Imagine this. You have just come back from work, and you are as tired as a horse. You get out of your work clothes, pour some wine, and sit on your favorite seat.

You put on the television, and as you are getting cozy, you hear a knock on the door.

On opening, you find a neighbor with a bottle of wine in hand. You have a little chat then as they are handing you the wine, they ask you to keep the noise down.

You explain your TV is never on high volume and you don’t have any speakers attached.

The neighbor sympathizes with you but insists that they cannot only hear your television but you talking as well.

How can my neighbors hear inside my house? You wonder.

Well, the main reason for this is that your property is poorly soundproofed. The noise can also get to your neighbors because your house is poorly constructed.

How do you stop your neighbors from hearing you?

You can do several things to keep as many sounds inside the house as possible. These things include:

Install door panels

Chances are, most of the noise is getting out through the door. Luckily, you can prevent your neighbors from hearing you by installing soundproofing door panels.

You don’t need specialized tools or professionals to help with the installation—you can easily do it yourself.

All you need is to buy the panels and then hang them on your door.

When buying, ensure that the panels have soundproofing features and come from a reputable company.

The last thing you want is to spend a few hundred dollars and find out that the panel isn’t working, or it wears out too fast.

Add a bottom door sweep.

Most doors, if not all, have a gap at the bottom where the noise can be getting through.

If you can’t afford a door panel that covers the entire door, or your door has a sturdy build and leaves no gaps, consider getting a door sweep and attaching it to the bottom of the door.

Begin with drilling a couple of holes at the very bottom of the door and install the sweep.

For the best outcome, get a rubberized industrial door sweep that will keep off most of the noise and last for a long time.

Avoid the extremely cheap ones, as they are too thin and develop nicks easily, making them useless after a few weeks of use.

Add moving blankets over the door.

Although they aren’t as effective as the other two, you can keep some of the noise inside the house using moving blankets.

One blanket often isn’t enough—you need several of them.

For the best outcome, sew a couple of blankets together to make a door panel.

You should then sew a strip of Velcro around one side of the blankets and the other on the door where you will stick it.

Ensure that the Velcro is industrial strength, otherwise, it won’t support the heavyweight of the blankets.

Besides the door sweep being cheap, it’s also easy to install, and you can carry it to the next property should you move apartments.

Most properties don’t allow tenants to drill holes in the building, making you lose part of your deposit. To avoid it, when it comes time to move from your apartment, cover the holes you made with putty.

Seal the windows with acoustic sealant

If you live in an old apartment with plenty of cracks around the windows or the door, seal the area with acoustic sealant and seal all the cracks.

This will keep the noises from sealing and kill any insects hiding there.

Cover the window with acoustic curtains

You should cover the door with door panels the same way you should cover the windows.

For the best outcome, don’t simply hang the curtains on the window as regular curtains, as this will create a gap that renders the curtains useless.

The best way to go about it is to have at least eight inches from the windows up and down and the sides.

You will also keep as much noise inside the house by sewing Velcro at the back of the curtains and another on the window, then sticking the curtains directly on the windows, leaving no gap in between.

When buying the curtains, ensure they are one large piece—they shouldn’t be two or more pieces sewn together as the noise will escape between the seams.

Keep the noise in with the window panel.

If you have a single pane window, you can use window panels to keep as much sound in the house as possible.

Hang acoustic panels on your wall

If you are renting your apartment, there isn’t much you can do to the walls, as you don’t own the building, and building regulations don’t allow renters to modify houses.

To avoid getting on the wrong side of the law, try to keep the sounds inside the house using acoustic wall panels.

These are meant to deaden the sounds so they will reflect them into the house, preventing your neighbors from hearing them.

When buying the panels, ensure they are of high quality and the right size for your house. You don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars and still, your neighbors complain about noise, do you?