Blocking Cellphones in Your Home – How?

Blocking cellphones from working inside of a home is something we get asked about quite a bit, mostly because of our instructions on how to make your own Faraday cages. More and more people get concerned about the EM radiation that electronic devices emit, and the potential health effects that EM emissions might have. Whether those concerns are justified or not (scientists, as is their habit, disagree), you have a right to know how you can avoid it in your own home.

There are some things you should think about before implementing or trying any of the tips we’ve got in store for you. First, do you want to block your whole house, or just your bedroom, for example? Are there any other things in your home that shouldn’t be blocked (such as metering equipment, etc)? Also, you need to make sure that you get the proper permits (if needed) before you modify your house.

[box type=”red”]Never attempt electrical work on your own, unless you’re a trained and licensed electrician![/box]

Blocking Cellphone Reception

Remember that there are to main ways of disrupting cell phone service. There’s the active way, using active jamming equipment (kinda defeats the point if you’re trying to cut down radiation levels) and there’s passive blicking of EM radiation, which is what we’re going to concentrate on.

[box type=”red”]Active disruption of cell phone signals is illegal in many countries, including the US. The FCC designates this as “theft of airways”, and it’s not a laughing matter. Just because others are doing it, that doesn’t mean you should.[/box]

Passive EM blocking

The easiest way to block EM radiation in a single room is to make that room into a Faraday cage. The floor, ceiling and walls need to be lined with a conductive material mesh, such as this. That metal will then need to be grounded – just putting it in the wall isn’t going to do it. This might sound easy, but that’s only if it’s done at the time of building the room itself, or remodeling. Ideally, this mesh should be placed behind your drywall, and under floor boards, interconnected (i.e. the whole room is one large “cage”) and then grounded.

An effective Faraday cage, which this will become, will stop EM from entering your home, instead being converted to an electrical charge and led into the ground, where it is dissipated without any potential for harm. Remember that a Faraday cage needs to be grounded – in the actual ground, not to a water pipe or part of your structure.

Windows are a problem for any Faraday cage. And we like windows in our homes, right? There are several solutions for that problem, and the easiest of those is to apply a grounded, conductive screen on your window. These days, they can be completely translucent, or tinted as an added privacy measure.

Other Methods & Active Jamming

Active jamming of cell phone signals is illegal, so just don’t do it. Also, if you’re looking to cut down the EM in your home, then active jamming will definitely work against you. Active jamming is done by “overpowering” the cell phone signals, making the phones useless. But that means putting out a lot more EM than just a single cell phone does.

Blocking radio signals isn’t easy, but there are some products out there to choose from. Several companies have managed to manufacture paint that will conduct EM, and several Japanese companies make ceiling panels, wall panels and floor boards that can conduct EM.

The only sure fire way of blocking that radiation is by making a Faraday Cage, however, and that’s what you should shoot for. Paint will flake and fall off, and floorboards will be worn down in time. Metal mesh inside your walls will not be subject to the same stresses, and will hold up a lot better.

Check out our other pages on Faraday cages and EM fields here and here!

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