Even a dream apartment can be a nightmare if you lie awake all night staring at your gorgeous, vaulted ceiling. Don't let street noise drive you batty — read on for a three-tiered solution.
In the fight against noise, a multi-pronged approach works best. Start with easy solutions and add as many strategies as you need until you hit the sleep sweet spot. And remember, the easiest strategy of all is time. Eventually your body can and will adjust to almost anything in order to get some rest.
Easy
Your first line of defense is a good pair of earplugs. The foam drugstore variety may be enough, but be aware that they're usually marketed as single use. Depending on how often you need them, it may be worth it to invest in a higher quality pair. Reusable earplugs are flexible, washable and in my experience, don't pop out as easily, so they'll stay in place through the 5 am garbage pickup.
Harder
The next step is to either block or drown out the offending noise. The key is to thicken the material between the noise and you. For windows, good curtains will help. Try bulky velvet or look for noise-absorbing drapes (usually with a thick wool core sandwiched between decorative fabric). If thin walls are the problem, fortifying them with a tapestry, bookshelf or even a layer of foam (if you can find a clever way to DIY) will bring down the decibels. A white noise machine or even a basic fan can do wonders to replace street noise with "your" noise, so it feels less violating.
Extreme
When none of the above is enough to get you to sleep, it's time to go extreme. If you're sleepless enough to consider moving, then it might be worth consulting a contractor to re-frame or double-pane your windows (the most common culprit of noise leakage). Or, if your layout will tolerate it, consider swapping your bedroom with another room farther away from the noise. It might not be ideal during your waking hours, but finally getting good sleep will quickly make up for the inconvenience.
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I use a sound machine that puts out a constant white noise. I don't recall the brand, but I purchases it on Amazon. It's my sleep savior!!
Move to a concrete building if you can. The soundproofing against neighbour noises is fantastic. As for street noise, I keep my windows closed in the winter. In the summer, the noise used to be annoying as heck, so I invested in a window air conditioner. Not only does it cool the bedroom temperature to comfortable, but it produces a white noise effect that drowns out any street noise.
I've slept with earplugs and a small fan for the last 6 years. Helps a lot. The E.A.R. plugs from 3m are the best IMHO.
Like smells, I think one can get used to regular noises. After a while, it's the surprising ones that get our attention, as they should.
I'm going for the noise-reducing shade and curtain overlay first. Then the double-pane windows, which would also make my bedroom more comfortable.
There are lots of white noise apps, so that might be less expensive than investing in another physical object. And more portable, too! I've used white noise apps to drown out the engine's drone on airplanes, to sleep in hotel rooms with unfamiliar noises, to soothe ill family members in the hospital ER--so much more pleasant than listening to the crises in adjoining cubicles. Headphones work, but the WOWee is a great little portable speaker that is easy to carry along during travel.
Noise machine in mine and my kids rooms does the trick, we even take it on road trips.
We keep them set to Trickling Brook, reminding us of our favorite summer camp spot.
2 words: air purifier. I put mine on high and it sounds like a 747 Jet!
how do you help ceiling noise from the person above you?
LOL at ear plugs. That's funny. Street noise or any noise coming from your neighbors can be annoying. Apartments with carpet help absorb sounds. If you have hardwood floor use rugs.
I want to know too! Short of moving (still have 11 months in my lease), is there anything I can do? The people upstairs stomp around until about 2am, then their kids wake up at about 7am, leaving me with a few short hours of restful sleep. I've tried talking to them but they haven't been terribly responsive...
FYI, you don't have to buy a white-noise machine. There's plenty of free or very cheap apps that supply white noise. I live about 100 yards from a highway. I keep my iPad plugged in by the bed, set Ocean Sounds for 80 minutes and I'm gone to slumberland long before the timer is up. I am also blessed with well-sealed windows.
One thing to keep in mind for building noise is that wood conducts sound. It vibrates - that's why wood is used to make musical instruments. So if you live in a loud wood framed building, there is only so much insulation, carpeting or drapes that will muffle the sound. If your neighbor likes deep base or they stomp around, you are not only going to hear it, but your walls will actually be humming.
I never realized how much street noise was compromising my sleep. We lived in a 26 story high-rise that was next to I-405. Even after installing velvet drapes with both blackout and noise reducing batting and replacing the sliders to the balcony traffic noise woke you during rush hour. We ended up selling the apartment and moving out of downtown. Our current place in next to a light rail stop but the excellent windows block 98% of noise. No more freeway noise!
I had to move because my upstairs neighbors were so noisy. Now we're in a upper unit. Not really a solution per se, but I sleep at night.
I get the women's size Howard Leight ear plugs. They're small for my small ears and I've been wearing them for about 6 years. You can wear them more than once. Just change them when they get gross!
I use ear plugs at night. Can't sleep without them now. By the way..LOVE that room in the picture!
I lived on the third floor on a quiet enough street, but the hospital at the end of the block, two lots from my building, had a helipad. And the parking garage was catty-corner to my apartment.
Once I learned to sleep through helicopters, one car alarm started going off from helicopter vibrations. And never stopped for about three hours.
I started using my air cleaner. Bliss.
I used to live in a place where the street sweepers woke me up a 3 am every morning and during the winter it was snow plows at around 6. After we moved I actually missed it!
if you own, add a layer of quiet rock and green glue to your ceiling. if you rent, staple up sound studio baffles, though you'll have to paint before you go. earplugs - you can get custom ones via a gun range [where people shoot] they're supposed to be the bomb.
I have my Bose speaker near my bed and have my Pandora station set to spa music. I also have ear plugs at the ready, and when it gets really bad, a dose of Tylenol PM always does the trick.
Agree with Tracy333 - can we find out more about that room?
I leave a humidifier running at night, adds just enough white noise to drown out other sounds, and adds much needed moisture to the dry air, especially in the winter.
Ditto on the air conditioner.
Sleep phones - http://www.sleepphones.com/ - best thing ever, Ilisten either to a binaural ap or the Cure album Disintegration on repeat - it has just the right beat the whole way through to help lower your heart rate.
Move to the top floor!
I live right on the ambulance/firetruck route into town and somehow, I got used to it at night. Light, however, is a major problem as I am surrounded by apartments with walkway lights lighting up the neighborhood. 75% of the light from a globe/jelly-jar/exposed wall light is wasted, shining out to other buildings. I depend on window ventilation in my unit, so blackout curtains are a must, but being in Hawaii, rare that I can keep them closed enough for a dark room. Anyone have ideas, besides A/C?
Ear plugs! The best. I can hear just enough with them in for life-saving purposes (i.e. the alarm clock and the fire alarm) and not the annoying sounds that would otherwise keep me awake.
Mike-in-Hawaii - get a sleep mask. It will change your life! I'm not kidding. I could sleep until 2 in the afternoon with that thing on. I found a nice pillowy one not restrictive or blinding, just enough to block out the light. I think I got it from Bed Bath and Beyond.
As a night-shift worker who has to deal with both light & noise I claim expert status here--I've done it for most of the last 30 years. 1) White noise. I swear by my MarPac, & when my first one died (probably choked with 25 years of cat hair) I replaced it with an identical one from Amazon. 2) A sleep mask. I just got a new neoprene mask with a shaped nose piece that leaks very little light. 3) Melatonin 3mg. Helps. 4) A ceiling fan.
I can't tolerate ear plugs, but for those who can--will you be able to hear your smoke alarm or weather radio siren? Some things you don't WANT to sleep thru!
Oh gosh, I wish it was just street noise I was contending with, but unfortunately I have a massive construction project directly across the street from me that starts at 7AM, including on Saturday mornings, and goes until 7PM. I wear earplugs, run a fan and a humidifier for white noise, and sleep on my side with a pillow over my ear and still am serenaded with sawing, drilling, hammering, and so forth every morning. I live in a dorm room on campus, so I can't move, and I can't hang heavy curtains. I don't know what else to do. I have a SHINGLES breakout - at 19 - from stress, part of which comes from the construction. I don't know what else to do. >.<
Skylark Melody- I would think you could get the college/university to move you if you are actually having a shingles breakout. Maybe not, but I'd try. And a little meditation or yoga to destress.
Mike_in_Hawaii - How about tinting your windows?
Does anyone have any specific recommendations for sourcing the noise-absorbing drapes? I found a few different companies online but would love to hear from people who actually use them!
A box fan works absolute wonderfully...I use it every night
I generally have it on the lowest setting...however, now that there is a darling mockingbird that sings right by my window I have to take it up a notch...when I really want to sleep I turn it on the highest setting...
Air purifier is great for any city pollution- air or noise.
I live in a dorm-style room but it's in my sorority house, and I'm obligated to live here this year. We're all suffering through the construction. My college did arrange for me to be able to take classes via Skype next week because shingles is contagious (though only to people who've never had chicken pox - it's super weird) and they don't want me to be like a Typhoid Mary or whatever. My dad's picking me up in the morning to take me home, so I'll have a break from the construction.
Thanks for the suggestion, though. : )
Skylark Melody: Shingles is NOT contagious and only people who have had chicken pox can get it. The virus lives in the nerve. Look it up on the Mayo Clinic site. It can last for weeks.
Hi Taureg, you're kinda sorta right about shingles, but are missing some very important facts. I actually just wrote a blog about shingles this morning, and if you're curious about what the experience of having it is like and possible home remedies to try if you or a loved one are ever afflicted with it, you're welcome to check it out: http://thesoultodare.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-have-shingles-again.html Paradoxically, when you have shingles you are highly contagious, but you cannot give anyone else shingles. If you have shingles, you can transmit the virus that causes it to others. If a person who has never had chickenpox gets VZV from you, he or she will develop chickenpox, not shingles. This is what recently caused Barbara Walters to be hospitalized for chicken pox after she shared a hug and a kiss with a friend who had shingles. Yes, you are correct that it can last for weeks, but the most agonizing part is the eruption phase, and that generally is about a week. That's why I'm heading home this morning.
This is the second time I've had shingles. I'm in remission for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which puts you more at risk for recurrent shingles. I should have gotten the shingles vaccination before, but I'd been told the chance of having another episode during my youth was slim.
I honestly hadn't anticipated that my small remark about shingles that was in part caused by the stress of construction noise would spawn additional comments that are not relevant to the article. I'm sorry for being responsible for these off-topic comments.
There's an online company at www.brainwave-entrainment.com/ (NOT the same as brainwavemind, which I don't much trust). These are subliminals that cost only $10 to download (discounts for multiples) and you get two tracks, one completely silent and the other with wave sounds.
After buying several, I was in touch with the owner and can attest that he is honest and trustworthy. He has combined several technologies so not only do you hear affirmations on your chosen subject, but also get the benefit of several different technologies that help balance left and right brain, etc.
My noise problem is actually not at night, but during the day - a local landscaping business recently installed two saws for cutting through huge rocks which is so annoying as to make me want to move. These waves not only cover the sound fairly well, but I find most of the subliminals very effective. Just as an example, though I love chocolate, I bought the "stop eating sweets/ chocolate" track, and found myself declining offers of chocolate within a day or two.
He also offers custom-made ones for about $45. I ordered one to stop drinking coke - completely effective, I haven't had a soft drink since getting the mp3 about three years ago, and I had been a complete addict before that.
@skylark: check with your local building department to see if the construction times fall within designated hours. even on campus, folks have to follow the rules. although 7-7 doesn't sound unreasonable, you never know. in my town, it's 7:30-6 and 8-5 on weekends. you could sue the construction company for violations. you'll want to document this very (very) well if there's an issue prior to making the complaint (about a week would show a pattern. if you can stand it, two would be better. a single day could be considered an anomaly).
additionally, any sorority, college, etc that would contractually force you to live in a space which is endangering your health is likely not an organization you'd want to be a part of, methinks. if the construction is a recent thing (i.e.: you didn't experience it before you planned to move in), you have a pretty good case to bail (or at least sue). if the hosue is university owned, and the construction is university designated, you might have recourse to get some soundproofing materials installed: windows, soundproof-drywall (works!), etc.
while the above seems lawsuit happy, when dealing with issues like this, it's about the only thing that's effective. that, or calling the city, who will impose fines.
per the comment above, soundproof drywall works amazingly well. even on an existing wall, you can fairly easily use a layer of green-glue or quiet-glue and install an additional layer of drywall over existing wall materials (plaster or drywall) which gives you a significant layer of sound absorbing material. i've used the brand quiet-rock in the past and their basic product, #510 (two 1/4in sheets of drywall laminated with a layer of rubbery soundproofing material in between to make a 1/2in sheet) works quite well. however, their 5/8in material is 1/4in drywall joined to 1/2in hardibacker which is very hard to work with (cut, etc.) and works only marginally better.
@redneckmodern Thanks! Good info.
I used this place about 10 years ago. Don't know if it's the same business or not. Website looks a lot different:
http://soundproofing.org
I also suggest, if you're going to redo drywall that you sandwich the soundproofing rubbery material references above between two different thickness of material (ply or drywall or whatever) -- one, say 1/2" and the other 5/8" -- the different thickness will help a lot in trapping and dissipating noise.
I'm a total fan of top floor apartment living. Have been disturbed repeatedly at night from people above in most places I've lived in, even had to move once due to such noise (24-hour drug dealers moved in above us in my first apartment in college.) Have never had noise above me when on top floor (except drug dealers on roof breaking open the hatch in our building to run down out stairs to get away from whomever was chasing them.)
I have heard noise from below when on the top floor (usually occasional loud music causing floors to vibrate), but luckily never at night, so it didn't keep me up. One top floor place was great, once I got used to the loud sirens outside. Then there was construction outside for months (jackhammers breaking up concrete), but the foam earplugs I finally tried worked wonders to let me sleep past their very early morning start up time.
Now I've got traffic noise. I don't seem to mind it, but then again, I've been waking up way too early since I moved. I haven't thought that it might be morning traffic sounds (it is kind of like white noise in the winter with the windows closed). Maybe it is time to try some earplugs again and see if that is what is waking me ... should take care of it if it is and let me sleep later.
I love the idea of doing layered window treatments for noise - I'd start with honeycomb blinds (adding the blackout layer to keep out ambient light as well), and add floor-length curtains made from heavy cotton, lined, with the heavy interlining inside, but have been reluctant to spend the hundreds needed to do up each window this way (old buildings tend to need both blinds and windows custom-sized) in the many rentals I've lived in (or even in the one place I owned, which made blinds and curtains hard to fit due to radiator placement and window gate on the fire escape window). Someday, when I feel like I'm staying for the long term, I'll indulge.
My favorite bedroom was a city top floor room that looked out into the backyards that were so heavy with trees I that I needed no window treatments at all - no sound, no light, no neighbors could see in through the trees. So maybe my long-term place will end up being my ideal, in which I'll need no window treatments, but look out on trees.
Citiquiet makes sound proof windows. I had a phone estimate done once for these windows, and surprisingly, they weren't too costly, considering what I'd get in the end—a quiet sanctuary to sleep in.
Howard Leight earplugs are industrial-grade R32s, three bucks at Dollar General, and reusable. I live on a highway and my housemate is a partially-deaf night worker whose idea of reasonable human volume is a GOP white water buffalo bellow. I also use roller shades on the bedroom windows and line the window with one layer of bubble wrap and a layer of eggcrate mattress to reduce road noise. Exercise and a serving of a fat-free milk product (if you're not allergic or diabetic) an hour before bedtime will give you better sleep.
My problem too, thinking of marching on the roof above them.
But seriously, considering bubble wrapping the ceiling.
Yes, thank you. redneckmodern!
Yes, thank you, redneckmodern!
You don't have to get a contractor to install double pane windows - you can get an acoustical window seal which you can install yourself and allows you to add an additional layer of glass. This is a good option for renters. http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/66~acoustic-window-seals
And as far as adding 'foam' to your walls, foam does not block sound, that is a myth. You need to add mass, damping compound, or isolate to create a 'floating wall'.
http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/50~audioseal-sound-barrier
Black-out curtains to block out the blinding street light just outside our bedroom window, white noise machine (from Conair - very simple) and earplugs (for the husband's snoring). :)
Moved from a top floor, side street, interior facing apartment (where I literally had NO idea what people complained about with NYC being "loud" - was perfectly quiet to me!) to second floor, avenue facing apartment above a bar and a check cashing place. The bar plays music that we can hear through our heating duct/radiator until 4am. At 6am, the check cashing place opens their grate, which is made of rust. At all hours, the redecorating elephants that live above us are stomping or shoving furniture around. And we live three doors down from a fire department.
It's taken about a year to get used to most things. The neighbors above are the worst, because it's the most unnecessary, and therefore the hardest to block out. Oh, how I was naive at my old place....
I don't have a smart phone so apps are moot for me. But I found a website that has the best nature sounds on it. And you might even like looking at the pools!
http://www.clear-water-revival.com/
I don't have a smart phone so apps are moot for me. But I found a website that has the best nature sounds on it. And you might even like looking at the pools!
http://www.clear-water-revival.com/
City living! Any recommendations for soundproofing floor against impact or footfall noise (aka two toddlers who like to run and jump!) I own my home and will be installing new hardwood floor. While I am at it, might as well try to combat this problems. My floor has 2x12 joists with OSB subfloor. Anyone with experience out there who can shed light regarding products and/or installation? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.