people to use multiple layers of drywall to just reduce the sound. Sound is reduced/stopped by mass. So a curtain that could do that would need to weigh as much as a wall.

-Robert

luckytiff02 · 05-02-2008, 10:00 AM

There are noise reducing curtains at Bed Bath and Beyond for a reasonable price. The brand name is Eclipse.

Robert_J · 05-02-2008, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckytiff02

There are noise reducing curtains at Bed Bath and Beyond for a reasonable price. The brand name is Eclipse.

The key word is reducing. Do they come with technical specs as to how much sound is reduced by frequency?

-Robert

Micah Cohen · 08-27-2008, 09:38 AM

I'm bumping this thread because I'm tearing my hair out trying to find curtains to blackout my theater room windows and Eclipse curtains at BBB are crap. They are not even lined. They let light thru completely, and don't do anything for sound.

I've been around and around with the company that makes them, and they seem unaware that without "a lining" the Eclipse at BBB are basically "sheer."

This same company also has a product called Eclipse ThermaBack, available at Walmart. It is a thicker, lined curtain. One style is a faux suede, which seems to be the ticket. (But, I need BLACK curtains, and for some insensible reason finding a black blackout curtain is very difficult. Plus, I'm loathe to work with this company because they strike me as sort of undeserving of my money after my dealings with their BBB product...)

Linens-n-Things has Solaris-brand lined curtains, in black! But, they come in two-packs of two 27" wide curtains... I'd need four of these to do one of my two windows. Why doesn't anyone make a normal 54" wide panel of blackout curtains?

Home Depot and Lowes have Roc-Lon brand (white vinyl) blackout LINERS, which you'd have to sew into or onto another curtain.

Meanwhile, having someone custom make me insulated blackout curtains for light and sound could run me $800. For goodness sakes.

Any advice, product endorsement or suggestion, for sound and light blocking curtains would be appreciated.

ARG!

MC

**HTF Ads**

Robert_J · 08-27-2008, 11:07 AM

Find a nice old lady at one of the fabric stores to sew the blackout fabric onto the curtains that you want. Better yet, you do it. A decent sewing machine is about $200.

My curtains around the screen are as simple as can be. They were cut to length, hemmed at the bottom and a pocket sewn in the top to accept the bar. I'm going to add sound absorption panels behind the side curtains so that my mains will sound a little better.

The curtains over the window (right side of the picture) are constructed the exact same way but they are 3 layers thick. Layer 1 is what you see. Layer 2 is blackout fabric. Layer 3 is a sheer. Not sure why we needed that but my wife wanted it on all windows. The curtain rod is a triple model. Because of the weight, I did have to add a few braces but it wasn't that difficult.

I may the one of the most knowledgable straight men when it comes to curtains. Not because I wanted to learn but because I'm a cheap SOB. We have 6 arched windows in our great room on one in our master bath. Arched curtain rods were about $300 each! I built all 7 out of parts from Lowes electrical and plumbing departments for less than $100 total.

-Robert

-Robert

Micah Cohen · 08-27-2008, 01:17 PM

Grrrrr... I had a sewing machine once. Tried to teach myself to sew. Truth. My wife saw the seams I was sewing on my t-shirts ("Why is this thread all over the place?") and that was the end of that. I paid NINE DOLLARS for that sewing machine -- a Singer, with the manual and the peddle and all -- at a thrift store. And I brought it back to the thrift store when we moved and I didn't feel like packing it.

You think you're cheap? Forget it. I'm trying to do this on a shoestring. And that shoestring does not include having someone sew for me because I'm finding the labor costs are just stupid.

I can't tell you how frustrating it is just trying to find "black colored blackout curtains." Head-smashingly frustrating. A simple thing. Maybe I should make them myself and go into business!

Today's discovery: Solaris (at LinensNThings) is only "room darkening," not actually "black-outing." The package says a "black out" product is available, but it turns out to not be.

I'm waiting for the jahmokes at Eclipse to get back to me about the Thermaback product, which I can't find in black anywhere...

SIMPLE!

MC

MichaelBA · 08-27-2008, 04:07 PM

This sounds nutty! Black-out curtains are simply NOT available in these here United States?! How about just the drapes that hotels use to block out light? No? Micah's barking mad -- someone help him!

Alfonso_M · 08-27-2008, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelBA

This sounds nutty! Black-out curtains are simply NOT available in these here United States?! How about just the drapes that hotels use to block out light? No? Micah's barking mad -- someone help him!

Here, they are all out at the moment it seems, but if you don't mind about previously used Music Studio sound proofing curtains/drapes,(you can get them dry cleaned) keep an eye out for fresh stock here.

Acoustical Soundproofing Curtains, Drapes, Clear sheeting and Strip Doors

I bought three sound proofing drapes from them, almost as new, back in 2001, these drapes are 'doubled up' with a heavy lining material that blocks pretty much everything I needed to be blocked from my three HT's windows..

I've tested using a DB meter pumping my Sound System (four subs) at reference level, hardly a bleep on the meter at two feet away from the window's glass..my closest neighbor's window is at about 20', success!!!

Micah Cohen · 08-27-2008, 06:56 PM

BARK! BARK!

This is driving me barking mad!

That's a cool acoustic soundproofing site. Interesting stuff there. (When they have it in stock, I guess.)

I just got some emails from a nice woman at Eclipse (at the shipping facility in NC, not the brain-dead corporate offices in NYC) telling me where their products are distributed -- KMart, Sears, JC Penney. So I have to go find these Thermaback Eclipse Curtains tomorrow.

Another example of the simple, turned complex! BARK! BARK BARK!

Nuts!

MC