Our council will not allow a courtyard fence to be constructed in masonry. We deal with bad traffic noise in Sydney. What would be the best fast growing dense hedge. Any ideas.
Hello judy without getting into the complexities of acoustic engineering, may I ask why Council won't permit a sound barrier fence? is it the proposed height casting a shadow on your neighbours property? Is the masonry material prohibited in their building regulations? Drainage concerns? Amenity issues? Normal garden hedging will offer you very little or no acoustic protection from noise, There are plenty of "natural' wooden panelled fences on the market which because of the offset nature in their design, offer excellent noise reduction properties. You see them all over the place in residential high noise areas. The masonite type fences that you see along major freeways are horrifically expensive and are not suitable for a residential application. If you require advice on types of suitable fencing, contact an acoustical consultant (look them up via https://www.aaac.org.au), and speak to your council on exactly what IS and isn't allowed in your residential area. Hope this helps
Spritegal is right. Sound goes right through shrubbery. You need something more solid. If the rules are too stupid, could you join the council and get them changed? Sue
One of our territorial authorities built a sound barrier along a motorway. Had to take it straight down. The sound bounced straight across to the other side of the motorway, where it was reinforced by the sound naturally travelling in that direction. Terrible result. How about a fence made of those egg carton things that they put in recording studios? The ones that suck up the noise rather than reflecting it. That'd fit right in with the permaculture front garden. You know, the one with the herbs that the rest of the neighbourhood spray to keep down! Mike
Judy, I've grown sound hedges lots, and it works pretty well. That, and extra insulation, double paned windows on the house walls helps as well. Quick hedges also mean there is monthly or once every couple months of maintenance because they don't stop growing!! So prepare yourself to be intricately involved with it. But they can make good compost clippings if you clip them at the 6-inch stage. Trumpet vine. Give it a couple of upright 6 foot posts and it will fill in. My neighbors call it the Shop of Little Horrors vine, but it's very tough, pretty blooms, can take some frost. Drought tolerant Oleanders. These are drought tolerant, and some people are concerned about the fact that they are poisonous. I have animals, and they know better than to try it. I teach little kids not to chew on anything green unless it's in the refrigerator. But these bloom in pink or white or red, stand up to some frost. You shouldn't cut the flowers and bring them indoors. But I've lived with them all my life, no problems. They now have dwarf varieties, which you don't want for a hedge, too short. Oh, and get the single flower variety. The double flowers are heavy and weigh down the branches, which doesn't work well in a hedge for sound. Eleagnus silverberry. It's not the fastest, but it is pretty fast, and very pretty, and drops leaves to be used for compost or leaf mulch. It even fixes nitrogen, so it doesn't need feeding and is very drought tolerant. Bottle brush tree, kept at the height you want with trimming. Grows very densely, has pretty red bottle brush flowers. It will have bees when in bloom, in case you are allergic.
Hello judy and sweetpea I think, sweetpea, that the acoustic measures you suggest would partially work. House insulation and double glazing definately would make a difference. But I think judy was looking at less expensive, external measures than double glazing (which by the way costs an absolute packet) Vegetation, on the other hand is of bugger all benefit in acoustic noise reduction. Why? The range for speaking is between 20Hz and 20,000 Hz. The normal person's speaking voice is around 5000 Hz. Extremely dense, mature, hedging vegetation which is metres and metres thick and well over 6 foot high will slightly reduce the high frequency (ie: above 20,000 Hz) noise. By contrast, Low frequency noise will cut through such a hedge like butter. A truck has an average frequency of about 500Hz, or even lower. So the noise from it will pass through a hedge with no problems whatsoever. Hedging will create a psychosomatic noise reduction (ie, if you can't see the noise, it won't seem as offensive to you), so from that perspective a hedge might assist. But it won't physically be of any use as an acoustic barrier. I suggest judy that you contact an accredited acoustic consultant and have a chat with them. If you need a few names of acoustic engineers that I know personally in Sydney, send me a PM and I'll be happy to give you their contact details. SG
Hi, Judy and spritegal, Ah, if we could all live in an ideal world with and endless budget and agreements from housing associations! All I offer is what I have experience with, and since the masonry wall option was already explained, I just tossed out what hadn't been listed yet. I'm sure Judy can figure out what works best for her. Here's a couple of links about hedges, Judy, that might have more details. https://www.utextension.utk.edu/publicat ... reduction' Here's a noise abatement study. https://www.us202.com/Pages/noise%20stud ... utions.htm
One tree I know would work is the paper bark tree, as the bark is soft and ripped open naturally it would absorb sound really well, I have a small forest near by and the trees soak up much of the incoming sound only leaving you with the sound of the leafs in the wind. But.... it's a medium to big tree and you would need many of them to create a good sound barrier, if you inter planted them with thick lilly pilly trees you might get a ok result. Maybe go to the council and ask what can I build to reduce the sound.
fast growing hedge you can buy good advanced stock from many wholesale nurseries - expect to pay 170 to 270 for an advanced specimen some nice tall, columnar plants are: Blueberry ash - Eleocarpus reticulatus Uprigth birch, oak or hornbeam - look for the latin name 'fastigigata' at the end of the plant name, it means narrow - naturally these are deciduous Weeping lilly pilly - waterhousia floribunda Thuja plicata fastigigata - a nice dense conifer as per the other posts - plants alone won't block traffic noise, but will take away the visual cue to the noise good luck
A word or two about the oleander: it can tolerate quite a bit of frost, and never, EVER try to burn the prunings (if you were ever inclined), as the smoke is poisonous and can literally kill anyone who inhales it. Sue