ᐅ Is it possible to have a quiet home despite an uncontrolled railroad crossing (train horns)?
Created on: 24 Feb 2021 21:22
J
JamaikaJoe
Hello,
as a backup option, we were able to reserve a plot of land in a new development area within the Nuremberg metropolitan region.
Everything fits well there except for one issue that concerns me: next to the development area (about 150m (490 feet) from our potential plot), a regional train passes over ungated level crossings and sounds its horn before each one. I am worried that the horn will be audible inside the house and disturb sleep.
The neighbors we spoke to, who have lived there for a long time, said they don’t notice the horn at all. They looked at us incredulously when we asked about it :-) The noise assessment assumes there is no significant noise emission from the railway line. However, I think this refers to the train noise itself, which is actually almost imperceptible, and not the horn.
During the day, I don’t find the horn disturbing. It fits the rural setting. But my wish is to have the house as a retreat, completely quiet from outside noises, including the horn.
Do you have experience whether such train horns can be “blocked out” by appropriate wall construction, a centralized mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery, and soundproof windows? Or is the horn too loud for these measures to effectively reduce the noise?
Thank you very much for your opinions
Jo
as a backup option, we were able to reserve a plot of land in a new development area within the Nuremberg metropolitan region.
Everything fits well there except for one issue that concerns me: next to the development area (about 150m (490 feet) from our potential plot), a regional train passes over ungated level crossings and sounds its horn before each one. I am worried that the horn will be audible inside the house and disturb sleep.
The neighbors we spoke to, who have lived there for a long time, said they don’t notice the horn at all. They looked at us incredulously when we asked about it :-) The noise assessment assumes there is no significant noise emission from the railway line. However, I think this refers to the train noise itself, which is actually almost imperceptible, and not the horn.
During the day, I don’t find the horn disturbing. It fits the rural setting. But my wish is to have the house as a retreat, completely quiet from outside noises, including the horn.
Do you have experience whether such train horns can be “blocked out” by appropriate wall construction, a centralized mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery, and soundproof windows? Or is the horn too loud for these measures to effectively reduce the noise?
Thank you very much for your opinions
Jo
Nida35a schrieb:
This belongs in the house sale conversation between wall insulation values, burglary resistance classes, and the COP of the heat pump, as well as the differences between standard, green, and blue drywall panels, panel thicknesses, and single versus double-layered drywall.Then I hope for good advice... it’s better to research these things yourself...J
JamaikaJoe28 Feb 2021 13:39Nida35a schrieb:
Then choose the premium package "Flight Path" for your house.From what I have gathered here and from other threads, useful measures include placing the bedroom on the side of the house away from the noise, using sand-lime brick walls, mineral wool external insulation (ETICS), a central controlled mechanical ventilation system, special roller shutter boxes, and soundproof windows rated class 3 or 4. Do roller shutters provide better sound insulation compared to venetian blinds?
hampshire schrieb:
My wife was constantly bothered by it.How was your sound insulation in your previous house? In your opinion, would additional noise control measures on the house have reduced the honking enough for your wife not to be disturbed anymore?H
hampshire28 Feb 2021 16:20JamaikaJoe schrieb:
Would it have been possible to reduce the horn noise with additional soundproofing measures in the house enough so that your wife would no longer have been bothered by it?Highly unlikely. When the children were small, she reacted to every noise. As the children grew older, she continued to do so.M
Michele8728 Feb 2021 16:27I have no knowledge about soundproofing.
However, I once lived for a year in an apartment from the 1960s with a direct view of the railway tracks. I’m bad at estimating distances, but it was definitely less than 50m (165 feet) away. There was a regional train every hour and a freight train much less frequently. They also blew their horns.
I’m actually quite sensitive, but after a short time, I stopped noticing the trains. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It’s more annoying when the neighbor starts the lawnmower or the chipper at 8 a.m.
However, I once lived for a year in an apartment from the 1960s with a direct view of the railway tracks. I’m bad at estimating distances, but it was definitely less than 50m (165 feet) away. There was a regional train every hour and a freight train much less frequently. They also blew their horns.
I’m actually quite sensitive, but after a short time, I stopped noticing the trains. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It’s more annoying when the neighbor starts the lawnmower or the chipper at 8 a.m.
Michele87 schrieb:
I have no idea about sound insulation.
But I once lived for a year in an apartment from the 1960s. It had a direct view of the railway tracks. I’m not great at estimating distances, but definitely less than 50m (165 feet) away. There was a regional train every hour and a freight train much less often. They also sounded their horns.
I’m actually quite sensitive, but after a short time I stopped noticing the trains. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It’s more annoying when the neighbor fires up the lawn mower or wood chipper at 8 a.m. Yes, but please don’t forget that older houses can be really good in terms of soundproofing! They were often built with lots of mass … insulation for thermal purposes was often poor, but acoustically not that bad at all.
J
JamaikaJoe2 Mar 2021 20:19Michele87 schrieb:
It’s more annoying when the neighbor starts the lawn mower or the wood chipper at 8 a.m. in the morning. Tolentino schrieb:
Neighbor who turns the stereo up loud with bad pop music at 2 a.m. at night. shenja schrieb:
Loud talking under the window or in the neighbor’s garden in the middle of the night. Whether it’s honking or not, it really does seem like a good idea in general to dig deep into the soundproofing toolbox 🙂 as @Bookstar already mentioned.
What do you think about the roof shape? Does one type offer advantages for sound insulation compared to another?
I can imagine that a flat roof might be beneficial because it doesn’t present a thin, lightweight sloped surface that sound waves traveling across the land can easily reflect off. Green roofing probably helps as well.
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