Do You Really Need to Soundproof the Walls? Probably Not!
(All of you recording studio guys can ignore this passage - you should know the differences).
Your walls are probably a 45 STC value now, or better. Unless you have a truly extreme noise situation that will be enough. However, your windows are almost certainly less than 31 STC and they are the source of your noise problem. Only AFTER your windows are as quiet as your walls, should you seriously consider installing additional soundproofing.
A barking dog, standard residential traffic, freeways over 1/4 mile away, trains 1/2 mile away, rolling boom box cars, and Harley Davidson motorcycles are usually NOT what we refer to as extreme. To some they may be, but stopping the window noise is still the first action you should take. Serious causes of noise are freeways, trains, busy four lane streets, trucking routes, bus routes and the dog kennels of the world.
Try soundproofing the windows FIRST, and if for some reason you find it's not enough, you can still soundproof the walls.
Closing Comment on Soundproofing
Realize we are offering this "course" as free advice and it should be taken as such. We find these facts to be true, but offer you only the warranty of what you paid to us for this course (nothing). Hopefully this means we offered good advice, since we are not selling you soundproofing materials. We will be or have added some links to some soundproofing material companies that offer noise abatement and noise reduction material and products, companies we believe to be ethical and good at what they do.
Thank you for studying "Introduction to Soundproofing" with us .
Be sure to check out our other soundproofing courses.