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Hi, I own a small rotary engraving shop in my home. The noise level when cutting plastics, steel, and alumium is very high.The shop is 1000 sq feet, located in the basement and includes an office area. It can be very difficult to talk with customers on the phone when jobs are running.

Kathleen,
Quite an obvious and common problem as noise levels can reach very high levels with rotary engraving. To best help I would need to know more specifics about the layout of space, use of tools and aesthetics required but here are some suggestions for you.
Typically you would try to isolate the noise source, but I imagine this is much of your 1000 sq ft space. You mention composites and barrier composites would certainly help and our easy to retrofit into existing space. These are traditionally used to enclose machinary and noise source as they can be easily cut to any shape and fit into spaces of many sizes. However in your case you can use this to line the inside of your office isolating you from the noise. There are several varities of barrier composites that have mass loaded vinyl mounted to a foam absorbent.
If your office happens to be unfinished then idealy you can use composites or even just mass loaded vinyl barrier beneath a layer of sheet rock or sandwhiched between sheetrock which would give you additional noise control and allow you to finish your office however you like.
Since quite a bit of noise will escape through doors, you may want to consider that as well. There are products that are quilted absorbents made from fiberglass quilted blankets that retrofit onto doors since much of the noise entering a room will enter though the gaps in the door. This acoustic blanket door panel actually overlaps the door to cover and absorb noise coming through the gaps in the door.
I am thinking that if your “noisy” workplace where all the engraving is done is isolated on one side of the space, that industrial acoustic blankets would best serve you. They come in a variety of configurations including the heavier use blankets that have 1lb mass loaded vinyl sandwiched between different 1″, 2″ and 3″ options of quilted fiberglass absorbent. We use these in industrial metal stamping plants and places like water treatment facilities etc. They could be hung from the ceiling by fasteners or hung by track systems. This option could allow you to roll blanket panels out of the way and would best isolate the engraving noise. The acoustic blankets can have windows cut in if needed and can dramatically cut off the noise coming from the heavy noise workplace.
Another product worth mentioning that would be a simple install is to retrofit Acoustic wall panels onto your office walls. These will quiet your office and give you good acoustics in the office and may suffice with a little extra help from a good noise cancelling phone!
The last thing I had thought of is if your basement has drop ceiling alot of noise will travel through that space. We have ceiling tile barriers that lay atop the ceiling tiles. If you were to install these above your office space and a few extra tiles beyond to isolate your office from the noise as well.
If you have details on the room space, please email [email protected] describing your space and problem and we’ll be happy to answer.