Road noise is a given when you live in a big city, especially if you live right next to a highway or a street with a lot of traffic. Depending on how well-insulated your home is, you may even hear the sound of cars speeding past or honking inside your home, which can be even more of a nuisance while you’re trying to sleep.
There are a few modifications that can be made to homes to help reduce highway and road noise. These include upgrading window curtains to soundproof curtains, installing double-glazed windows and thicker doors, putting up a thick perimeter fence, and mounting acoustic foam panels to the walls.
To learn more about these methods of home modifications to help reduce road noise and how to implement them, continue reading!
Why You’ll Have to Soundproof Your Home
If you live in a big city or near a busy street, there’s really nothing you can do to stop the noise from happening. The noise isn’t going to get quieter over time, either.
You can’t always control the fact that you live near a highway, whether it was the only home that fit your needs and budget or the highway was constructed next to your home after you moved in.
Because you can’t do anything to prevent all the cars from making noise in the first place, you’ll instead need to make modifications to your home to help reduce the noise of traffic inside your home.
Loud noise from highways and road traffic is inevitable, and the only way to keep this noise from disturbing your peace or your sleep, you’ll need to take soundproofing measures to your home or apartment. Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can do this, some easier and less extensive than others, that will help make your home more liveable and peaceful, especially if moving away isn’t an option.
Hanging Up Soundproofing Curtains
Most of the road noise you hear inside your home comes through the window, so you can reduce it by hanging up soundproofing curtains. These look just like normal curtains, except they absorb noise so that it doesn’t travel through and to your ears.
Many of these curtains also prevent light from coming through, which is great for when you want a quiet room that also stays dark during the day when you have the curtains closed.
You can hang up these curtains to block noise and light from coming through each of the windows of your home or apartment, or simply just hang one above the window that faces the busy street or highway. These are inexpensive and easy to put up, and your visitors won’t even be able to tell that you’re trying to soundproof your home.
If your windows just have blinds and no curtain rod, you may have to install a curtain rod to hang the curtain, which takes basic construction skills. If you live in an apartment, keep in mind that some landlords may not want holes drilled or nailed into the walls, so you may be charged for installing a curtain rod.
Instead, you can use a tension rod or a no-drill adhesive curtain rod holder. Keep in mind that soundproof curtains are made of thicker, heavier material than normal curtains, so such alternatives may not hold up your curtain well if it gets tugged.
Installing Thicker Doors and Double-Glazed Windows
If you prefer not to use soundproof curtains, or the soundproof curtains alone don’t do the trick, you can reduce road noise coming through your windows by replacing your single-glazed windows with double-glazed windows.
These are windows that are made up of two panes of glass layered next to each other, which helps reduce both sound and cold air from passing through the glass. If you already have double-glazed windows, and the noise is still coming through them, you can replace them with triple-glazed windows instead.
The fewer panes of glass you have, the more sound can pass through the glass. This can be a bit of an expensive soundproof modification to your home, as replacing windows is an extensive task, you can just replace the windows on the one wall that faces the highway if the sound is your only concern.
Whether you replace your windows or not, you can also add adhesive insulation tape to the edges of your window, which will further prevent sound waves from traveling through the cracks of your window. Remember that this insulation can prevent you from easily opening your window in case of an emergency.
Another method of muffling traffic noise is replacing your existing exterior doors with thicker doors. Oftentimes, thinner doors can cause noise to pass through, so sometimes a thicker door will do the trick.
This is also an expensive replacement and a long process to get a door sized and installed. Whether you choose to install a new door or not, you can further insulate the sound from the outside by installing a weather strip to the bottom of your door.
Mounting Acoustic Panels
Another way to prevent road noise from passing through the walls of your home is mounting acoustic foam panels to your walls. These panels are made of foam and help absorb sounds both inside out and outside in.
These are lightweight, cheap, and easy to mount, and many acoustic panels have an adhesive backing that you can simply stick to your walls, otherwise, you can use gorilla double-sided tape or command strips, which can easily be removed. The only downside to using these is that they may not be the most aesthetically pleasing if you hang mount them to your living room walls.
This is why it’s recommended that you mount them in your bedroom on the wall closest to the highway. The bedroom is probably the place you want to soundproof the most, as this is where you want the most peace and quiet for sleeping.
We would recommend using one of the window soundproofing methods in these rooms as well, such as double-glazed windows, soundproof curtains, or soundproof insulation.
Putting a Thick Fence Around Your Home
The final method of soundproofing your home, especially if you want to reduce noise pollution in your yard, is installing a tall and thick wooden fence around the perimeter of your property. You can do this around the front and back of your yard, or just your backyard.
This is also a good idea if you have pets or children and want to keep them safe from the busy street near you. Additionally, you can plant a variety of plants or trees around the interior perimeter of this wooden fence, which will not only help it look pretty but it will also help to muffle the sound of cars passing by your house.
