Acoustical / Noise Cancelling Curtains

[Somtamnication]

I live in a soi where an idiot walks by every morning at 5:30 with his dang singing birds and he whistles up and down the soi. Let me not mention the usual noises such as parties, motorcycles, etc etc etc. Having a sickly son, where sleep is important, I am trying to find a solution for us to bear with the noise. Moving is not an option for us at the moment.

I have found in the US companies that sell absorptive curtains. I was just quoted over $500 for a 2mx2m quilted curtain, but it weighs 50 pounds and shipping it to here will be prohibitively expensive.

Any suppliers in Thailand?

My idea is quite simple. As I rent and I do not want to pay for a pvc window and concrete walls do not stop noises too well, I want to cover just the side of the wall that faces the street (our bedroom), even covering up the window and that wall in its totality when we want to sleep.

Any ideas for that? Any help is appreciated.

Tks.

[stolidfeline]

There's nothing that would attenuate the noise enough to make a difference. Most of the noise will come in via the windows, followed by doors, and the walls last. You could just get a sheet of glass and tape it over your existing window frame with carpet tape. The effect of that will be quite dramatic. Soundproofing for theatre control rooms etc. use separations of about 4 to 6". The heavier the glass the better the effect. My whole house is done this way using 4mm glass over every louvre window. It also brought down the aircon bill somewhat.

Edited January 16, 2010 by stolidfeline

[trogers]

My whole house is done this way using 4mm glass over every louvre window. It also brought down the aircon bill somewhat.

And fresh air comes in through cracks in the floor boards?

[trogers]

May be cheaper to hang a stuffed bird of prey outside the window. Scare the shit out of the singing birds and they will fall silent. The owner will stroll a different route.

Edited January 16, 2010 by trogers

[givenall]

May be cheaper to hang a stuffed bird of prey outside the window. Scare the shit out of the singing birds and they will fall silent. The owner will stroll a different route.

Where have you been, anywhere I go in Thailand I am confronted by noisy people or loud music. This is the way in Thailand quite is bad and noise is great. I am sure this is why no one listens to logic over here because they really can hear it

[sotsira]

Gypsum boards that are sold cheaply here are very good for soundproofing.

They are 245cm x 120cm and can be fitted to the wall with a 2cm air gap that would reduce noise efficiently.

The only problem then would be the window, you could have a piece of gypsum cut to the same size and have an aluninium frame made for it with a handle to easily locate it in the window recess at night and remove it when you wake up.

[GungaDin]

Try hanging multiple, thick curtains (3 or 4) over the area, make sure the curtains are twice as wide as the area to be covered

so that you have folds in the curtains when hung.

I bought heavy stuff from HomePro, expensive, but worth it as it cuts out most soi noise and lowers my aircon bill.

No need for curtain rods, get some threaded hooks and stretchy curtain wire.

Good luck

[Somtamnication]

Perhaps the gypsum board may be ideal.

Any idea what they are called in Thai?

[LennyW]

Perhaps the gypsum board may be ideal.

Any idea what they are called in Thai?

Gypsum board!!

Failing that, E.A.R. plugs and half a bottle of Highland Park,

[Somtamnication]

Yeah, venerable sick son will love that answer!

[sotsira]

Perhaps the gypsum board may be ideal.

Any idea what they are called in Thai?

The Thais all refer to it as Chipsum, so what you need is a team that work with it, they usually do ceilings and charge around 200bt a sqm

supplied and fitted.

All you'll need to do after they finish is paint it.

[trogers]

May be cheaper to hang a stuffed bird of prey outside the window. Scare the shit out of the singing birds and they will fall silent. The owner will stroll a different route.

Where have you been, anywhere I go in Thailand I am confronted by noisy people or loud music. This is the way in Thailand quite is bad and noise is great. I am sure this is why no one listens to logic over here because they really can hear it

This is why you look for a residence where you can hear the pin falls. All my condos, and my own home have the sound of silence.

[Pakboong]

Move to a more civilized location.

[goatfarmer]

ear plugs

[Somtamnication]

Sounds like some people just have a lot of time in their hands to post bu11sh1t.

[xerostar]

I have some spare time to post a little extra bu11sh1t.

I thought I'd be safe from the usual noise by building one Km away from the village out in the countryside.

Not so, as every other week somebody is holding a funeral in the village and they have very loud

"music" that penetrates my peaceful spot from 4.30 am onwards.

God knows how they put up with that in the village itself, it must be deafening!

Large numbers of barking and squealing dogs can be heard every other night.

I'm sure somebody is running a dog collecting/breeding/abattoir about a kilometre from here.

Suffering animal sounds are not very conducive to sleep.

On top of that my family insist on keeping fighting roosters nearby that start crowing loudly,

at regular intervals of 30 seconds from 3.00 am until 8.00 am. Sheesh ..

Well we are on a farm, so I suppose they fit in. (just)

Fortunately we seldom have street vendors spruiking from their loudspeaker pickups as we are off their beaten track.

So far we have been lucky to not have a public PA speaker mounted on the power pole outside.

I've been waiting with a tall ladder and a pair of snips.

I often have to say "Siang Dung" because the TV is turned up to an ear shattering volume that nobody else notices except me! I guess they are all deaf by now!

We built a 3 Metre high wall around the property. That cut the external noise down by about 75%

Thailand is the land of noise!

[Khun Jean]

Why people are looking for expensive solutions is beyond me.

A few baht for some earplugs (also for children) solves the problem while sleeping.

daytime noise is another situation, not much you can do about that without locking yourself into a soundproof room.

[Somtamnication]

The gypsum board suggestion is not an expensive solution at all and I am leaning towards that idea, as opposed to the thick glass suggestion (also a good one).

Earplugs make my ears itch and I do want some sound to seep through (the ex cop in me). But if I can cut off 75% of the upper db level noise, then I am a happy camper.

I would not consider some yahoo whistling at 5:30 a.m. "daytime noise".

[trogers]

The gypsum board suggestion is not an expensive solution at all and I am leaning towards that idea, as opposed to the thick glass suggestion (also a good one).

Earplugs make my ears itch and I do want some sound to seep through (the ex cop in me). But if I can cut off 75% of the upper db level noise, then I am a happy camper.

I would not consider some yahoo whistling at 5:30 a.m. "daytime noise".

I do not think high pitch sounds transmit through your brickwall. More likely through the window, and ceiling if it is a single storey building. Brickwall is poorer in insulating against low frequency sounds.

I suggest you first get a chip or cork board (15-20mm thick) and cut to fit the window opening. Fix it with an inch gap from the glass pane and see if it can cut down the high pitch sounds.

[Somtamnication]

Trogers, thanks for the suggestion. The installation of the gypsum board and also your suggestion with cork (something I have been thinking about) also mentions gaps in between the installation. The gypsum install requires about a 2 or 3 cm gap and you mentioned 1 inch gap.

Is it to avoid noise vibration? Installing the cork flush on the window is not a good idea because......? Did not know about the high and low pitch sound issues.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

[trogers]

Trogers, thanks for the suggestion. The installation of the gypsum board and also your suggestion with cork (something I have been thinking about) also mentions gaps in between the installation. The gypsum install requires about a 2 or 3 cm gap and you mentioned 1 inch gap.

Is it to avoid noise vibration? Installing the cork flush on the window is not a good idea because......? Did not know about the high and low pitch sound issues.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Sound energy striking a barrier will have 3 results: absorption, penetration, reflection. How much of each will depend on the kind of material the barrier is made from. A massive barrier reflects and absorbs sound energy with small penetration. A thin light barrier will have more penetration.

The barrier that absorb may also be set into vibration, but at a lower frequency - massive or damping material does this. The air gap is required to prevent the 2nd barrier vibrating at the same frequency as the first, as the 2 barriers are not fixed as though they become a single material.

[Somtamnication]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOK. Thanks!