Real Office Walls Make Good Neighbors

Here’s a visit again to the denizens of the noisy office – I have fairly quiet neighbors, but my recent moved-in neighbor, a chiropractor, has his desk and phone on the other side of my massage room and his treatment room along the other wall.

         

We are unwillingly sharing conversations, little mumbles and buzzes, usually, but we both can sometimes get those exuberant clients.

         

I did a little checking and found out many office buildings are like mine – a drop ceiling covering a mess-morass of cables, vents and lights in a common ceiling. Our walls do not go all the way to the top. (insert jokes here.)

         

Well, there is an old standby, soundboard, which folks put inside the walls of regular drywall. There is also a product called QuietRock, a drywall that features a gel membrane in the middle. Apparently liquid is the best noise stopper.

         

We draped a good bit of soundboard over our ceiling tiles, and I found a lovely little product called QuietPutty that filled some of the air gaps between the boards and the windows.

         

Sadly, we are still hearing each other, a situation which I think might be more uncomfortable for him because sometimes I get clients who are moving through issues stuck in their muscles. You know what I mean?

         

Well, another round of internet shopping and this time I am going to try a product known as a ceiling cap. This is a vinyl and foam sheet that sticks onto the top of the existing ceiling tiles and baffles out the noise.

         

I found some other cool products such as polyester batting and rolls of vinyl quiet sheets, but they require a level of skill and dexterity I lack on top of a ladder. Stick-on and pre-cut is my speed.

         

Looking for a solution has been a drag, but I have to remember when I was a new therapist I worked in a gym in a room next to the ladies toilets. “Whoosh!”

         

And… once I worked in a salon where the folks mixed color right outside my room – while they gossiped about layoffs and clients and bosses.

And… at one time, I had a great room with a great view to a beautiful garden and pool. They had a childproof gate that clanged like Big Ben. I used a lot of foam tape that year….

By Susan Peterson, CAMTC, NCTMB