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Ask Slashdot: Cost Effective Way To Soundproof My Home?
An anonymous reader writes: As more and more people live closer together in tightly packed subdivisions, the mental stress of noise becomes a serious issue. Noise nuisance complaints are on the rise, litigation increasing. We try to tune it out, yet the stress it causes is still present, and there's seemingly no way around it." Six months ago a new neighbor moved in next door who has two dogs, one of which barks incessantly with a high pitched yip that is driving my wife crazy and making it difficult for me to read or work on the computer. I've already talked to my neighbor and he will bring the dog inside but three days later it starts again. What is a cost effective technical solution to knock 10 or 20 dB off the exterior noise? soundproof windows, an interior acoustic blanket,a sound blocking fence, a sound absorbing fence, planting foliage or noise cancelling headphones, or something else. I'm sure I'm not the first slashdotter to have this problem. What has worked for you?
(i submitted that without finishing) i simply created an incessant flow of legal documents from local council, police, neighbors, etc. in the end, the visits from annoyed policemen and council workers became unbearable and he moved. i managed to turn the whole neighborhood against him. now we have a new arsehole in his place but this one is just messy.
Someone beat me to it. I was going to suggest .22 LR, there are cheap sub-sonics and ways to further reduce the sound. Not for the dog, the dog is innocent. It's the human that's leaving the dog outside and barking. Chain me up and leave me outside and I'm going to be a bit more of a problem than a dog barking.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
If the police were showing up and putting heat on the other guy, it sounds like he had his paperwork in order and understood the process.
In my State if a dog barks for over 15 minutes, that is disturbing the peace and you don't have to wait for them to get annoyed with the complaints, you can escalate them and ultimately have the dog removed. The only thing the authorities can do other than help you with the process is to pretend they're too busy, but that doesn't work every time; and if they do that you just go to Court and end up with an Order, and now if they violate it they have to move or get rid of the dog.
And if it is a rental and the dog is repeatedly violating the noise laws, sometimes you can force the property owner to give them a short term eviction notice to avoid shared responsibility for the ongoing legal violations.
It all depends on local law. Without that information, you're just making a false accusation. You can do that here with no penalty, but if you're playing the game he is of calling the cops over little shit and you tell a cop about a false accusation, that becomes a crime. We can assume that isn't the case, because of whose door the cops kept coming to.
Simpler solution - offer to,take the dog for a walk. It's bored and lonely, it's going to bark. You may even get to like the little yipper once he stops.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
If the next person has a bigger dog and the city laws prohibit barking dogs, then you call the police and let the city deal with it again.
How would you "land in trouble" for using the legal system the way it's meant to be?
Moving into a house doesn't work: all my dog-barking experiences have been in houses, not apartments. Why should I move out of the city? In my experience, people in the country are even worse. You'd have to move somewhere where you can afford tens of acres around you, which is unrealistic. Why shouldn't I expect people to obey the laws of the city they're in? Why do you dumbass dog owners all think that laws shouldn't apply to you?
do not even bother with wall soundproofing until you replace all your windows with triple pane and seal up every single air leak. adding a storm window to the outside of the triple pane will also help as each air gap will significantly reduce the sound levels transmitted into the home. after you do all that, THEN have the wall insulation replaced or actually added. Most homes in america have little to no wall insulation as most homes are older than 1950 when heating costs were cheaper than insulating.
now fix all your doors, bet you that every single one of them has crap seals that all need replacing. Door seals need to be replaced every 4-5 years, 99% of all homeowners do not do this. if your doors are really old wood panels replace the whole door and door jam with a modern steel/fiberglass wood core door with at least a double pane window in it.
A typical home, expect to spend about $10,000 to bring the windows and doors up to at least current and dramatically reduce the noise incursion.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
My initial use of a battery powered (four D cells) dog silencer had limited success despite placement beneath an eve within 20-30 feet from a neighboring large attack dog in a neighborhood with small lots and small tightly spaced homes. Later I tried a high powered a dog silencer powered by a 110V outlet under my back patio in a neighborhood with 1/2 acre lots and it worked instant wonders on two large loud dogs nearly 100' away.