Acoustic Fence Panels – Best for Gardens

Acoustic barriers are an emerging niche in both domestic and commercial sectors, with the UK seeing more and more erected very year. With the world becoming an increasingly noisy place, solutions for sound treating in outdoor spaces are becoming more and more vital. You may have spotted particularly sturdy looking fencing along a busy motorway, or perhaps around an industrial plant. This is likely to be an acoustic fence; keeping irritating noise where it should be, away from you!

If you live by a noisy main road, or by loud machinery such as an air source heat pump operating on your premises, you may consider having an acoustic fence installed. Here is what to consider when choosing your acoustic fence panels.

How to build an acoustic fence

To ensure optimal effectiveness, your new acoustic barrier should be placed as close to your pesky noise source as possible; this means that the maximum amount noise emitted from your source is blocked by the fence. If your source is a main road, check that you have permission to build within 2-3 meters of it. If this isn’t possible, it likely isn’t worth your cash to have it delivered and installed so far away that it won’t have a tangible effect. Neither iKoustic, nor any other acoustic fence suppliers want to sell you something that won’t do the job properly!

Increasingly, people are having air source heat pumps installed in their gardens. This is a fantastic, and more environmentally friendly method of heating your home. One concession is that it consistently produces low-level noise pollution which can become an irritant over time. This is why we have seen more and more customers seek acoustic barriers for their heat pump.

If you’re in this situation, make sure to read your heat pumps manual carefully and find out any specified minimum distances around the device that may be required. These units often rely on having a good airflow so understanding this will help design the best acoustic barrier.

Can you cut an acoustic fence?

You may have limited space or are working around several external considerations. NoiStop Essential has the ideal solution to this problem. Our panels can be cut to exact lengths using our adjustment kits. These simple kits are used to wrap around the freshy cut side of the panel, with the protruding flange allowing it to be drilled into a post.

Our panels can easily be adjusted by your local installer or handyman. This means that no matter what spatial requirements you may have, our NoiStop range can fit the bill.

How high is an acoustic fence?

If you’re having a fence installed in your garden, there’s a balance to be sought, for sure. On the one hand, you don’t want your scenic views to be hampered by mountains of timbered fence. On the other hand, you certainly don’t want to spend hard earned time and money having an acoustic fence installed, just to have most of the irritating noise travel over the top.

Typically for domestic purposes, we tend to recommend a height of two meters. In most cases, this allows us to improve your noise problem significantly and tangibly whilst still providing a product that isn’t visually intrusive and doesn’t stick out against neighbouring fences.

Do acoustic fences work?

The sound reduction that can be attributed to a configuration of acoustic fence panels is dependent on a few factors we’ve already discussed:

• How high is the fence?
• How close to the noise source is the fence?

As well as some other factors such as:

• Is your noise source higher pitched or lower pitched?
• How well does the configuration cover the noise source (is the whole span of the road covered, or is every side of the heat pump covered)?

Generally speaking, having a taller fence that is closer to the noise source will always improve sound reduction. Moreover, almost any type of acoustic fence panel will be inherently better at reducing high frequency noise than low frequency noise, and the more your noise source is covered by the barrier the better the reduction will be.

From the on-site testing we’ve done on an air source heat pump, you can expect a reduction of 9.2dB which is akin to a halving of perceived volume.

How do acoustic fences work?

Unlike most other acoustic fence panels, NoiStop fencing panels attenuate noise levels through two different channels; sound insulation and sound absorption. Sound insulation prevents the transmission of sound from one side of a barrier to the other (relying on high density materials), whereas sound absorption prevents the reflection of sound (often using porous materials).

NoiStop essential uses mineral wool, which is both high density (lending itself to sound insulation) as well as porous and highly absorbative (lending itself to sound absorption).

This means that NoiStop Essential works to improve your garden space in several different ways.

Does wood improve the acoustic fence panels?

In order to accommodate every aesthetic ideal, NoiStop offers decorative wooden cladding for the NoiStop Essential fences. This makes the panels look far more akin to traditional fencing, which is something we suspect many homeowners and garden-lovers may be after!

It’s important to note that the wooden cladding is purely decorative, and doesn’t significantly improve the fences acoustic capabilities.

Do hedges reduce road noise?

Many people often ask about the acoustic properties of hedges. This is enquiry makes sense to a degree as hedges do form a barrier and it’s not unreasonable to think that this might impede sound. However, any acoustical effect a hedge may have would be negligible. Simply put, they are rife with space for air, and therefore sound to travel through.

On the bright side, you can turn a NoiStop fence in a living wall! As seen in the image below, these panels can be clad in all types of leafy plants to help it blend in with your garden.