Wall vents and noise

PCros

I was wondering has anyone successfully decreased outside noise coming in via their wall vents?

I had thought the noise was mainly coming from the windows so we had them replaced with triple glazing and that did help but it is clear now that the noise comes from the vents. We are fairly near a main road so traffic can be noisy at the best of times.

It's basically an internal and external vent covering with a hole punched through the cavity block.

Not concerned about any other room but the two front facing bedrooms.

TIA.

loyatemu

I've suggested "black hole" vents here before, not out of personal experience but because I think anything has to be better than just having a big hole in your wall:

https://www.goodwins.ie/products/anti-draught-black-hole-ventilator-bm725-brown-outer-cowl.html

Dtp1979

PCros wrote: »

I was wondering has anyone successfully decreased outside noise coming in via their wall vents?

I had thought the noise was mainly coming from the windows so we had them replaced with triple glazing and that did help but it is clear now that the noise comes from the vents. We are fairly near a main road so traffic can be noisy at the best of times.

It's basically an internal and external vent covering with a hole punched through the cavity block.

Not concerned about any other room but the two front facing bedrooms.

TIA.

I had the exact same problem but thankfully didn’t have to fork out on triple glasing. I plugged the vents in the front 2 rooms. There’s no open flued appliances in either room. Made a huge difference.

hots

We blocked our vents and got triple glazing with the vents built in, game changer.

PCros

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I had the exact same problem but thankfully didn’t have to fork out on triple glasing. I plugged the vents in the front 2 rooms. There’s no open flued appliances in either room. Made a huge difference.

hots wrote: »

We blocked our vents and got triple glazing with the vents built in, game changer.

How did you plug the vents as such?

I’m thinking expanding foam would work well.

hots

Yeah exactly that, and then plaster over and paint. Our vents were a joke, we had a shoeboxed sized hole going straight to the street for our living room one. And then one with no hole going through at all...

The Nal

Im having similar issues, but more about the noise going out! Right into the neighbours bedroom window. Duct for the hob and an air vent, both problems. If I use expanding foam the duct will back up.

spiller9020

When i was building my own house i had installed vents that had a foam insert that prevented the outside noise. Cant remember exactly the manufacture of these vents but they are out there.

The Nal

Does the house not get very hot and stuffy in the summer with the vents blocked up?

spiller9020

Just took cover off to show you, works great!

PCros

The Nal wrote: »

Does the house not get very hot and stuffy in the summer with the vents blocked up?

Open the windows :-p

It’s probably really one vent in want to block up so the rest are fine.

spiller9020

if you open a window does this not allow more noise to enter the room?

The Nal

spiller9020 wrote: »

if you open a window does this not allow more noise to enter the room?

And burglars

spiller9020

:):):):)

hots

The Nal wrote: »

Does the house not get very hot and stuffy in the summer with the vents blocked up?

Nah the window ones we have installed now are great, bathroom, kitchen and bedroom ones are open all the time, the rest closed most of the time.

I'd open the windows in nice weather though or when we're cleaning or something

spiller9020

The Nal - just look up some of these wall vent acoustic products online and you will be surprise in the noise reduction you can achieve. Amazon have a a lot of these products.

Relatively cheap like the pic below, fits in the standard 4'' wall duct

The Nal

Im essentially after sound proofing for vents if that exists?

PCros

spiller9020 wrote: »

The Nal - just look up some of these wall vent acoustic products online and you will be surprise in the noise reduction you can achieve. Amazon have a a lot of these products.

Relatively cheap like the pic below, fits in the standard 4'' wall duct

Do they actually work? Just foam with holes in it...

The Nal

spiller9020 wrote: »

The Nal - just look up some of these wall vent acoustic products online and you will be surprise in the noise reduction you can achieve. Amazon have a a lot of these products.

Relatively cheap like the pic below, fits in the standard 4'' wall duct

Cheers they look interesting. Also saw a Duct Silencer which is something I'm after.

spiller9020

Foam is used in most sound applications, e.g foam over a microphone to prevent wind noise, use in studio's to prevent echos and sound bouncing off walls...etc etc .
Most of the noise (maybe 50-60%) will be absorbed into the foam. Blocking vents only leads to stuffy rooms which will only introduced mold.

spiller9020

Hopefully they will solve your problem or maybe reduce the noise.

hots

there was another thread on here for something like an S bend duct (no idea of the name I'm afraid), the idea being that it stops the air going straight through and only allows a trickle. It's what we would have done if we couldn't get the window vents.

PCros

A lot to think about as I don't want mould and at the same time the foam inserts don't have great reviews on Amazon.

listermint

Whatever you do, don't block up the vents as instructed by some posters on here.

Ireland is a wet damp climate with alot of humidity. Your rooms need constant ventilation. Do not block them up. If you like damp and mould and respiratory issues by all means block up a bedroom vent .

The second post in is the best solution so far.

vicwatson

I narrowed my vents - took off the cover stuck in a kitchen roll cardboard insert and used expanding foam around them. Enough air coming in and took a good bit of the noise away too.

PCros

listermint wrote: »

Whatever you do, don't block up the vents as instructed by some posters on here.

Ireland is a wet damp climate with alot of humidity. Your rooms need constant ventilation. Do not block them up. If you like damp and mould and respiratory issues by all means block up a bedroom vent .

The second post in is the best solution so far.

Fair point.

Come to think of it I use the Aero 360's in the house and that gives me the answer there.

crossmolinalad

PCros wrote: »

How did you plug the vents as such?

I’m thinking expanding foam would work well.

Did the same filled it up with fiberglass and or rockwool
If its your own home expanding foam would work well but I live in a rented home so when I leave I have to reopen the vents what is a bit difficult if its filled with foam specially upstairs

crossmolinalad

The Nal wrote: »

Does the house not get very hot and stuffy in the summer with the vents blocked up?

Just open a window