Rugs are not only used for décor and dressing up the floors. There is also a practical functionality of rugs and that has to do with the acoustics of the room. If you want to get rid of sound and echoes in your room, then maybe you have your answer right there in front of you, in the form of a several-foot-long piece of fluffy material. You would need high-piled traditional rugs for this because low-piled rug won’t be effective in reducing the noise.

Reasons For Echoes In A Room

If you’ve moved into an empty apartment or house before, then you would know how your voice bounces back. It’s like a fever trip of noise and to combat them, you have to fill the place up.

This is why once the furniture and everything else is in the house and it’s no longer empty, your voice will sound clearer and there won’t be any major bouncing back.

If you want to know how soundproof rooms are made, well, there is a layer of either foam or some other soft and cushiony material that absorbs the sound. See, sound is in the form of waves and it crashes against solid things and bounces back. When there are a lot of things in the vicinity, some of the waves get broken down and the resulting bounce of the voice is not as intense or loud.

So, if you are bothered by the sounds of your footsteps on wooden floors or the clatter of things within the house, then either you can fill things up in your space or get rugs.

Rugs & Soundproofing

Rugs are amazing when it comes to noise cancelation and soundproofing. However, they are not going to exactly mute the entire space. The sound will very much still be there, but it won’t be as intense as before.
If you don’t have rugs in your house, then you can tell that the bouncing back of noise and sounds will be high-pitched and very shrill. If you want to do a little experiment, then you can do so.

Start by selecting two rooms. One with normal furnishings but no rugs, and one with furnishings and rugs. Then, you can either compare the voices and sounds in person or you can have someone else be the judge. You will see that the room with the rugs will have a softer sound, even though it won’t completely diminish.

On the other hand, the room with no rugs will have louder and more crisp sounds. So, that’s the gist of rugs and canceling sounds. They don’t go away by any means, but they get softer. This is because the waves of sounds are absorbed by the rug since it is very soft and the resulting sound back is very faint.

Rugs, especially with thicker piles will absorb more sound. The thicker the rugs are, the better the results will be. Now, you don’t want to get confused by the fluffiness of the rug. This isn’t what will absorb the noise. The weight of the rug and the overall thickness will determine how a rug will absorb noises and whether it will be effective or not.

So, if you’re going for heaps of fluffy but lightweight rugs, then those won’t do the trick at all. Always choose a rug with a thicker pile and you will be good to go.

Rugs – One Size Doesn’t Cancel All

You might be thinking that getting a floor-covering rug in a room will cancel out all of the noises. Well, that’s not entirely the case. See, rugs don’t cancel sounds by any means. They just make the sound and its impact a lot more softer.

Rug size matters a lot too when you’re trying to reduce echoes in the house. If the rug is thick but small, then it will do the trick too. Sure, if you want to cover the floor in a rug so that you don’t hear footsteps is fine, but as far as sound absorption and cancelation are concerned, there won’t be much of a difference.

In the same way, outdoor sounds can’t be canceled by rugs. Rugs will only work to diminish the sounds coming from inside the house. So, walking, trudging, the clatter of things, and everything else in between will be softened with rugs.

But if you’re thinking that rugs will diminish the sounds coming from outside like the honking of car horns and construction, then you’re going to need some more sound insulation in this regard to soundproof your room. Rugs do reduce echoes greatly and you can test it out for yourself by recording yourself on your phone in a room with and without rugs. You’ll know the difference.

Underlays Are The Answer

Rugs are important and all that, but the main player in the game of reducing the impact of sound is underneath the rug. You guessed it – underlays are just as important for rugs. Underlays are thin or thick foam padding that are placed under the rug. The purpose of rug padding is not only to reduce the chances of the rug slipping and sliding, but it will also ensure that the sounds bouncing off the rug are canceled completely.

You can get underlays in a lot of variety. They can be thick or thin, however the latter is preferred more. You can also get different materials, but the foam is mostly the common underlay that people go for. The main gist of an underlay is to provide that extra density so that sounds can get absorbed into the rug and not bounce off and create a shrill harmony of echoes.

So, whenever you’re thinking about getting new rugs for your house for better acoustics, then make sure that you’re not forgetting the underlay either, because it will be a game changer and you won’t get rugs without an underlay ever again. Moreover, if you have Persian antique rugs Virginia that you don’t want to be ruined, underlays can help reduce their wear and tear.

Does The Material Of The Area Rug Matter?

Yes, materials do matter when it comes to choosing a rug for better home acoustics. Materials might be thick but they might not be dense. You want to go for dense materials if you want the sound quality to be better in the room. If you are going for a thick material that’s not necessarily dense, then there won’t be any soundproofing.

Therefore, you want to scope out dense materials. Wool is a dense thick material, so it will do a great job in soundproofing and noise cancelation. Silk and cotton are runners-up, but their efficiency can be amped up if you use a thick underlay.

Everything is about balancing things out and buying the right rug for your house and for that specific purpose. Conclusively, doing your research is highly crucial when it comes to using rugs for soundproofing because you might find some interesting facts about things.

If you don’t want your home to be known as the house of echoes, then rugs will save you and they will help you out in the acoustics department.

Conclusion

Rugs can improve the acoustics of your room and they can marginally cancel noise as well. So, now that you know what amazing things rugs can do, what’s stopping you from buying one? You can find many beautiful oriental, Persian, and tribal rugs VA.