Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies, with
the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
difference. Many thanks for any help.

In article ,
"Hoodoo" writes:
|
| I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
| noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
| planting/building a wall etc?
| I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
| olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies, with
| the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
| difference. Many thanks for any help.

For the low frequency rumbles, you are dead. Forget them.

You need either a wall or a dense, thick hedge (typically evergreens
and yards thick, not feet). It also needs to be higher the further
you want it to work as a barrier - I don't know the physics offhand,
sorry.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message
"Hoodoo" wrote:

Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies, with
the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
difference. Many thanks for any help.

That is broadly correct. Trees and vegetation in general don't cut
down the noise very much. Walls and earthen embankments do. Unlike
light, noise does go round corners, but only weakly so. Most of the
noise is line-of-sight. Remember that most of the noise is from the
tyres hitting the tarmac, NOT the engine (just listen to it. What do
you hear?) so if the line of sight from the road surface to your eyes
(quite close to your ears) is blocked, then you've done all you
reasonably can.

Michael Bell







--

"Hoodoo" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies,
with the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
difference. Many thanks for any help.

I'm pretty sure that after a while you'll not even notice it.

I remember my brother bought a house in Grimsby which was about 30 yards
away from the main train line. The first time I slept there I was
shockingly awoken at 6.15am by the thunderous roar of a train - sounded like
it was coming through the house!!. The next day at 6.15, the same...and the
next... and the next etc. Turned out it was the ONLY London bound Intercity
125 that ran from Grimsby per day, accelerating as it left the station!
Within a few weeks though, I was merrily sleeping through it - even in the
summer with the windows open!!

In article ,
Michael Bell writes:
|
| That is broadly correct. Trees and vegetation in general don't cut
| down the noise very much. Walls and earthen embankments do.

Actually, they do, but it depends a great deal on the thickness
(obviously) and the frequency. Even a 6' hedge of heavy evergreens
cuts out a LOT of the high-frequency noise. A 2' hedge of beech,
privet or hawthorn may as well not be there.

| Unlike
| light, noise does go round corners, but only weakly so. Most of the
| noise is line-of-sight. Remember that most of the noise is from the
| tyres hitting the tarmac, NOT the engine (just listen to it. What do
| you hear?)[*] so if the line of sight from the road surface to your
| eyes (quite close to your ears) is blocked, then you've done all you
| reasonably can.

The lower the frequency, the more sound 'bends'. That is why you
can do very little about the rumble.

[*] In my case, almost bugger all, but that isn't the point :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 2 Mar, 21:22, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article , Michael Bell writes:

|
| That is broadly correct. Trees and vegetation in general don't cut
| down the noise very much. Walls and earthen embankments do.

Actually, they do, but it depends a great deal on the thickness
(obviously) and the frequency. Even a 6' hedge of heavy evergreens
cuts out a LOT of the high-frequency noise. A 2' hedge of beech,
privet or hawthorn may as well not be there.

| Unlike
| light, noise does go round corners, but only weakly so. Most of the
| noise is line-of-sight. Remember that most of the noise is from the
| tyres hitting the tarmac, NOT the engine (just listen to it. What do
| you hear?)[*] so if the line of sight from the road surface to your
| eyes (quite close to your ears) is blocked, then you've done all you
| reasonably can.

The lower the frequency, the more sound 'bends'. That is why you
can do very little about the rumble.

[*] In my case, almost bugger all, but that isn't the point :-)

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Sounds like a job the dreaded Leylandii, after all a Leylandii hedge
seems to prevent the people who have planted it from hearing all the
things their neighbours on the other side of the hedge are saying
about them.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

In article om,
"Dave Hill" writes:
|
| Sounds like a job the dreaded Leylandii, after all a Leylandii hedge
| seems to prevent the people who have planted it from hearing all the
| things their neighbours on the other side of the hedge are saying
| about them.

Right in one. The previously favoured plant was laurel, which is
pretty comparable.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Hoodoo" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies,
with the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
difference. Many thanks for any help.



Go for a walled garden as pretty much already advised. The mass of the wall
will reflect most of the incident sound. Some will diffract over the top,
the lower the frequency of the noise the more it wil diffract. It's all to
do with the size of the obstacle to the wavelength of the sound. A wave of
length similar to or larger than the obstacle it encounters will bend around
it, so a six foot wall will not attenuate noise below 170Hz very much.

Dense vegetation will partially reflect and partially absorb sound but it
has to be pretty extensive to do that. Who knows what the exact results
would be.

Andy

"Hoodoo" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies,
with the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
difference. Many thanks for any help.

No hands on experience to offer I'm afraid, but loads on info on the web:
http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/...alls-about.asp general info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_barrier general info
http://www.instahedge.co.uk/support/...stahedge.shtml hedges
http://www.rockdelta.com/sw49325.asp ideas
http://www.epd.gov.hk/eia/hb/materia...rGLMar2001.doc technical stuff
"~)

HTH Jenny

"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
In message
"Hoodoo" wrote:

Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies,
with
the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
difference. Many thanks for any help.

That is broadly correct. Trees and vegetation in general don't cut
down the noise very much. Walls and earthen embankments do. Unlike
light, noise does go round corners, but only weakly so. Most of the
noise is line-of-sight. Remember that most of the noise is from the
tyres hitting the tarmac, NOT the engine (just listen to it. What do
you hear?) so if the line of sight from the road surface to your eyes
(quite close to your ears) is blocked, then you've done all you
reasonably can.

Michael Bell


If you couple the above with I what would term distraction techniques such
as
rustley plants like bamboo or tinkling water that can help also.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea

"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"Hoodoo" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from a
noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the noise by
planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid frequencies,
with the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries, if that makes any
difference. Many thanks for any help.

No hands on experience to offer I'm afraid, but loads on info on the web:
http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/...alls-about.asp general info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_barrier general info
http://www.instahedge.co.uk/support/...stahedge.shtml hedges
http://www.rockdelta.com/sw49325.asp ideas
http://www.epd.gov.hk/eia/hb/materia...rGLMar2001.doc technical
stuff "~)

HTH Jenny


Many thanks to everyone for all the info!

Hoodoo wrote:
Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from
a noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the
noise by planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid
frequencies, with the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries,
if that makes any difference. Many thanks for any help.

You will never succedd in blocking the noise.

Instead use the same principle that allows you filter/focus in on a single
conversation in a busy crowd of people.

A screen of bamboo sets up a continuous rustle in even a slight breeze, a
water feature gurgles comfortingly, with those in the physical and aural
foreground the road noise will be less prominent even though hot reduced.

pk

On 3/3/07 12:35, in article , "p.k."
wrote:

Hoodoo wrote:
Hello,
I'm thinking of buying a house that is about a quarter of a mile from
a noisy bypass (A41) - is there any effective way of reducing the
noise by planting/building a wall etc?
I've heard that a solid, dense structure such as a wall is the best
olution - has anybody tried this? The sound is mainly mid
frequencies, with the occasional low-frequency rumble from lorries,
if that makes any difference. Many thanks for any help.

You will never succedd in blocking the noise.

Instead use the same principle that allows you filter/focus in on a single
conversation in a busy crowd of people.

A screen of bamboo sets up a continuous rustle in even a slight breeze, a
water feature gurgles comfortingly, with those in the physical and aural
foreground the road noise will be less prominent even though hot reduced.

pk

Or don't buy the house on the grounds that the agent now extolling its
virtues, will, when you wish to sell it, pull a long face over the noise
factor!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)