Building your own noise barrier near a road

[hammarfest]

Hello!

Our backyard faces a 50 road that is unpleasantly busy with cars. Our house is also on a slope, which means the road is at about chest height and reaches the ears just wonderfully cozily. Right now, it's basically impossible to sit in the backyard; when a car passes by, you can't even hear your own thoughts, then maybe 30 seconds go by, and the next car passes. It's misery.

I am going to build a noise barrier one way or another.

I started by getting a quote to get an idea of the cost; it's a 13-meter stretch that needs to be built, and it would cost me 153,000 SEK, so no thanks to that.

The next plan is to ask the municipality if they would be generous enough to build one for me since the house was built, there wasn't a major road there, but the municipality built it and closed off other roads, forcing everyone who wants to get home to use this road. I'm almost betting my little toe that they will disclaim all responsibility.

So my most likely plan is to build my own noise barrier from scratch. I'm thinking of an absorbing noise barrier (tight on the inside, slats facing the road with absorbing material in between) instead of a reflective noise barrier so the neighbors on the other side of the road don't get upset and to avoid the risk of it bouncing back.

Now I want as many tips and advice as possible on how to build the best and most effective noise barrier an amateur has ever built.

My plan is thus a tight fence towards the house, some form of moisture barrier, absorbing material in the form of rock or mineral wool, and slats on the outside. Some kind of sloped roof so the rainwater runs off nicely to one side. Board buried in the ground and attached at the bottom of the noise barrier.

Am I completely off track? Has anyone else built something similar? Do you have pictures? What are the best materials? What planks are good, pressure-treated wood? What sound-absorbing material is the best and most cost-effective? Other valuable tips and thoughts on this? Has anyone gone through a similar fight with the municipality over a noise barrier?

Thanks in advance!

 

[robpo]

Hi!

I'm facing the same problem. Read a description on gds.se.
How did you solve it?

 

[Claes Sörmland]

At its core, a noise barrier must be completely sealed; the slightest gap, and sound seeps through. It must be heavy (to absorb longer sound waves) and can contain absorbing materials not only to reflect the shorter sound waves but also to absorb them. And the higher it is, the better, of course.

Since noise protection is an entire science, I would go with a known construction. If you can't get a blueprint, I would simply go out and measure a professionally constructed noise barrier. The unfortunate part is that they are often costly to erect in concrete and steel. But they are at least designed to reflect and absorb the right wavelengths of sound from traffic.

 

[TypRätt]

Have you checked how the municipality views the whole thing? A building permit is required as well. There are also clear regulations regarding how much noise is allowed for new construction, although that doesn't apply to yours, if the municipality has rerouted traffic so that you are now above approved noise levels, it's not impossible that they might be forced to solve the problem for you. At the very least, it gives you reason to be able to demand a building permit for a remedial construction.

 

[hammarfest]

Hello! We haven't resolved it yet, but that's the plan for this year. We requested a noise measurement last year, and they concluded that the noise levels are too high, so we are entitled to some form of compensation. However, I think it's a maximum of 1000 SEK per meter. I don't know how we will get the municipality to pay for the whole thing.

Another problem we face is that the neighbors next door probably won't be able to afford to build a similar fence, we live in chain houses, so then the noise will come in there.

 

[robpo]

Hello! We haven't solved it yet, but it's the plan for this year. We requested a noise measurement last year, and they concluded that the noise levels are too high, so we are entitled to some form of compensation. However, I believe it's a maximum of 1000 kr per meter. I don't know how we will get the municipality to pay for the whole project.

Another problem we face is that the neighbors next door probably won't be able to afford to build a similar fence; we live in terraced houses, so the sound will come in there.

I understand, I hope you get the municipality to help.

What does it look like for you? Is there constant traffic? How was the measurement done? It seems difficult to reach those daily average values they set...

 

[hammarfest]

I understand, hope you get the municipality to help.

What does it look like for you? Is there constant traffic? How was the measurement done? It seems difficult to reach those average values over the day that they have set up...

I counted all vehicles passing by on a weekday evening between 5-6 PM, there were 200 vehicles, of which 8 were buses. They sound the worst; they have such a deep rumbling that it feels like the whole house is vibrating. So, there are quite a few cars. The road is about 11 meters from the back wall of our house.

Unclear how they measured exactly, I saw they had put out those black hoses on the ground, probably to measure the number of cars and speed.

Then we got an email stating it is too high and we are entitled to a grant. However, I suspect the grant is about 1000 kr per meter.

 

[robpo]

I counted all the vehicles that passed by on a weekday evening between 17-18, it was 200 vehicles of which 8 were buses. They sound the worst, they have such a deep rumble that it feels like the whole house vibrates. So there are quite a few cars. The road is about 11 meters from the house wall at our backside.

Unclear how they measured exactly, I saw that they had placed those black hoses on the ground, probably to measure the number of cars and speed.

Then we got an email saying it's too loud and we have the right to a grant. However, I suspect the grant is 1000 kr per meter.

Interesting. So they measured the number of cars and not the noise? Do they have any real value on the number of cars? We have something similar...
How did you justify such a measurement and where do you turn to? Unfortunately, our road is not municipal, so you might have to turn to Trafikverket. We've also had a completely new area built which uses the road by us and moreover, not everyone adheres to the speed limits....