Noise noise noise help help help

[accord25]

I have a few loud bars across the street from me. I put car sound deadening material on the windows. Did away with about 90% of the noise. The acoustic foam did nothing 

[tomazbodner]

10 hours ago, Pilotman said:

move

I'll say that after suffering this very problem for years, I've followed Pilotman's advice even before he posted it.

 

It's not just noise, it's vibrations as well (and to add to that I was next to the rail which heavy trucks crossed at night, shaking entire building). It's not fun, and after changing to double glazed windows, filled frames with some foam lookalike that was supposed to minimise noise, insulating walls, earplugs (great idea - they gave me ear infection) I just gave up. High up, maybe 100m from the road now with some buildings in between - it is blessed silence.

[fishtank]

10 hours ago, Pilotman said:

move

To where?

Another noisy place in Thailand.

Thais love noise so it aint gonna stop anytime soon.

 

[murraynz]

3 hours ago, Oldie said:

I am that far that I can't sleep without earplugs anymore even if it is completely quiet. Important is to try many different versions to find out the one that you like most. I have some made of a kind of rubber. Block perfectly and hold forever. Foam versions for instance I did not like and they don't block good enough - not good enough for Pattaya... 

I live at cosy beach,6 mins from pattaya.

I have NO noise problem,never shut my condo ranchsliders or windows.

Occasionally dogs bark,occasionaly bar below,is noisy,like once per month,thats it. Very pleasant,no tour buses now,making noise as they climb up the hill in mornings..

[khunPer]

10 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

I am not an acoustic guy, but do I need to cover the walls as well? We tried egg cartons, too.

Yes, these solution are for acoustics, i.e. reflection of sound waves, you however need sound insulation, and that's a different matter. To insulate from outside (or inside) sound you need heavy material like stones, bricks (aerated concrete works very well), solid concrete, thick glass (6 mm or more, best double layer 8 mm laminated 8, i.e. thick thermo-glass), and all openings sealed.

 

Ceiling might be a problem, but you a thick layer of mineral wool on top of the ceiling-board to make it work, 100 mm to 300 mm.

 

Without details it can be difficult with specific suggestions for solutions, as sound can find even small openings to get through, so not enough doing some heavy stuff on one side, if "the backdoor" is left open. Other times acoustic solutions can help by reducing sound waves' reflections to its find way inside.

[ThailandRyan]

Just buy a white noise device and you will be good to go.  Here is an article to read.

Do White Noise Machines Really Work to Help You Sleep? | Time

[Peterphuket]

The best earplugs are the tailer-made from silicone, they close perfectly, I don't know where to order in Thailand.

The one I have are made in Europe more than 10 years ago and still ok.

[JetsetBkk]

 

17 minutes ago, khunPer said:

as sound can find even small openings to get through

 

I use thick plywood on both windows in the main bedroom. Between the plywood and the wall there is a layer of rubber draft excluder to close any gaps. Six screws on the sides and four on the top and bottom hold it all in place. 

The windows are never opened and the wood is hidden behind the curtains, which are also never opened.

I did this in one house in Chalong (noisy neighbour) and now in my current house in Rawai (noisy roosters).

 

[impulse]

Years ago when I was a kid, my family moved from a busy city street to the 'burbs.  Couldn't sleep for weeks because it was so quiet.

 

Had a similar experience in college when economics had me living in a wood frame house less than 50 meters from a train track.  Initially, the train going by at 6:00 AM was an excellent alarm clock to get up for those 8:00 classes.  After a month, it didn't work...  Slept right through it.

 

Give it time before you go crazy spending on solutions.

 

[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

You got 3 options. Earplugs, move or after about 2 years you get used to it. Bet your Thai wife sleeps ok.????❤????????

[brianthainess]

Many years ago in the UK, the neighbors baby was keeping me awake, i hung a nice blanket on the wall, hey presto no more sleepless nights for me. As for fitting extra window, most towns have a company making them, they will come measure, return and fit, large sliding doors are roughly 10,000b.

[Orton Rd]

14 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

All those so-called noise blocking bs that you read in the internet don't work. 

 

I have tried some of these and it doesn't work.

 

The noise go through ceiling, window panes, and cracks on wall or gaps of windows.

 

Earplugs cause itchiness after some time and only block soft noise not loud noise so don't listen to some readers here.

 

The solution is to move.

 

 

Foam earplugs cause itchiness, wax one don't and are far more effective, silicone are no good for long use as they break up.

[hotchilli]

23 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

We moved to a shophouse where the bedroom faces the main street. Enough said!!!

 

I have tried the large square foam (labeled noise cancelling) from homepro and baan &, with supposedly noise reducing foam (so a double layer). Nothing. The room has 3 windows and a balcony door. All filled with these stuff. Nothing.

 

I am not an acoustic guy, but do I need to cover the walls as well? We tried egg cartons, too.

 

Short of building a layer of the insulating foam used on ceilings and then adding another wall layer, I am at a loss. 

 

Any ideas?

Move?

[EricTh]

45 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Foam earplugs cause itchiness, wax one don't and are far more effective, silicone are no good for long use as they break up.

 

Foam are the most common at pharmacies. Where can I buy the wax ones?

 

The pharmacists usually have no clue. 

[Tropposurfer]

14 hours ago, Oldie said:

Double glazing alone will not change much. Noise cancellation / reduction with windows is a science. You need to have panes of different thickness with a minimum distance apart. You can fill heavy gas between the panes. But in the end it depends on the frequency of the sound. Deep frequencies are very hard and expensive to block. I have special double windows with more than 2 cm glass thickness in total. But when it comes to deep noisy bass frequencies this is not enough. 

 

14 hours ago, Oldie said:

Double glazing alone will not change much. Noise cancellation / reduction with windows is a science. You need to have panes of different thickness with a minimum distance apart. You can fill heavy gas between the panes. But in the end it depends on the frequency of the sound. Deep frequencies are very hard and expensive to block. I have special double windows with more than 2 cm glass thickness in total. But when it comes to deep noisy bass frequencies this is not enough. 

Didn't say that double glazing stop all frequencies, but it is however a highly effective mens of curbing a large degree of noise that passes almost straight through single pane glass by the process of using the pane itself as a sound membrane much like a hifi speaker does. The science proves this to be true. Noise abatement is a collection of amendments, never one single simple product. Don't forget the roof Bangkok Barry ????  The products produced by CSR and Hardie Products is single panelling and highly scientifically designed and works very well.

[Oztruckie]

I believe there's a pommie mob that make a titanium and aluminium type of ear plugs with a foam seal on the outside of them,not cheap but might be worth looking into,don't know if were're allowed to post company names here or not,the company is called flare audio,try googling them.

[Orton Rd]

3 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

Foam are the most common at pharmacies. Where can I buy the wax ones?

 

The pharmacists usually have no clue. 

Boots at the Emporium were where I bought last Monday 99 baht, no way foam stops much noise, wax you can mold into the ear

[Somtamnication]

A lot to read and all good suggestions,  especially to move.

 

To answer some of the questions:

Move. We moved from a normal house to a shophouse to try to supplement covid-hit finances. The shophouse allows wife to do her Thai thing in the mornings and I will eventually plan to open up a small Spanish-South American restaurant. The location smack on Chao Fa Road. We took advantage of the a 5k rent reduction due to so many empty locations.

Why rent? Finances and deposit $$ for buying a house are just too prohibiting at the mo.

Acoustic foam. We sealed all the windows and the doors (door on both sides) and window one both sides, while the other 2 windows on one side as they are both away from the balcony and  unreachable.

 

The plywood idea as a second wall, adding a 2nd. thicker glass pane to all 3 windows is the other option, budget permitting.

 

Interesting reads. The other suggestion of adding bar girls to drown the noise would not work, as I will eventually believe that I am a hansum man and wife will cut my ##$* off!

 

[RocketDog]

On 2/11/2021 at 9:57 AM, Somtamnication said:

We moved to a shophouse where the bedroom faces the main street. Enough said!!!

 

I have tried the large square foam (labeled noise cancelling) from homepro and baan &, with supposedly noise reducing foam (so a double layer). Nothing. The room has 3 windows and a balcony door. All filled with these stuff. Nothing.

 

I am not an acoustic guy, but do I need to cover the walls as well? We tried egg cartons, too.

 

Short of building a layer of the insulating foam used on ceilings and then adding another wall layer, I am at a loss. 

 

Any ideas?

One issue that may prove insurmountable is that the walls themselves are vibrating sympathetically with the street no use, especially low frequencies, which are difficult to dampen. Indeed, the entire structure is probably vibrating. 

 

Elephants and whales use subsonic VLF to communicate over tens or even hundreds of miles.

On the sixth floor of my university engineering building we floated massive granite slabs on inner tubes to make laser holograms which required minimum vibrations. This is not recommended for your entire  building. 

 

I'm not an acoustic engineer but as you've already found, traditional solutions have failed. I seriously doubt you will find a 'magic bullet' for this problem. 

[Oldie]

7 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

Foam are the most common at pharmacies. Where can I buy the wax ones?

 

The pharmacists usually have no clue. 

 

This is a collection of earplugs I have. For your understanding - I live in Central Pattaya. I wished I had only a train station in my neighbourhood... 

 

The most I like the orange ones from Save Drug. 4 in a pack for 80 Baht. They block very well. They can be washed and they hold forever. You can also look in Home Pro. Here in Pattaya they have many. 

 

[adammike]

5 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Boots at the Emporium were where I bought last Monday 99 baht, no way foam stops much noise, wax you can mold into the ear

The foam ones work perfectly,add on my Bose noise cancelling headphones it's total silence.

[EricTh]

1 hour ago, Oldie said:

 

This is a collection of earplugs I have. For your understanding - I live in Central Pattaya. I wished I had only a train station in my neighbourhood... 

 

The most I like the orange ones from Save Drug. 4 in a pack for 80 Baht. They block very well. They can be washed and they hold forever. You can also look in Home Pro. Here in Pattaya they have many. 

 

 

Yeah, I used to have those orange foam ones. It only blocks soft noise and not loud noise.

 

After a while, my ear gets itchy. I'm now looking for the wax ones that somebody recommend.

 

[Oldie]

7 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Yeah, I used to have those orange foam ones. It only blocks soft noise and not loud noise.

 

After a while, my ear gets itchy. I'm now looking for the wax ones that somebody recommend.

 

 

Try the ones that are in these 4 pieces a pack. I guess they are silicone. Cut this thing shorter where you can pull them out of the ear. They are very hygienic since you can wash them and they even block deep frequencies. But if you are not used to earplugs it might take some nights to get used to them. So don't give up too soon. I cannot sleep without them anymore even if it is completely quiet. 

[Tropposurfer]

I agree with Pmbkk's post to you Somna'cation. You can spend tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of baht on sound proofing but there will still be noise. If you build a sound studio quality room, or rooms, it will be like a tomb anyway and who wants to live in a space like that?!

I'd do as advised by PMbkk and a few others and move. If you've got plenty of money, and really love the place that much, and like the idea of remodelling then get an architect gut the building, reconfigure and rebuild inside the shell.

A cool, really well re-designed, and refurbished shop house in beautiful condition would be a good investment long term. 

[bojo]

On 2/11/2021 at 2:24 PM, ThailandRyan said:

Just buy a white noise device and you will be good to go.  Here is an article to read.

Do White Noise Machines Really Work to Help You Sleep? | Time

For sleep, this is defo the best solution IMO too. I have cockerels nearby and use a laptop by the bed with youtube vids of rain etc, so many to chose from nowadays..................

[Oldie]

1 hour ago, bojo said:

For sleep, this is defo the best solution IMO too. I have cockerels nearby and use a laptop by the bed with youtube vids of rain etc, so many to chose from nowadays..................

Perhaps I should try this too here in Pattaya. Rain - I could try to imagine that the deep noisy basses of the bars are the thunder. Almost romantic then.

[Andre0720]

On 2/11/2021 at 5:34 PM, EricTh said:

 

All those so-called noise blocking bs that you read in the internet don't work. 

 

I have tried some of these and it doesn't work.

 

The noise go through ceiling, window panes, and cracks on wall or gaps of windows.

 

Earplugs cause itchiness after some time and only block soft noise not loud noise so don't listen to some readers here.

 

The solution is to move.

 

 

Of course moving is the optimal option.

My apartment is facing the main road here, so it has become noisy through the years, commensurate with the stultification of the average inhabitant of this wonderful country.

And the best earplug I ever found is dipping a piece of a cotton ball in olive oil, and pushing it inside my ears, until I hear just about nothing. Works wonder, outside noise, gf, wife...

[Andre0720]

On 2/12/2021 at 6:55 PM, EricTh said:

 

Yeah, I used to have those orange foam ones. It only blocks soft noise and not loud noise.

 

After a while, my ear gets itchy. I'm now looking for the wax ones that somebody recommend.

 

Of course moving is the optimal option.

My apartment is facing the main road here, so it has become noisy through the years, commensurate with the stultification of the average inhabitant of this wonderful country.

And the best earplug I ever found is dipping a piece of a cotton ball in olive oil, and pushing it inside my ears, until I hear just about nothing. Works wonder, outside noise, gf, wife...

[Badrabbit]

Lived in my house for many years, recently Thais have made a business in the house right behind us, music, machinery, constantly slamming doors, shouting etc I'm learning to live with it,  cannot get into dispute with them as I'm sure it would turn ugly quickly!

[jayceenik]

On 3/11/2021 at 7:00 AM, Badrabbit said:

Lived in my house for many years, recently Thais have made a business in the house right behind us, music, machinery, constantly slamming doors, shouting etc I'm learning to live with it,  cannot get into dispute with them as I'm sure it would turn ugly quickly!

A few years back we bought a new-build villa in a Ubon new housing development. 

People in the street right behind us bought a house and the no-house land next to it. They built a small hangar on the empty lot and started a cottage industry of recycling second-hand clothing they were buying by bag loads somewhere. Not really what you want to have as neighbors in a new middle income estate. 

And then they went big! They extended their hanger and stated working day and night. Not really big noise but loud voices and heavy car traffic. They were now too obvious and somebody (not me!) reported them to the estate developer and the economic authorities.

So one day soon thereafter a dozen cars and trucks with BKK plates showed up carrying all sorts of officials. Most in some sort of uniform. A few police too.

Anyway they told the "factory" people that a cottage industry was OK. Daytime only. But that a full scale undeclared factory was not allowed in a housing estate.

So the cottage industry has resumed but no more voices outside and the activities' must stop by 6PM and on WE and holidays.