Help with reducing road noise in a new house.

[Calvert7]

My husband and I have recently bought a brand new house which we love; it does however suffer from quite high levels of road noise we were wondering if there was anything we could do to reduce it.

Our house is about 15 feet from a fairly busy 40 mph road and is about 2 feet higher than the road as there is a steep bank down to the road.

The bank seems to channel the noise up to the 1st floor - so it is particular noisy in the 1st floor bedrooms. It is not really possible to sleep once rush period traffic begins at about 6.00 am. High motorbike traffic at weekends also creates a particular problem.

The builders have planted some shrubs and trees on the bank next to the road which should hopefully provide some reduction in time. We do not however have a front garden as such so cannot erect a fence or other barrier.

The house is brick with mainly plasterboard interior walls. We have brand new double glazing with vents which seem to let in quite a lot of noise. Though the windows themselves do provide a degree of reduction.

We don't have curtains yet and I am hoping fitting both blinds and curtains into the windows will create a small reduction - but feel we will still have a fairly major problem in our bedrooms.

Any suggestions geatly appreciated - I don't want noise to turn my dream house into a nightmare purchase!

Thanks

[sp1214]

Firstly you don't need telling what possessed you to buy a property with all that external noise. But now you are there you need to install as much sound deadening material on your walls and install triple glazing.

For personal comfort have you thought about these devices which cancel outside noises by using anti noise in their design. They are well and truly tested and used by passengers on aircraft. They are readily available..

http://www.interop.org/info/bose-quietcomfort- acoustic-noise-canceling-headset/

[Disco Fever]

Close the small vents in the front windows and open the ones in the rear windows so you still have some kind of air flow as if you don't you will get damp....