Do you live a little too close to a heavily trafficked road for your own good? Do the sounds of cicadas or other nightlife keep you from finding peace? Or are you dealing with local construction projects or neighbors that are hard to keep quiet? If so, then you might want to start thinking about what you can do to manage the noise levels that get into your home. Thankfully, there are plenty of strategies to help you get some peace and quiet.
Make sure that you seal the home up as best as possible
If there is even a little crack or hole for noise to make its way through, then that is precisely what it’s going to do. If the noise is particularly bad in one part of the home, then you might want to inspect around the walls, doors, and windows. Any holes or cracks, you should caulk them closed to seal them up.
Of course, larger bits of damage to your drywall might require a professional to patch over them. The doors and windows tend to be the most prone to developing air gaps, so pay extra attention to the seams around these fixtures. Weathering strips can help you cover them up if the fixtures themselves are still secure and solid.
Mind the windows and doors
As mentioned, you should check around the windows and doors for any signs of air gaps. However, if there aren’t any but it still seems like the sound gets through them way too easily, then it might be a sign that the door or window itself is the problem. This tends to be more common with windows, too, with older ones being the culprit much more often.
If you find that to be the case, then you should get in touch with services like Roseville Window for a replacement. Modern windows tend to be much more resilient and efficient, which also means that they’re not as likely to let as much noise into the home. Of course, they come with the added benefit of giving it a bit more energy efficiency, as well.
What to do about thin walls?
The tips above can have some effectiveness, but if you feel like your home has thin walls, then it might simply not be enough. If that’s the case, it might be time for more than just a simple installation or replacement of fixtures. You might need a full-scale renovation, looking at the walls. You can insulate interior walls, filling the wall cavity with sustainable insulation (which will also do a lot of good for your home’s energy efficiency.
Otherwise, you should consider booking at noise-reducing drywall options like SilentFX QuickCut drywall. As the name implies, this wall material is designed specifically to serve as a buffer to noise as much as possible, which can make it a great option for homes with thin walls.
Use your garden
It’s not just the interior of the home that can serve as a weapon against noise from the outside. Your garden and exterior can play a role in preventing noise from reaching your home, too. Green walls and tall bushes, hedges, or trees do have some ability to dampen noise before it reaches your home. Of course, it depends on not just the density of the foliage, but also the placement. A tree that’s closer to the home is going to offer more direct protection than one that’s a yard away from it, for instance. When you’re out in the garden, water features like birdbaths and fountains can do a great deal to maintain sound privacy, too.
Fight noise with noise
It might seem counter-intuitive, but a low level of comfortable noise inside the home can make it much harder to notice the noise that’s coming from the outdoors, unless it’s particularly loud. This isn’t a novel concept, either, white noise machines such as Snooz have been used for precisely that kind of purpose for quite some time. What’s more, plenty of people find that white noise machines also make it easier to get to sleep, so if you’re being kept up by some environmental noise at night, it might be able to work doubly for you. They don’t do the trick for everyone but if you’re running out of options, they’re worth trying.
You might not be able to entirely stop noise from getting into your home. If the noise is loud enough, it will find a way. However, the noise reduction strategies can help you deal with it, make it quieter, and find some measure of peace.
This post contains affiliate links and I may receive a commission, at no additional cost to you, should you purchase through one of my links. Please see my disclosure for more information.
GoyoBridge Earplugs – Noise Reduction Hearing Protection for Work, Learning, Shooting, Motorcycle, Sleep, Travel and Concert/30 dB Noise Removal/ S, M 2types of Ear Tips /Specialized in Sleep – PinkFeatures:
|
||||||
