Soundproofing shared bedroom walls? is it worth it?

Question

I'm closing on my first house hack in 30 days (not counting or anything).

It's a 3 bd 2ba condo and each room shares a wall with each other.

My plan is to rent the additional 2 rooms out so is soundproofing something I should be worried about?

According to my HOA, I will have to rent the rooms out for 3 months or longer so quick rentals like Airbnb's isn't really an option and I would prefer to have tenants sign a 1yr lease anyway.

Should I just make house rules and call it a day or is this worth the investment?

Just to clarify,

Bedroom 1: shares one wall with the living room &  one wall with bedroom two

Bedroom 2: shares one wall with bedroom one & one wall with bedroom three

Rojay Chase · Answer

Valid point, I think just by doing some minor things like keeping the bedrooms carpet and sealing the electrical boxes is a enough.

Andrew DeLorenzo · Answer

A truly sound "proofed" wall is going to set you back a few thousand dollars. In addition to what a normal wall takes to build wall rated for sound is typically double rocked with brackets with rubber feet screwed into studs that attach to horizontal track for the drywall, sound dampening insulation, any electrical will need to be reworked into boxes that extend that far, then sound caulk all the way around the edges of the wall and electrical boxes. Thats money you wont see a return on.

Tom Malloy · Answer

Soundproofing walls can get expensive.  If you try to insulate the walls it means cutting a hole at the top of each stud bay (the area between wood studs--usually about 16-24") and having an insulator blow in insulation.  The insulation tends to settle over time so your top few feet wont' be insulated.

An easier idea is to put carpet with a good pad on the floor.  It absorbs sounds rather than bouncing the sound around like hardwood or vinyl floors.

Finally, you could hang a tapestry on the wall to absorb some sound.

Or you could tell your tenants to pipe down!  Actually almost every house has uninsulated walls.  I don't think you should worry about it since it's common in all construction.

Rojay Chase · Answer

I agree, so I think doing some sort of soundproofing would be beneficial.

Nothing too crazy but I might just add an additional layer of 5/8 drywall.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

You will be able to hear anything your neighbor is doing. Even outside quiet hours, you can't stop someone from making some noise. For example if they are watching TV or entertaining someone of the opposite sex, you will hear it all. Of course they will also hear you.