Pyrotek Soundguard soundproofing hobby sheds

"The upsurge in hobby sheds throughout suburban Australia is seeing a growing interest in soundproofing as owners of woodworking and other power tools seek to keep the noise of hobby work from annoying their neighbours and possibly having a noise abatement order being taken out against them."

So says Pyrotek Soundguard's David Smart, who points to the happy case of Ken Murphy, a Toongabbie home handyman, as an example of someone who has done such a good job of soundproofing the workshop addition to his home using Soundguard product that you can't even hear the scream of a drop saw while standing at the neighbours' fences.

"We recommended 8 kg per square metre Wavebar to line the new 52 square metre stand-alone building, which Ken has made to look like a miniature version of his house," David adds.

"It includes a rumpus and storage rooms for the rest of the family, so internal soundproofing is also a 'must'."

Ken took great care to overlap the sheets of Wavebar to ensure no pathways for noise to escape. Five-ply panelling nailed onto 20 mm pine battens provided an attractive finish to the job internally.

"I am very happy with the soundproofing; in fact the whole project. I used to work in my garage, which meant having to back out the car and having to clean up afterwards; and that was a pain the neck," says Ken Murphy.

"I don't have to bother with all that now. And I don't bother the neighbours. One of the worst noises to stop comes from drops saws, table saws and circular saws. Outside now you can barely hear these at all, but at the fence, you wouldn't know any of them were going."

But noises such as hammering can be just as annoying as the scream of a saw; and here Wavebar sets itself apart from other soundproofing materials, offering a high sound transmission loss against the harder-to-stop lower frequencies.

"Sometimes, too, a grinder makes low frequency noise, depending on the material you're grinding. The Wavebar deals with this also, with ease," Ken claims.

Among his home handyman efforts, Ken enjoys renovating his home with more antique timber architraves and skirtings. He also builds scale models of houses, cars and boats.

The success of the soundproofing has suggested to Ken a potential future use of the new building as a home theatre, which is another big item on the wish-list of today's home-makers.