Easy tips to reduce noise in your home

Press profile homify Press profile homify
Courbes et couleurs à Saint Prix, Philippe Ponceblanc Architecte d'intérieur Philippe Ponceblanc Architecte d'intérieur Rumah: Ide desain interior, inspirasi & gambar
Loading admin actions …

Noise is one of the biggest problems within houses and apartments. At night noise can affect sleep, interfere with rest and relaxation, and generally disrupt your life. You may think this is normal, and if you live in a busy area of Hong Kong, you are most likely well-accustomed to the bustle of one of the world's largest cities. However, noise in the home can have huge implications on the health of yourself and your family. Without adequate sleep we can develop fatigue, which leads to irritability, headaches and stress. In order to protect ourselves from too much noise we need to contain the volume produced in our dwellings. Noise can come from many different sources: air conditioners, appliances, televisions, animals, neighbours, and even air traffic. Some of these issues are solvable and some are more difficult. To begin, it is often best to start with the interior of your home. 

Today on homify we are going to look at the ways in which you can remedy domestic noise, and create a healthy and enjoyable home. Thoughtful design and practice greatly reduces the impact of noise in our homes, and thus improves the quality of our living environment. Read on for some handy hints and helpful tricks to revitalise the interior of your abode. 

Check your appliances

One of the noisiest elements of a home is often its appliances! With all of the buzzes, whirrs, and clunks of all the technology own, it is a wonder our homes are ever silent at all. Of course, it is almost impossible to avoid appliance and technology related noise, but we can try to reduce it. When was the last time your appliances were serviced? If you, like the majority of the population, forget to regularly service your whitegoods, it is highly possible they are making more noise than is necessary. Time to ring the electrician or provider, and schedule in a service for all of your appliances. If your kitchen and household accessories are more than a couple of years old, it is often a prudent idea to ring an electrician and have everything tested for safety too. 

As well as kitchen appliances, you should consider the technology within other rooms. Televisions, DVD players, stereo systems and computers all tend to emit a slight noise. This is especially audible during the evening if you have a television or computer in your bedroom. You might want to invest in a power saving plug that switches off the main power once an appliance or item is switched off. This will save you money, as well as reducing noise. 

Fix door creaks

Door creaks are all too common within our houses and apartments. Practically impossible to prevent, the best way is to ensure you regularly tend to the doors and frames within your abode.  The creaks that you will hear from your doors may be caused by many different factors. Firstly, you may need to oil the hinges. This is the number one reason that a door will creak, and it can become unbearable over time. Secondly, the door may require adjustment. Houses tend to shift and move over time, and this will cause a misalignment between the door and the frame. Eventually this leads to creaks, noises and a difficulty in shutting the door. 

In Hong Kong the weather can become particularly hot and humid, and during these times you will find that your interior furniture expands. This makes doors tighter within their frame, and can create an extremely annoying situation. Plan a weekend where you go around the house oiling and realigning all of the doors. 

Repair any noisy floorboards

As well as creaky door, creaky floorboards are equally painful to listen to at home. So how does a floorboard become creaky? The answer is very similar to how a door becomes noisy. Basically the house or apartment shifts over time from the natural movement of the earth and building materials causing the timber to grind up against each other. This causes a squeaking, and can get worse over time. Additionally, if you have hardwood floors, heavy foot traffic can cause a slight warp in the timber, leading to creaking. 

Repair any floorboards, and chat to a professional builder if you are unsure how to remedy the noise. 

Add felt gliders to your furniture

Felt gliders are by far one of the best domestic inventions for the home. Cheap, easy to use, simple to install, and unbelievably helpful, felt gliders will revolutionise your furniture. But what exactly is a felt glider? And is it something that I need in my home? Felt gliders are small pieces of square or round felt that contains one side adhesive and the other side natural felt. They can be stuck to the bottom of chairs, tables, ornaments, curios, or virtually anything that touches a varnished or slippery surface. There is almost always an area of an abode that could benefit from a felt glider, with many people neglecting to include them in their dwellings. 

The dining room is one area where they are particularly useful. The noise produced from sliding dining room chairs around on a stone, timber, or tiled floor can be excruciating! To remedy this, simply add felt gliders to the bottom of the chair legs, and enjoy the noise-free silence of easy to slide seats. 

Use soft furnishings

homify Ruang Keluarga Klasik

Finally, we have one of the best ways to reduce the overall noise in your residence- soft furnishings and textiles. Many of us do not realise the implications of having hard surfaces in our dwellings, but surprisingly it is one of the most common reasons for ambient noise in the home. Clatters, clangs, bangs, and echoes all hugely contribute to a sense of unease. Luckily there is a solution. Think floor cushions, pillow, upholstered furniture, curtains and more! By far the best way to reduce overall household noise is through the use of rugs. Rugs are wonderful at breaking up the echo that large walls can create, and if you reside within a cavernous contemporary dwelling, you may want to consider a rug to impart a little serenity within your abode. 

We hope that inspired you to update your home and reduce the ambient noise associated with troublesome home accessories! If you would like to keep reading, check out: Make your house vegan!

Butuh bantuan dengan projek Anda?
Hubungi kami!

Sorotan dari majalah