Help - living near a noisy road!

[Doorbellsandknockers]

Hi,

So our house is a few metres away from a noisy road. Its got busier recently so im looking for some sound proofing ideas. We have double glazing.

What are others doing? For example are you getting triple glazing but then what about ventilation? Do better curtains make any difference?

Is there room to put in a hedge or build a wall? I was at my therapists the other day and we were in her kitchen which faces a busy 60mph road. Her windows are about 3 maybe 4 meters from the road. Her windows were open. I was astonished at how little you could hear. She has a brick wall next to the road that goes to the height of the average car.
It was about the same volume as when I'm in my house with the windows closed. I'm about 8 meters from the road, just as busy but a 40mph.

We live on a busy A road and have triple glazing and fairly thick curtains. Windows these days come with a trickle vent for ventilation. I have noticed that the noise from the road is worse if the wind is blowing a certain way or it is raining. I run hot so always have a fan on which blocks some of the noise and also use a white noise machine. Obviously neither of these block out things like cars backfiring, noisy motorbikes or sirens, but it does help.

Thanks, so not much of the land around the house is ours, there's a gap and then the road. The owner of the land near the road is thought to be the estate developer. I did think some shrubs or wall might help but not sure how to go about it.

Where can I get fairly thick curtains? All I see in dunelm or next are thin.

Also look into secondary glazing. Often better for noise than triple.

Acoustic double glazing will work better than triple glazing

Might need to have them made. We had some heavy cotton velvet lined çurtains made years back and they seemed to deaden the noise brilliantly. Agree that most for sale these days are thin polyester.

We fitted timber sash windows with acoustic double glazing at a previous house on a rural A-road. I have to say it didn't make a massive difference and we eventually sold up.

Perhaps plastic windows (not sashes) would be better, but with the benefit of hindsight I think secondary glazing with thick, interlined curtains would have been more successful, not to mention cheaper!

I've always made ours, but recently I've started using thick interlining (bump/wadding) as well as thermal lining fabric. Our current house is listed so we have single glazed sash windows and the curtains I've made definitely deaden external noise.

We have bought Dunelm M2M for two houses now.
Choose your material and lining combo.
We have thick, heavyweight curtains that really do block out the light and insulate.
Not cheap but there is no comparison with cheap alternatives.

You can also look into soundproofing curtains. We used to live in a listed period property on a busy B road. We had Moondream curtains which made some difference but are expensive so depends how much you want to pay. We had an old listed front door and we ordered a ridiculously expensive ridphonic curtain for that which made a huge difference but was extremely ££, but may be worth listening if much sound is coming in through the door. More soft furnishings in general will help deaden the sound, go for ceiling to floor curtains if you can, also background music! I had two noisy small kids anyway when I lived there so it didn’t bother me so much!

Hi OP, I’m an acoustician and this is part of my job. The cheapest form of sound deadening without having to treat walls and windows is curtains, and I’d go to a specialist curtain shop who can advise you of a specialist material, the more gather the better for absorbing the sound and ideally minimise gaps, I.e. poles 3” away from the wall will let sound in more than a track fitted to the wall. Good luck

I live a house and 2 gardens away from a busy A road and I have triple glazing but no curtains. I can only hear it when the doors are open. I've got trickle vents for ventilation.

I think I've got used to the noise but traffic noise doesn't bother me.

It's also worth looking at how you use the house - we're near a fairly busy road (which we can definitely hear); however the kitchen is at the front of the house, with the living room across the back. That means we hear a fair bit less in the living room, which helps

Thanks, I think that's in one of our rooms, commissioned by the previous owners. It does seem to make a difference. I haven't looked into cost yet.

Sorry it didn't work. I hope youre happier in your current place..

We have plastic double glazing. It does help to some degree but could do with further noise reduction.

I don't mind cars, like a gentle swish as it goes past - its the motorbikes and lorries.

Good advice thanks.

Measure up and look on eBay for lined or interlined curtains in thick fabrics. Get them altered if too long.

@Doorbellsandknockersmy friend got curtains made a dunelm they have lining inside that makes them lightproof and very thick. They weren’t cheap but they weren’t stupidly expensive either. Pretty sure she ordered them online after getting a load of swatches delivered.