Urban environments are wonderful place to live; close proximity to schools, grocery stores, and other conveniences are just some of the reasons that people choose to live in cities. Unfortunately, these very amenities can also be the source of a lot of sound pollution that leaks into your home day and night.
Sound is a complicated issue for homeowners, but we’ll try to break down some soundproofing options that can be easily built into your home to help your castle stay quiet and peaceful.
The first step is to identify what is causing noise in your area, is it the traffic on a nearby street? Also important is to check your current house design with your local contractor to see what problem areas they can help you to identify, exposed plumbing, cabinet doors in the kitchen, the AC unit. All of these come with solutions as well, and many of them can fit quite easily into your housing budget.
Kitchens
Food prep, by its nature, requires hard surfaces, this can be a problem which with a few design tweaks can be circumvented. Sound can be minimized by soft-closing hardware which will help your cabinets and drawers to close quietly. You can also select quiet appliances and plumbing (see below).
Sound can also be blocked by the installation of solid core bedroom doors that have gaskets all the way to the bottom. The majority of bedroom doors leave about 1 inch of space at the bottom for air flow so you will need to be mindful of cutting this off and creating air flow in a different way.
Plumbing Noises
Choosing a higher quality gear, plumbing valve or other component will typically guarantee that your plumbing remains quiet. A little more cost upfront for a simple fix before the problem can help you sleep a little better.
Plumbing noises can also occur when the pipes directly touch the gypsum board of the wall, leaving air space between the wall and pipe is very important so that the sound doesn’t have a direct travel path. Pipes can also create noise when they are rattling against rigid necessary metal attachments. Ask your designer if some of these attachments can be switched out for a different material, say plastic or rubber.