Best Home Fence to Install for Noise Abatement
If you buy a home that is next to a busy road or in a high-traffic area, you probably expect a little noise. However, sometimes, the noise you were expecting, and the noise you get are two very different things.
Likewise, sometimes the home you bought in a quiet, peaceful area might have changed over the years as new roads and routes are built. If you’re looking for the best home fence to install for noise abatement, this article is for you.
What Is a Noise Abatement Fence?
Noise abatement fence or noise attenuation fence as it’s also known, is a type of fence that’s often installed along busy roads and urban highways to dampen the noise from traffic and other activity for homes adjacent to the road or route in question.
Living with lots of noise can be unpleasant, but sometimes, as cities grow and change, it’s impossible to avoid these kinds of roads and thoroughfares.Or you might have a new development that includes commercial spaces or even a school built near your home, that changes the noise profile of the neighborhood.
Usually, if a new road is going to be built through your area, the city will take steps to minimize additional noise for residents by installing its own noise attenuation fence. However, if the noise levels in your area have simply grown over time, you might find yourself responsible for installing your own noise abatement fence.
How Does Noise Abatement Fence Work?
As you probably know, sound travels in waves. There is science and geometry behind it, which means that the sound generated on roads and highways will travel in a predictable direction and at a predictable angle.
Even though we can’t see sound waves, they are a physical phenomenon, and they can be blocked or broken up by physical structures. This is why soundproofed rooms often have strangely shaped panels on the walls – when they break up the sound waves; they keep the noise inside the room.
Noise abatement fences or noise attenuation fences work the same way by giving the sound waves something to bounce off and break up against.
What Are the Best Materials for Noise Abatement Fences?
When it comes to choosing materials for a noise abatement fence, you want to choose something that is solid and in a full privacy style.
Materials like wood, precast concrete and composite fencing are all good options, provided they are installed in a full privacy design, with minimal spaces between the boards. Thicker materials usually work better than thinner fence types, so corrugated metal fencing, for instance, might not work for this type of fence system.
Height Is a Factor
While you certainly have many different options when it comes to materials, the one common factor all noise abatement fences share is that they are usually quite high.
Often, noise abatement fences can be as high as 8 feet or 2.4 meters or even 10 feet or 3 meters. Again, the height and design of the fence are usually affected by the geometry of the roadway, the position of the homes, and similar factors.
In most cases, residential fences aren’t usually that high, so if you do want to install a noise abatement fence at your home, you might need to get special permission to do so. In some cases, you might only get permission to install a higher-than-normal fence along one fence line, depending on how your property is laid out and where the source of the noise is located.
Finding Noise Abatement Fence Companies
Noise abatement fences are a fairly specialist type of fence system, so it’s not something every fence company can do.
If you are looking for a fence company that can design, supply, and install a noise abatement fence for your home, be sure to look for one who has experience in this area. That way, they will be able to guide you through the process and help you to choose the most effective fence for your property.
