Garden wall as noise barrier

[Artisan]

Going off at a tangent slightly, have you considered a living willow wall? From what I remember, it is two parallel fences woven from willow cuttings, that root into the ground and become a living willow hedge. The space between them is filled with earth to form a fairly solid, and reasonably soundproof wall. The higways agency has used them next to new roads as environmentally friendly sound deadening measures.

Red Ken's Guide to Greening London has a bit about them...

http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor....ext.pdf


"In certain circumstances living, woody material can be used as a structural component. A new concept in green walls is that of a soil bank held together with a framework of willow cuttings which sprout to form a hedge. The wall is erected in stages one metre high, with willow uprights supporting a basket weave of willow on the outside and soil inside. Cross
members hold the two sides together. A second layer is established on top and so on until the desired height is achieved. An irrigation system is buried within the soil to ensure a luxuriant growth of willow, which is usually achieved within three months of planting. The willow wall is particularly effective at absorbing noise, with a three metre wall providing nearly twice the protection of that of a simple earth bund of similar height. Where noise levels are high frequency and are being emitted from a stationary source (rather than from road or rail traffic) then the effects can be even more dramatic. The willow wall also has the advantage of providing its own rather more soothing sound when the wind gently rustles the leaves."

[t5nel]

Thanks for the comments guys...

Gneral answers below

It really comes down to height of the barrier and how heavy/solid it is apparently. For this reason no plants will really have much impact.

It does sound like a rendered concrete block wall would be the cheapest way to do this so I will start looking into this more.

The willow walls look fantastic but they cost well into the 10's of thousands. I asked, just for a laugh, for a quote and they gave me an indicative price of £30k for 50m...

I am alos going to look into the planning permission stuff because there are a couple of people on the same road who have got fences up to 8 foot height. It was my understanding that the pp rules for fences next to highways are mainly there so driver visibility is not impaired and so that cowboys don't put up a 10 foot wall that collapses on the pavement and crushes someone. In this case hopefully these things would be a non issue.

The quest goes on

Thanks
Tim

[lutonlagerlout]

TBH Tim i live in south luton directly under the flightpath for luton airport and about 300 m from M1 jct 10,after a while you dont notice the noise,i had a mate from oxford stay and he nearly shat himself when we were sitting in the garden and a plane flew over only 200 m up,all we do is stop talking for a minute then carry on
its just a question of acclimatising to the noise.
if you have to spend 10 k because it annoys you that much. you are maybe better off moving to an idyllic village or something (cockerels,tractors and the smell of slurry plus hayfever)
cheers LLL

[mouldmaker]

I had to research acoustic walling some time back, and it's a nightmare.

Best solution (according to 'experts') is a double walled steel fence sandwiching acoustic foam. Ideally 3m high, built on a 3m bund. Bit impractical, huh?

Expert advice (not mine, I'm just a common or garden eejit!) is that anything under 3m will not have much of an effect. Wooden fencing as seen down the sides of motorways is very effective, as the wood absorbs and deadens noise (which is why Tony's block wall was timber-faced, I'm guessing).

3m is not clever, and nor are planners - they insisted that to shield my factory from the new housing development built on the boundary I'd need 3m acoustic fencing. For which I'd need planning permission. Which the residents would object to (who wants a 3m fence at the bottom of the garden cutting the sunlight out?) so we wouldn't get permission so the residents (who moved in next to an existing factory) would complain about the noise which could only be abated by a 3m fence which we couldnt have because the residents would object. But if we didn't take steps to abate noise (ie by erecting a 3m fence we weren't allowed to erect...) they could put an abatement order on us and ultimately close us down.

Logical? Only in planning.



Edited By mouldmaker on 1174641598

[ABILITY]

Have looked at various options for sound barriers - some clients become obcessed by reducing even the slightest noise!

As you state its mass that matters - the more dense the better and no gaps.

Can build you own fence with layers of timber rails set at right angles to each other to make up thickness the clad.

Also seen railway sleepers between rsj posts - same idea as the concrete base panels - then whole sleeper wall then faced in vertical edge boards , or what ever you fancy.

As you realise now no cheap options.