Here's an excellent soundproofing discussion over at studio-central.com. The thread begins with the oft recommended carpet and foam wall technique, which, as you'll read, is a total no-no to some - although it's not quite unanimously opposed. The carpet opponents believe carpet and foam to be dangerous potential fire hazards that, lacking any significant mass, have minimal soundproofing ability - which is hotly debated due to many people adding their anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

The discussion offers many links to different, informative soundproofing resources, including this document called Exposing Acoustical Myths (PDF), which really breaks down a lot of the misconceptions people have about the science of soundproofing a space. Another nice resource is this page that details the different drywall, stud and insulation configurations and their corresponding STC ratings. STC ratings are, according to stcratings.com:

...a single-number rating of a material's or an assembly's ability to resist airborne sound transfer at the frequencies 125-4000 Hz. In general, a higher STC rating blocks more noise from transmitting through a partition.

So, the higher STC the better. Another site worth checking out is Acoustics.com. They've made available an Acoustics 101 overview page, as well as handy project design resources that give detailed tips on designing all sorts of different types of rooms, including home theatres.

If you're renovating and considering putting in a home theatre, you may want to think about soundproofing the area. A quality soundproofing job will both prevent outside noises from entering your listening room/theatre and, conversely, give you the freedom to listen to whatever you like without having to disturb your house mates. Here's a drywall option, called QuietRock, that claims to be able to deliver that level of soundproofing. From the site:

• A single layer of QR-530 is equivalent to 8 layers of standard drywall (acoustically)
• QR-525 requires no power saw
• QR-545 is the only THX Certified soundproofing solution in the world
• 10x more reliable than resilient channel with no resilient channel liability risks
• Use like standard drywall (installs without special training)
• Fire rated. Environmentally friendly. Lab tested. Available in X, anti-mold, greenboard, blueboard, high impact and others

Installation video from the website available here (direct link to wmv video).

Doityourself.com has many useful step by step articles for home renovations and repairs, including this one on waterproofing your basement which may be useful to anyone with a leaky basement and looking to save some money by attempting to do the repairs themselves. The site also has a large, active forum with over 40,000 members.

Now here's a great idea. Gutter Stuff is a clever product that is so simple that it will leave many wondering how it was that they didn't think it up themselves. The product is a non-absorbent foam filler that fits in your roof's gutter, allowing water to drain out as normal while preventing leaves or unwanted debris from settling in. Check out the Gutter Stuff movie (direct link) for a demo.