Whether you live in a city, town, village or rural location, noise pollution can infiltrate your home and create unwelcome distractions, disturbed sleep and disrupted peace and quiet. It can feel like there’s no choice but to ‘get used to it’, but there is a solution… window shutters reduce noise!
Noise Pollution: The Not So Silent Menace
From the sound of heavy traffic, agricultural machinery, chatting passersby, wailing sirens, screeching seagulls and everything else in between, when your home is your haven all this external noise can cause a total earache.
Spending more time in your house because of parental leave, illness or working from home may have opened your ears to some bothersome noises that you hadn’t noticed before. Making it hard to concentrate, interrupting naptime, heightening anxiety and causing tension.
Want to know how shutters reduce noise? Keep reading…
Silencing The Sound: How Shutters Can Reduce Noise
Traditionally made from natural hardwood, shutters have exceptional sound reducing capabilities.
The porous nature of wood helps to absorb sound which is great for acoustics and harsh sounds, and creating a barrier of closed louvres blocks most sound waves travelling through your window panes and into your home.
No window covering will create one hundred percent noise reduction, but it’s proven that shutters reduce noise (especially wooden ones) and are better at it than curtains or blinds.
Choosing The Right Shutters
There’s a saying that goes ‘no two things are created equal’, meaning that some things are just better than others. With that in mind, whilst all shutters reduce noise to some extent there are some that are better at it.
Ultimate Noise Reduction
For the ultimate sound barrier, full height solid shutter panels are best. That way there’s an impenetrable force field against the noise. The downside is you lose any control over diffusing the natural light coming into your home.
The All-Rounder
If you don’t want to limit your control over the sun’s rays, full height plantation shutters are a brilliant solution. They sit flush to your window frames, and when all the panels are shut, they help to muffle external noise to a noticeable difference.
Keep It Natural
When choosing materials for your sound-reducing window shutters, wood is always preferable than UPVC because of the natural acoustic and sound limiting properties we’ve already mentioned above.
Quality Matters
Quality also matters with noise-cancelling shutters. This is because they make cheap shutters from less dense materials, such as aluminium. The less dense the material, the easier it is for sound to penetrate and disrupt the calm and relaxing interior of your home.
Get The Perfect Fit
Having your shutters made-to-measure and fitted by a specialist shutter company with decades of experience makes all the difference. Custom shutters that fit your windows snugly with no gaps minimises the potential for external noises to find their way indoors. Ensuring that your shutters reduce noise effectively.
Layer Up
Shutters reduce noise, there’s no doubt about it. But to enhance things why not consider layering up and use blinds or curtains as well? That way you get double the protection from disruptive noises, harmful UV rays and an extra layer of privacy and security for you and your home.
Setting Realistic Expectations
Here’s the thing…
Yes, shutters reduce noise.
No, they do not shut it out completely.
If you decide to choose to shutter your home, it’s important to remember that while they can make a significant and noticeable difference in minimising noise pollution, they can not completely soundproof your home.
Ready To Live A Quieter Life?
Shutters have some fantastic benefits which include sound reduction, natural light control, increased privacy and security, improved energy efficiency and they provide an aesthetically pleasing finishing touch to your home.
On the flip side, shutters reduce noise from inside your home too.
So if you’ve got a child who’s just taken up the recorder or a hamster who loves a midnight run in a squeaky wheel, shutters might just help you from falling out with your neighbours!
At The Scottish Shutter Company we have over two decades of industry experience, knowledge and expertise to help you select the right window shutters for your home. Get in touch and we can chat about the best solution for you.
