I’d be very interested in seeing someone take a nice loud tool (circular saw, chop saw, whatever), setting it up in one of the rooms at the west end, and making some noise. It would give us some idea of how much sound could be heard at the edges of our property. Not a purely scientific test, but it would at least give us some idea of how much attenuation the building provides naturally.
1 Like
Is there a special Db we need to stick under for the neighborhood or do they stay to Wichita’s ordinances?
https://www.nonoise.org/lawlib/cities/wichita/
I don’t think we would have a problem staying under 80 dB in their front yard… But one neighbor was possibly a bit annoyed when I was scraping the grass off the side walks (closed their front door, but didn’t slam it).
Noise is a very subjective issue for most. Pitch, intensity and duration can each impact differently.
Decibel Measurements are a logarithmic scale. The decibel means that a very large number can be represented by a simple number, in a manner similar to scientific notation. They are very useful for industrial situations. OSHA references 60 decibels as a Threshold for exposure requiring.Ear Protction.
Another common scale is Sonds . This is a linear Scale and easier for non-industrial sound measurement. Bathroom fans are rated in Sonds. The fan at 1500 is a 4 Sond Fan. 4 Sonds is essentially the same volume as 60 decibels. You can buy a bath fan rated at <1/3 Sond 1 Sond, < 1.5 Sond and louder. (4 or 6 inch exhaust ducts are quiet compared to standard 3 inch.)
Great idea to run a test. You could try it in the office or Maintenance Room where there is power and perhaps then running an extension cord to the far end if outlets are not powered down there. The other thing would be to start the lawn mower with the garage door open and closed to see what that does.
Noise levels would be better documented in the Building Codes. Specifically, one of the appendix to the International Residential Code (IRC) as adopted in Wichita and other locations. Wichita has not adopted this appendix. Areas around the DFW airport and LAX airport have. Their approach is Mass to dampen sound waves, not insulation. So you see things like 2 layers of 1/2 inch drywall on the ceiling under flight paths. They also reference STC (Sound Transmission Classes) . The most detailed stuff on STC is actually found on the drywall manufacturer’s websites. Google Gypsum Board Manufacturers.
I will not be available today to help, I can make time next week. Given the Mass of those concrete block walls, I will not be surprised if you find no issues with sound by the time you are on the east side of the street.
I’m not particularly concerned about the maintenance shop/garage door area, as I don’t expect we’ll be using that for any noise-generating activity beyond starting up the mower, and the neighbors are going to hear the mower outside anyway. At any rate, if a quick-and-dirty test shows that we can’t hear something pretty loud by the time we get to the edge of the property, we can move noise abatement down our list of concerns, or cross it off completely.
1 Like
I’d be more interested in how much noise travels inside the building, since I imagine we’ll probably be fine on the outside by the time you get across the street or across the creek.
2 Likes
I agree with being able to move that down the priority list.
John