Additional guidance about soundproofing your home

It is more difficult to reduce noise intrusion into your outdoor areas but there are things that you can do to reduce the impact of noise.

The most common approach is to erect a fence, or wall, which acts as an acoustic barrier and blocks the direct path of the noise.

Acoustic barriers, need to block the line of sight between you and the noise source. This means that they are typically at least two meters tall but the higher it is, the more effective the barrier will be. The performance of the barrier is better if you can get it close to the noise source, or close to the area that you want to keep quiet. 

If you are to use a fence, it must have no holes it and it must go all the way to the ground and have no gaps under it. A fence will also need to be thick and typically close boarded fences are used for noise attenuation.

If you can`t put an acoustic barrier all the way around you property, you might be able to just do enough to create a small quiet area that you can enjoy.

Be aware that you might need planning permission before you build a wall or fence which is higher than 1 metre (when located by a highway) or higher than 2 metres elsewhere.

If you can`t reduce the noise enough, and it continues to be intrusive, you might be able to mask it. Outside, you could use a water feature which substitutes the instrusive noise with soothing sounds of running water.

If you do choose to mask the residual noise, be careful not to cause nuisance or annoyance to your neighbours.