If you have noisy neighbors or you live right next to a busy road, you might find it difficult to relax in your home. When there is always a lot of noise coming from the outside, it’s impossible to unwind and it can make it hard to sleep, which is affecting your health.
Excess noise can also contribute to stress as it stops you from relaxing at the end of a hard day at work, so it’s important that you do something about it. If you have a problem with noise in your home, these are some of the best ways to tackle it.
Doors And Windows
The first place to start is with the doors and windows. If you have wooden windows with a single pane of glass, they let in a lot of noise. The same goes for a thin door that has a lot of gaps around it. But if you upgrade your windows and doors, you can usually sort out your noise problem. Install double or triple glazed windows and they will block out the majority of the noise from outside the house. You should also replace the door with something heavy that has a solid core. As well as blocking out the noise, better doors and windows will help you save money on your energy bills, so they will pay for themselves over time.
Watch For Gaps
Any small gaps around the house will let cold air in, and they’ll also let noise through. You don’t always realize how much difference these tiny gaps can make, but it’s important that you plug them. Underneath doors is a common problem area, and you should also put a draft excluder over the letterbox if you have one. If you have an old fireplace that doesn’t get used, you should consider having it blocked up because that’s letting a lot of noise in as well. Once you draft proof the house, you’ll find that a lot of that noise goes away.
Use Thick Curtains
You can add another layer of protection to the windows if you use thick curtains instead of blinds. Blinds are great and they look good, but they’re not very good for keeping noise out. But a set of thick curtains will soak up a lot of the noise pollution that is not blocked out by the windows.
Reconsider Room Layout
In some cases, you will not be able to block out all of the noise in the house. If you live right by a main road, for example, you will always get some noise pollution. In that case, it’s important that you consider the room layout and place certain rooms in the quieter areas of the home. For example, if you are setting up a home office, that needs to be somewhere with less noise pollution. The same goes for the bedrooms, so you can sleep properly. But living areas where you will be watching TV, for example, don’t matter quite as much because you don’t need complete silence in those rooms.
These are the best changes that you can make if you want to deal with noise pollution in your home and get some peace and quiet.