In the dead of a hot summer night, when I’m trying to fall asleep, the last thing I want to hear is the whole-house fan in our attic resonating throughout the house. To quiet the thing down, I made the sound-deadening mount shown in the drawing.
At the heart of the mount is a 2×2 frame, which is sized to match the base of our fan. To the top and bottom of the frame, I glued hollow, 1-1/2-in. OD pipe insulation. This is the foamy, pliable pipe wrap used to insulate water supply pipes. I used solvent-based contact cement to affix it to the 2x2s.
I replaced the stock plenum that came with the fan with this homemade frame. The fan simply rests on it. I don’t have any scientific data to point to, but I estimate that the foam insulation has cut down the fan’s hum and rumble by at least two-thirds.
Robert M. Vaughan, Roanoke, VA
