Ana's back with an idea for how to block the noise coming from a busy street. What do you think of her idea and how do you block street noises from invading your home? Tell us in the comments
Homeowners living along a major thoroughfare face problems with noise, and it can be a challenge to maintain a little peace and privacy when the traffic level is booming. The solution? Willow or bamboo screens to act as a sight and sound buffer...
One home in Austin's Delwood neighborhood used dark brown willow fencing, available at garden supply stores, framed by stained wood beams. The staggered screens were installed at an angle to the street to block the house's front windows and entryway. The low-key, organic design blends in well with the neighborhood's mid-century aesthetic and acts as a backdrop for informal landscaping.
A house around the corner, which faces one of the neighborhood's main arteries, used bamboo screens to similar effect.
To do it yourself, all you'd need to do is attach the fencing, which comes in inexpensive rolls, to a frame made of 4x4s (for the sides) and 1x4s or 2x4s (for the top and bottom).
- Ana
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
My acoustical engineering professor would argue this remedies nothing - except for the fact that it plays to the out of site out of mind rule.
view colellis's profile
Wholeheartedly agreed, colellis.
view wolvie's profile
What sort of suggestions would your acoustical engineering professor offer?
view Renault78law's profile
We live on a busy street and want very much to fence off the front yard. I saw a landscape designer on HGTV, I think, claim that visual separation gave the illusion of a quieter yard. It would probably be just as loud but it would seem more private. More like we have a yard and not we open our front door and there's the rest of the world zooming by.
view BonivaGScott's profile
Yeah, I don't see how this would reduce the amount of noise at all. I'm no acoustical engineer, but the only thing I could imagine working would be something really large and really thick or something actually designed to insulate.
view charlenemcbride's profile
There is no way this reduces anything. At most it gives the impression of separation, but due to the limited height and length of the walls, they would hardly do anything unless the sound was in some kind of concentrated beam pointed at those panels.
view tallguylehigh's profile
Aren't thick trees the best buffer?
view medusa12120's profile